Designing with citizens: Cultivating affirmative relations in citizen science.

Recent studies in citizen science demonstrate that public participation in science communication can enhance civic capacities. They point to potential transformations of the science–citizen relation by questioning who can create scientific knowledge and what parts of the world should be subject to scientific inquiry. Existing research highlights direct communication with and feedback to participants as central to successful citizen science and emphasises participants’ motivation and engagement in citizen science. Despite the results, there is little knowledge about what these communication formats include and how to design dialogical engagement that advances civic capacities. This paper addresses how a participatory design approach can be applied to create new knowledge on how to design citizen science communication that strengthens citizens’ democratic actions. It demonstrates a practical framework for co-designing with citizens and identifies possibilities for developing responsible citizen engagement. Its key findings indicate that design collaborations with citizens can activate a plurality of voices and raise questions about participation in and democratisation of science. These findings are discussed with reference to three co-design workshops and interviews with citizens in the citizen science project, The Sound of Denmark (Lyden af Danmark).