Abstract

Citizen science as an approach for equal collaboration between people with different backgrounds and knowledge needs to go beyond a contributory approach in ways that are more deliberative and accessible. This paper proposes a “collective collaboration mapping” framework based on touchpoints and co-creation methods to collectively create pathways for collaboration using intermediate-level knowledge. Intermediate-level knowledge relates to the uncertainties, imbalances, and alternative strategies that are disclosed while the design or research process unfolds itself. Such moments provide an opportunity for collective reflection and decision-making through the recursive character of the design process. The recursive character of the design process refers to the initial step of people coming together to work on an issue for positive change. “Collective collaboration mapping” (CCM) effectuates the recursive character within the design of the research process by operating as a reflective extension for creating an equal and inclusive citizen science approach. The CCM framework will be presented as a dialogue tool to support flexible onboarding, equal collaboration, and synergy of knowledge. The value of this theoretical and conceptual study is to move beyond “being involved” toward “knowledge commons,” in other words collective knowledge production.