Community Building Research Articles

Stronger Together: A Qualitative Exploration of Social Connectedness in Parkinson's Disease in the Digital Era.

Social isolation is a common consequence of Parkinson's disease (PD), and social prescribing has become a crucial aspect for fostering well-being in this population. In fact, group work has been shown to improve levels of social connectedness in older adults across different domains. Increased technology use in older adults may also contribute to increased social connections, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, the impact of digital use on social connectedness remains to be further explored in individuals with PD. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of social connectedness in relation with group-based activities and use of digital technologies in this population. Ten individuals with PD participated in focus groups. Transcripts of the video-recorded groups were analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis. The three constructed themes not only revealed changes and challenges in social connectedness but also underscored the power of family and new relationships established through PD. Results also highlighted the overall positive impact of current digital technologies, although the view on telehealth per se was multifaceted. Referrals for group rehabilitation programs can enhance social connectedness in individuals with PD through fostering new social connections and community building. Hence, group rehabilitation programs should be viewed as a form of social prescribing. The use of digital technologies should be further explored as a means to maximize social engagements in this population.

A timespace of zero‐COVID in Southwest China: Building community, governing time

AbstractIn this article, I take the organization of universal COVID testing as a point of departure for understanding the lived experiences of China's zero‐COVID policy and look at “the Community” (shequ) as a dynamic interface between the state and urban residents during the liminal time of a global pandemic. Drawing on Bryant and Knight's notion of “vernacular timespace” (2019), I analyze the timespace of zero‐COVID as a state‐regulated future orientation interwoven with collective anticipation of crisis, bureaucratic temporal governance, and contestations over time as a form of agency in everyday life. Instead of assuming a unitary form of present‐future relationship that was homogeneous and unchallenged, I argue that the collective anticipation of a public health crisis was constantly shaped, managed, and contested throughout the processes of pandemic community building. This research hopes to enrich reflections on the interplays of time, power, and legitimacy in post‐pandemic urban governance.

Appealing Classroom Organization and Building Community Teaching of Teachers in Public Elementary Schools

This study examined the relationship between appealing classroom organization and building community teaching among public elementary school teachers in Manay District, Davao Oriental, Philippines. A non-experimental quantitative research design using a correlational method was employed. A total of 135 teachers were surveyed using universal sampling. Data were analyzed using mean, Pearson-r correlation, and regression analysis. The findings revealed that teachers often manifested appealing classroom organization in terms of vision, sensitivity, needs, and risk-taking. However, they sometimes demonstrated building community teaching practices such as supportive, instructive, preventive, and responsive approaches. A significant positive correlation was found between appealing classroom organization and building community teaching. Furthermore, the domains of appealing classroom organization significantly influenced building community teaching practices. Based on these findings, it is recommended that public school teachers participate in DepEd-sponsored conferences and trainings to enhance their professional capabilities. This can contribute to improved teaching practices, better support for learners, and ultimately, higher academic achievement.

Visual Communication Bridging Intercultural Barriers: Collaborative Methods Supporting the Social Inclusion of Young Refugees

This paper explores the possibilities of graphic languages in an intercultural context while analysing the potential of creative methods when working with refugee youth. The practice-based aspect of this research is undertaken with Open Doors Hungary, a community-based design project that creates a programme for unaccompanied refugee minors. The aim of Open Doors is to help young refugees integrate into Hungarian society and develop means of communication and quality relations with the host society. Refugee youth arriving in Hungary face serious problems: the loss of home and community, the traumas suffered during the journey, the cultural differences, and the lack of a common language make their social integration extremely challenging. These challenges are exacerbated by xenophobia and stereotypical opinions about foreigners. Social inclusion requires frequent contact with the local society, and refugee youth need new tools (cultural knowledge, language skills, intercultural skills) to overcome their disadvantages. Since 2013, the author has been working with refugee youth using participatory design tools such as regular creative sessions, workshops, and eight camps based on the integrating role of creativity and art. During these sessions, young refugees and their Hungarian and European peers learned about different visual communication tools and created common messages in the form of videos, animations, photos, posters, booklets, and murals. Through these activities, refugee youth become part of the design process, and the final result is based on their choices. In the theoretical research and field experiences, this paper states that design thinking and the creative process allow interactive cultural exchange, value sharing, safe and open discussions, and community building. As a global language, visual communication can be a tool for intercultural communication, storytelling, and self-expression. The opportunity for refugee youth and their Hungarian peers to work in intercultural teams develops new competencies and creates shared ownership and community.

