Samenvatting

In this epilogue to the special issue on citizen science, we discuss different forms of citizen science, the different roles of science, the shifting role of governments and tensions between citizens, science and government authorities, based on articles and interviews. Citizen science comes in many forms. We conclude that the motive behind citizen science and the management of the initiative are important dimensions. Motives and direction are also important for the roles science and government play in the initiatives. For example, there roles as a source of legitimacy, knowledge processing and data processing for third parties. Such roles are then crucial for ensuring data quality and data ownership. Both topics require strong organisation of both the initiative itself and between citizens, government and science, especially if the topic is wicked.