Are Citizen Science Endeavors Actually Doing Science?  A
Response to Dr. Adam Stevens’s Citizen Science  Dr. Adam Stevens
recently wrote a critique of the contributions done by the
participating citizenry in projects such as Zooniverse and
FoldIt. Dr. Stevens says that he does not mean to be patronizing
to the people taking part in these noble endeavors. Regardless
of those targeted by his post may feel, I take him at his word
that it was not his intention to come across in such a way. His
is merely an argument of semantics and I find it best to let him
speak for himself:   Before we pick apart all the things he did
say in his post, let us first be clear about what he is not
saying. Dr. Stevens is in no way saying that the participants in
these tasks are not qualified to sort and identify barred-spiral
galaxies from elliptical galaxies. He is not invalidating their
aid (being offered gratis) due to a misguided belief that people
without scientific degrees are incapable of such tasks. What Dr.
Stevens is sayin