Need for belonging: Exploring subcultural identity in the Chinese Lolita online community

This study explores the evolution of the Chinese Lolita fashion online communities. The inception of Lolita fashion in China began in the early 2000s and Lolita dressing culture has gained popularity with the development of digital media. We draw on 53 qualitative interviews, alongside ethnographic research, to understand Lolita participants’ perception of Lolita dressing culture and their experience with the Lolita online communities. We critique existing studies that classify Lolita dressing practice as a fashion or popular culture, and we argue that Chinese Lolita participants identify Lolita fashion participation as a subculture, with evidence of community building and identity construction involving rebellion against mainstream culture. This inquiry into the dynamics of digitally mediated communities formed by dedicated Lolita participants uncovers the evolution of Lolita online communities which exhibit a three-type typology: cohesive community, loose community and deconstructed community. We further critique the existing definitions and understanding of online communities. We argue that components such as a sense of belonging, alongside clear boundaries and rules, should still be integral to the definition of online communities. Lolita participants persistently desire a cohesive online community to attain a sense of belonging and to exhibit their subcultural identity.

Agrivoltaic systems towards the European green deal and agricultural policies: a review

Excessive exploitation of natural resources has an environmental impact on ecosystems due to demographic and economic growth, and energy demand. For this reason, world economies have been implementing policy tools to achieve eco-friendly energy growth, minimizing environmental impact. It is necessary to increase Renewable Energies (RE) fraction in terms of electricity supply, improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption in greenhouses as well as in the agricultural sector. Thus, the European Green Deal (EGD) is a sustainable package of measures which, due to the ecological use of natural resources, strengthens the resilience of European food systems. The EGD’s objectives include: ensuring food security, reducing environmental impact, and supporting the farm to fork strategy and energy communities. The aim of this review is to present innovative energy technologies integrated with agrivoltaic systems to produce and utilize energy with eco-friendly methods. In this review, agrivoltaic systems were presented in the EGD perspective, since, as shown by several studies, they increase simultaneously clean energy production and crop yield, avoiding limitations in land use. As agrivoltaic systems produce energy by the installation of PV panels, an overview of PV technology was provided. PV panels can feed electricity to the power grid. Nowadays, since there are many impoverished rural areas which do not have access to electricity, a lot of projects have been developed that utilize power generation from microgrids combined with hybrid systems (e.g., wind and solar energy) to feed agricultural facilities or community buildings.

Finally, a Researcher Development and Education Skills Framework for an Open University

While there is an ongoing advocacy for transformative higher education through a collaborative research culture in a national university system (Almores, 2024; Cubillan, 2024), there lacks an explicit and unified framework for researcher development of valuable skills and competencies to inform its typology of research training, supervision and mentoring (Villanueva, 2024). We propose a researcher development and education framework to benefit open and distance elearning programs, or ODeL programs situated in the national university’s Open University constituent unit with a wide reach of students locally and in Southeast Asia (Alfonso, 2019). The framework is a by-product of our sustained intellectual and intertextual networking, engagements with an international network of researchers in doctoral education and consultations with teacher-researchers and other stakeholders in an open university. The framework is underpinned by the identity-trajectory theory, self-determination theory and the community of inquiry for learning community building in harnessing positive research student experiences (Villanueva & Eacersall, 2024). Key areas of the framework are namely, research as a personal and scholarly practice, a reflective practice, a collaborative practice and a technology-enabled practice. Surrounding these key areas are shared values of: (i) excellence, rigor and creativity; (ii) agency and wellbeing; (iii) sense of community, social responsibility and service to others; and, (iv) integrity, agency and future-ready. Further validation of the framework was conducted through focused group discussions across three faculties of study. Collaborative reflections among faculty members and research students were undertaken to further define specific research competencies as well as mindsets. A natural outcome was the conceptualization of three courses pilot-test the application of the framework in varied learning spaces for a range of learners within the Open University unit. MyPORTAL Course 1 is a formal course for graduate-level students crafting their personalized learning plans for selected research-related outputs while ASCEND Course 2 is non-formal short course for professional research staff and students to navigate their academic writing and research with the use of Generative AIs. WORKSPACE Course 3 is a self-paced micro-course as an opportunity for faculty members to spend dedicated sensemaking on current practices in mentoring and research supervision. These courses are meant to operationalize intentional learning alliance and community building to harness researcher identity development and sense of agency among research students in ODeL programs. Further research is recommended in launching these courses and towards the creation of graduate research support teams with researcher development specialists and volunteer research trainers and learning designers. The teams are meant to go beyond administerial functions to ensure exemplary pedagogy and practices, benefiting both research supervisors and their students. The study all the more highlights the Open University’s unique identity as a progressive driver of innovation and within a dominant residential-based university system’s seeking to translate the transformative education rhetoric into actual practice at the program and course levels. Finally, we lay our claim of an ODeL research culture that is truly open, collaborative and future-ready.

