We recommend that integrated citizen science projects and platforms use protocols that facilitate data to be used in governmental analyses. Projects should identify a priori end user databases to guide which export formats will most easily facilitate the sharing of data with these desired systems. Fortunately, the CitSci.org platform is developing metadata documentation tools to assist coordinators in automating
the documentation of protocols and improve data reuse in decisionmaking
(see Wang et al., 2015). Finally, the Citizen Science Association, in conjunction with CitSci.org, SciStarter, The Commons Lab at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and the Federal Community of Practice on Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing are developing a data exchange protocol and metadata standard for both program and observational metadata (and data). These standards are an answer to the conflict between burdensome metadata beyond the capability of most small organizations and the risk of losing data when metadata are not well documented. One success already to this end is iNaturalist: a data platform that cuts across taxa and that has adopted metadata standards for
sharing biodiversity observations. This platform shares “research grade”
observations with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility