April is Citizen Science Month, a chance to shine a bright light on the movement.
This year, thanks to support from the National Library of Medicine, the Moore Foundation, Arizona State University, the American Association for Participatory Sciences and many partners, we’re activating One Million Acts of Science across your projects and others listed on SciStarter to make a HUGE collective impact. Each time someone participates in your project(s), that counts as an Act!
Find special events, promotions, opportunities for participants to score cool prizes, and more on OneMillionActsofScience.org.
Participation across hundreds of SciStarter Affiliate projects will be tracked automatically. For others, our team will reach out via email at the end of each week in April in an effort to tally the number of Acts. Follow along at OneMillionActsofScience.org.
Here are simple ways and examples for how you can leverage the celebration to invite your community to (re)engage with your project and/or to recruit new participants throughout April:
1. Send an email to your community:
Subject: Be part of One Million Acts of Science through [name of your project]
Message: Hello! [Name of your project] is joining forces with SciStarter and others during Citizen Science Month this April to catalyze One Million Acts of Science through April. Each time you participate in [name of project] that counts as an Act!
Go to [your project’s website] and participate anytime in April. Then, go to OneMillionActsofScience.org to report your Act. You may be eligible for prizes, too.
Share your Act on social media using the #OneMillionActsofScience and tag [your project’s social media handle] so we can celebrate with you!
Cheers!
[your name]
2. Post on Social Media:
Remember to use #OneMillionActsofScience and #CitizenScienceMonth or #CitSciMonth and tag us @SciStarter so we can amplify!
Promotion Post: We’re partnering with @SciStarter to reach a collective #ONEMILLIONACTSOFSCIENCE this April during #CitizenScienceMonth! Each time you participate in [project link/name], that counts as an Act! Get started at [name and link to your project].
Join [project] on [date] as we rally to hit our goal of [#][classifications/analyses/contributions/etc] towards [topic/research goal] as part of #ONEMILLIONACTSOFSCIENCE with our partners @SciStarter. Get started at [name and link to your project].
Celebration Post: Our community of participants in [Name of project] added [X #] of Acts of Science to the collective goal of#OneMillionActsOfScience this month! Well done, team! There’s still time to get involved at https://citizensciencemonth.org
3. Publish an event for your project
Projects like Monkey Health Explorer are taking their engagement to the next level by encouraging their participants to take part in a “Cell-a-thon” all month long. Alternatively, host a single day or hour event to check in with your participants and answer their questions. You can also communicate a month-long goal to encourage more frequent participation during the month.
4. Use free resources to promote your project:
We have many free resources at https://CitizenScienceMonth.org/resources including a marketing toolkit and promotional materials for your events.
Email info@SciStarter.org with any questions or requests for resources you’d like to see made for future Citizen Science Months.
From all of us at SciStarter, thanks a million (acts of science)!