Affinity spaces

This poster (Padlet ‘Collaborative reflection on AI’) showcases a professional development approach that uses Padlet as an affinity space (Gee, 2004; Honeychurch, 2023) for educators to collaboratively explore and reflect on their experiences with Generative AI (GenAI) in education. Following Vallor’s distinction between ease of creation (a key affordance of AI) and challenges of creative expression (a solely human capacity), we found that Padlet was an accessible tool for creating virtual affinity spaces, and that the Padlet format offers a visual representation of a collaborative method of co-creating that ASCILITE attendees can interact with, using a range of multimodal creation tools, including AI-based features available in Padlet (image creator, text-to-speech, and a poll creator). This poster may function as a catalyst for conference attendees to reflect on their own position in this rapidly developing space, and as a model of practice that educators can adapt to their own contexts to design GenAI-integrated learning experiences. Educators need novel ways to make sense of the changing nature of education with GenAI (Vallis et al., 2023) and advance both research and practice in technology-enabled learning. Drawing on a paradigm for academic development that is centred on the notions of construction and co-construction as a process of learning (Pimmer et al., 2016, p. 495), this inquiry used Padlet to provide an affinity space for this sense-making. Affinity spaces differ from communities of practice in having a flat hierarchy instead of a periphery of less experienced practitioners around a core of experts; people enter an affinity space as interactants (“affines”), rather than members (Gee, 2005). In this inquiry, a Padlet provides a “portal” (Calder et al., 2021, p. 448) to an affinity space, a space where contributors who have varying levels of (GenAI) expertise can bond around a shared endeavour (for a comparable use of Padlet to house a ‘thinktank’ for a scholarly project in teaching and learning, see Coleman, 2023). The Padlet serves as both an interactive platform for educators to engage with various perspectives on generative AI in higher education and a model for future learning activities. The aim is to facilitate knowledge sharing and community building around GenAI in education: as Timperley (2008, p.19) states, “participation in a professional community with one’s colleagues is an integral part of professional learning that impacts positively on students”. The collaborative aspect of this inquiry sparked conversations, introduced collaborators to new tools, and stimulated reflection. It encouraged a patchwork of contributions in a variety of formats to provoke more perspectives. It allowed expression of sociotechnical imaginaries about GenAI (Costello, 2024; Dishon, 2024), including themes of “overwhelm to excitement”; “creative potential to concerns of control”; and perceptions of GenAI from “uncanny to real”, and demonstrated that sharing creative practices in a virtual space allows educators to develop new knowledge about their experiences, concerns, and insights about integrating AI into their educational practices.

Lessons from Re-Writing the Declaration, a virtual, participatory play

ABSTRACT The article details some of the process of creating and performing the participatory, virtual play, Re-Writing the Declaration, which invited the audience to re-imagine our nation’s founding through a Black, queer, feminist lens. The article highlights the unique challenges and opportunities of creating theatre in a virtual space, particularly the use of Zoom’s chat function as a tool for audience participation and community building. The author reflects on the ensemble’s shared identity as educators and how this shaped the play’s creation and performance. The article concludes by suggesting potential applications for the play in the field of Theatre for Young Audiences and emphasizing the importance of centering marginalized voices in the creation of theatre.

