- January 27, 2023
- Posted by: Team SAi
- Categories:
by Fanuel Muindi
Building the Civic Science Engagement Library (CSEL) has been an exciting endeavor over the past year. Since my lab launched the library in 2021, we have now added over 1,500 items. They have largely focused on written reports, blogs, and peer-reviewed articles that provide insights into a range of actionable insights for those broadly involved in civic science (science communication, public engagement, science policy, and informal STEM learning). So why build such a platform?
Well, the platform addresses this fundamental problem: current insights come in many formats and are highly decentralized. So, we asked a simple question: what if we bring all that information into a single place and have a dedicated search engine for all the insights? Well, that’s what we did with the PESL Library. The goal is simple: to organize and make the published insights in the field way more accessible. Whether you’re a founder, funder, practitioner, educator, leader, professional, or newcomer, I am hopeful our library is a must-have tool for decision-makers and researchers in the field.
The curation we are doing is a monumental task. But it’s worth a try. If you are interested in helping with the curation, please contact me and help us find and curate more published insights across formats. As the library grows, I hope we’ll be able to add visual dashboards to visualize insights from the library. We are also excited to start thinking about incorporating artificial intelligence into the search engine to help users parse through the insights from the rapidly growing body of work.
Even as we reach this new milestone, I know this is still just the beginning of the library’s journey. We have only curated a tiny fraction of what’s out there amidst an ever-increasing rate of publication across formats. I am optimistic that the library will be one of the must-have tools for all decision-makers and researchers in civic science in the near future.
Want to get access? Visit the library and request access today.