*5.2. The Potential of Digital Citizen Science for Indigenous Self-Governance and Data Sovereignty*

Digital citizen science has transformed citizen science by providing opportunities to collect big data in real time without geographic limitations. For projects using citizen-owned smartphones, widespread data and WiFi access have increased opportunities for citizens to participate in projects globally [9,14,16]. Citizen science projects have typically taken an individualistic approach, whereby citizens gather and share data on their perspectives and observations about a specific area. If we are to bring a decolonized and Indigenous-focused lens to citizen science, the focus must be on the community. Community-oriented data collection, analysis, and knowledge sharing will shift the application of research findings and promote greater participation from marginalized groups [28,43].

For Indigenous communities, in particular, self-determination and self-governance have been long-standing issues because traditional research methods have posed barriers to data access and ownership [35]. Community-based digital citizen science can give communities ownership of their own data so that they have the power to act on this information in the best interests of their community members.

Digital citizen science can be conducted in collaboration with researchers; however, it can also be entirely community-driven using external or self-developed digital platforms [10]. We must consider moving away from traditional models—as academics and researchers we cannot continue to centre our project agendas on academic goalposts. Communities should have the option to reach out for collaborations where this expertise is needed, but keep control over their data and their futures.

In addition to data ownership in research, data sovereignty has become a topic of increasing concern as our numerous digital devices collect data from our social media platforms and applications [66]. Data sovereignty refers to meaningful control or ownership of one's data [66]. Given that citizen science is typically voluntary, there are often unclear parameters around data ownership, privacy, and security [16,67]. A decolonized approach to digital citizen science requires dedicated conversations around data sovereignty, including the development of digital platforms that incorporate nuanced access to citizen and community data [9,11].