Weaving Community Intersecting Identities and Support Networks in Urban Immigrant Settings

This abstract uses Monica Ali's book “Brick Lane” to study how gender, class, and ethnicity interact to form social networks and support systems for immigrant women in urban settings. Using intersectional theory as a framework, the study looks at how different immigrant communities' development of solidarity, rivalry, and cooperation is impacted by intersecting identities. Putting social networks and support systems in context is the first step in the study, which aims to help immigrants adapt, integrate, and live successfully in urban environments. Next, it gives a synopsis of “Brick Lane,” emphasizing how the experiences of important people and the Bangladeshi immigrant community in East End, London, are portrayed. Investigating how common identities and experiences promote community cohesiveness, the study looks at examples of solidarity among immigrant women. It looks at how indispensable informal networks are for offering both practical and emotional assistance, such as friendships, family ties, and neighborhood associations. In addition, the examination reveals obstacles and conflicts among immigrant groups, including rivalry for assets, standing, and prospects. It takes into account how overlapping identities and power dynamics influence relationships between immigrant women, including disputes about resources, social norms, and hierarchies. The study presents instances of immigrant women working together and taking collective action despite these obstacles. It highlights moments in which they unite to speak out about shared issues and fight for their rights, offering tactics for building resilience and empowerment among immigrant populations. Finally, this research sheds light on the complex dynamics of overlapping identities and social networks among metropolitan immigrant women. It adds to a greater understanding of the complexities of immigrant social networks and their consequences for community building and empowerment by looking at the experiences of characters in “Brick Lane” and drawing on intersectional theory. The results provide implications for future studies, policies, and practices that seek to assist immigrant women in negotiating the opportunities and problems associated with urban migration.

Community engagement in rural and urban marginalized communities in Jamaica: Building community resilience in crisis

ABSTRACT In the Caribbean, Jamaica mobilized strategies to ensure that the most vulnerable were protected against the threats and fears of COVID-19 and other crises over time. One strategy involved wide-scale collaboration with public and private sectors, non-governmental and community-based organizations, and volunteers. This study describes the approach taken by stakeholders in response to the needs of vulnerable residents in marginalized communities, and to highlight the experiences building community resilience during COVID-19. Three questions guided the research: 1) What major issues that affected the community during the COVID-19 crisis? 2) What measures have been implemented to help communities manage and adapt coping mechanism during this crisis? and 3) How has the community shown resilience and recovery in mitigating crises? A descriptive research design was employed comprising focus groups and interviews. We sampled 28 participants from 7 non-governmental organizations and 12 communities in rural and urban Jamaica. The analysis generated policy recommendations.

ANALISIS DESKRIPTIF KUALITATIF IMPLEMENTASI WORD OF MOUTH DALAM KOMUNIKASI PEMASARAN PRODUK BROOKLAND COFFEE

This research aims to explore and describe exactly how the application of word of mouth marketing communication in Brookland Coffee's product marketing strategy. The research method uses a descriptive qualitative approach by conducting direct observations and in-depth interviews with key informants consisting of the owner, baristas, and consumers of Brookland Coffee. The results showed that Brookland Coffee consistently implements a word of mouth strategy by prioritizing aspects of trust and consumer confidence. This strategy is implemented through a family approach, networking, and community building, especially the bicycle community. The research conclusion revealed that the effectiveness of word of mouth succeeded in strengthening Brookland Coffee's marketing communications, supported by consistent product quality, good service (hospitality), and the use of Instagram social media as a supporting platform for marketing strategies. Brookland Coffee succeeded in building a strong brand identity through a combination of offline and online word of mouth communication.

