Mix4Crowds - Toward a framework to design crowd collaboration with science

Citizen Science projects are characterized by mass collaboration of ordinary citizens with scientific research. The advent of new crowdware technologies and the ease of access made possible by the Internet are reshaping the way people and scientific organizations work together. However, the particular nature of this form of collaboration requires a tailored approach that increases the chances of all involved parties meet their expectations and achieve their goals. We propose a conceptual framework to help Citizen Science enterprises in conceiving their crowdsourcing strategy and designing their collaboration systems. It departs from basic principles of traditional marketing models and incorporates the specific requirements of this increasingly popular but also complex form of web-based collaborative work.