Let's Talk Business at the 2015 Citizen Science Conference

It's almost here.  Next week the 2015 Citizen Science Conference begins in San Jose, California.  It will be a busy couple of days discovering the wide variety of citizen science available and learning directly from one another. All to help each other grow in the field we love.

Will I see you there?

One of my main goals is talking about how citizen science and the for-profit sector can meet, helping citizen scientists get rewarded for their work and how that can help the whole field expand.  That's the main theme of my poster "For Love and Money: Business Models that Support, and Benefit from, the Work of Citizen Scientists" which I will be showcasing at the conference and posting here as well.  I want to get this conversation started so people can let their ideas,and talents, flourish.

So please stop by during the poster session Wednesday afternoon to share your thoughts.  Or, if you'd like to chat more in depth, let me know beforehand (OpenScientist@gmail.com) and we can set up a time to meet.  I'll even be staying afterwards for the AAAS conference that follows.  We can always find time.

This is the start of a great conversation but it's certainly not the last.  I'm hoping to gather as much information as possible next week to continue exploring the topic.  There are so many different ways citizen scientists can be rewarded financially for their work, and so many lessons learned from other industries, that it can't possibly be contained in just one poster.  Just talking about entrepreneurship can fill up a book (or books), much less the many other models.  Thus the need to continue talking well after the conference.

That's my commitment to you.  Come by and lend me your ideas at the conference next week, and I'll keep sending you mine throughout the rest of the year.  Sound fair?

See you there!