‘Let the dead bury the dead’ (Mt 8:22): An African theological funeral thought

In Africa, life, death and burial are issues of survival. There is a perceived connection and dialogue between the living and the dead; hence, life continues after death. Although one seizes to live in this material world, life continues in the spirit world. Like any other rite of passage, funerals are key aspects of African life. The living has a responsibility of decently burying their dead or the living dead. Failure to respect the dead during and after burial is believed to be a curse that disrupts life for the future generations. This article seeks to articulate the understanding of Matthew 8:22, considering the African understanding of death and funeral rites among Africans. There is a need to interpret Jesus’ hyperbolic statement that emphasises the need for unwavering dedication to engage in the ministry of Christ in the context of caring for one’s parents and loved ones even when they die and need burial.Contribution: The study attempts to address the dilemma that some Christians are faced with, when being advised not to consider attending funerals as an important matter of building faith and relationships, with the use or misuse of biblical verses like Matthew 8:22. This study further seeks to demonstrate that community building via funerals is one of the African- rich practices.

Examining the Utilisation of Pascal’s Triangle for Community Development and Allocation of Resources in Eastern Uganda

Challenges ranging from resource scarcity to social deprivation and environmental concerns confront the East Region of Uganda. Let’s focus on Pascal’s Triangle as a conceptual model to deal with the problems of unjust resource distribution among communities. This model, which is a triangular arrangement of numbers, affords an opportunity to gain useful insights into community interactions and the process of resource distribution. Understanding Pascal’s triangle’s mathematical nature is a key driving force behind realistic and feasible resource allocation methods and community development approaches. Equal resource distribution methods, clear resource allocation mechanisms, community involvement, and multi-level cooperation are essential for promoting fairness and resilience. East Ugandan communities celebrate diversity as a resource for social cohesion, creativity, and resilience. Collaboration and unity are keys to getting over the difficulties and achieving great heights. It creates resilience and sustainability through community-based organisations, cooperative ventures, and participatory decision-making processes. When involved in solving complex problems, education serves as a key tool for empowering individuals and communities. Participatory decision-making creates a degree of transparency and representativeness in resource allocation. Merging community building and resource deployment with SDGs ensures sustainability and durability. Policies and programmes that address gender issues and encourage community participation are the keys to improving inclusivity. This review article examines Community Building and Resource Allocation: Learning from the Pascal Triangle in Eastern Uganda: Insights. We used data from the last decade (2014–2024) available from many reliable data sources. The findings advocate for community participation in decision-making, the implementation of policies that promote gender equality and social inclusion, collaboration among stakeholders, and the prioritization of education and capacity building, in addition to the integration of Sustainable Development Goals into community development plans and the strengthening of local governance institutions for equitable resource distribution. To solve complicated issues in the east of Uganda, it’s imperative to put more emphasis on equal resource allocation, community mobilisation, and social integration. Apply the insights from Pascal’s Triangle to foster communities that are adaptable, inclusive, and stable. Keywords: Community Building, Resource Allocation, Pascal’s Triangle, East Uganda, Resilience, Sustainable Development Goals

Trouble in Paradise? Understanding Mastodon Admin's Motivations, Experiences, and Challenges Running Decentralised Social Media

Decentralised social media platforms are increasingly being recognised as viable alternatives to their centralised counterparts. Among these, Mastodon stands out as a popular alternative, offering a citizen-powered option distinct from larger and centralised platforms like Twitter/X. However, the future path of Mastodon remains uncertain, particularly in terms of its challenges and the long-term viability of a more citizen-powered internet. In this paper, following a pre-study survey, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 Mastodon instance administrators, including those who host instances to support marginalised and stigmatised communities, to understand their motivations and lived experiences of running decentralised social media. Our research indicates that while decentralised social media offers significant potential in supporting the safety, identity and privacy needs of marginalised and stigmatised communities, they also face considerable challenges in content moderation, community building and governance. We emphasise the importance of considering the community's values and diversity when designing future support mechanisms.

"Guilds" as Worker Empowerment and Control in a Chinese Data Work Platform

Data work plays a fundamental role in the development of algorithmic systems and the AI industry. It is often performed in business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and crowdsourcing platforms, involving a global and distributed workforce as well as networks of collaborative actors. Previous work on community building among data workers centers organization and mutual support or focuses on the structuring and instrumentalization of crowdworker groups for complicated projects. We add to these lines of research by focusing on a specific form of community building encouraged and facilitated by platforms in China: guilds. Based on ethnographic work on a Chinese crowdsourcing platform and 14 semi-structured interviews with data workers, our findings show that guilds are a form of both worker empowerment and control. With this work, we add a nuanced empirical case to the interconnection of BPOs, online communities and crowdsourcing platforms in the current data production sector in China, thus expanding previous investigations on global perspectives of data production. We discuss guilds in relation to individual workers and highlight their effects on data work, including efficient coordination, enhanced standardization, and flattened power structure.

“PoV: You are reading an academic article.” The memetic performance of affiliation in TikTok’s platform vernacular

This article investigates the characteristics and communicative values of the popular PoV meme on TikTok to uncover mechanisms of community building on the platform. An analysis of the content, form, and stance of 250 videos revealed that creators of PoV memes lip-sync to audio remediated from pop culture and mimic how they imagine “you” would act in a given scenario. I offer the concept of “echoic affiliation” to describe how PoV memes leverage TikTok’s “use this sound” function to construct ephemeral bonds between users. Furthermore, PoV memes textually articulate multiple perspectives, producing intersubjective encounters that reflect a platform imaginary in which “the algorithm” efficiently clusters similar people on the same “side” of the app. In the conclusions, I present a novel definition of PoV memes and reflect on the pivotal role of affiliation for TikTok’s platform vernacular.

““The last bastion of democracy”: teachers’ perceptions of the democratic potential of English curriculum”

Purpose Faced with increasing systemic constraints and pressures, secondary school English teachers often implement transactional approaches to pedagogy and curriculum aimed at improving student results on external exams, which are then used to rank schools. Despite the pressure to teach this way, teachers acknowledge the power of literature, literacy and language in the English curriculum as vehicles for educating students to be critical readers of texts for a democratic society. As such, the purpose of this paper is to share perspectives of secondary English teachers in relation to the democratic potential of their subject. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative case study method, this paper shares data from six Australian secondary school English teachers who work in culturally diverse schools. Teachers were interviewed about their perspectives regarding how the Australian English curriculum enabled and/or constrained the teaching of critical and creative thinking in support of a democratic society. Findings Using Marri’s model of multicultural democratic education, interview data were deductively analyzed to identify elements of the model, including critical pedagogies, disciplinary content and community building. Teachers were concerned that building critical literacy skills was minimized by the system and students’ personal dispositions. Originality/value The English teachers in this study held a strong belief that the subject of English could emancipate students, although they felt it might be “the last bastion” for a democratic education.

Spontaneous social media: An exploratory study of young adults’ BeReal uses and gratifications

ABSTRACT Spontaneous social media like BeReal encourage users to post quickly after receiving notifications, leaving little time for planning. However, there has been limited research on why people choose to adopt or avoid spontaneous social media. The current Uses and Gratifications (U&G) framed qualitative study sought to understand why college attending young adults (n = 143) in the United States used or did not use BeReal. Participants completed an online survey with open-ended items, and some (n = 8) additionally completed in-depth interviews. Three themes were constructed through conventional qualitative content analysis: (a) the pursuit of authenticity, (b) audience captivation, and (c) social connection. Participants reported that their coolness, novel, realism, community, authentic gatekeeping, community building, and play/fun needs were gratified using BeReal. Some nonusers were unaware of BeReal. Nonusers and past users reported that the app did not meet their community building, play/fun, activity, or choice needs.

Citizen science promotes knowledge, skills and collective action to monitor and protect freshwater streams

Abstract Citizen science has great potential to foster ecological knowledge, skills and collective action for biodiversity conservation. To date, however, there are few experimental studies of behaviour change outcomes induced by citizen science. We assessed the effects of citizen science in ecological stream monitoring on participants' individual and collective behaviour and action intentions to protect streams beyond the immediate scope of the citizen science project. For this we applied a three‐wave, quasi‐experimental survey design with a citizen science treatment group (N = 213 participants of the project FLOW in Germany) and two control groups (waiting control group: N = 92, panel control group: N = 250). In addition, we analysed citizen science effects on potential predictors of freshwater conservation behaviour, such as knowledge, skills, awareness of stream stressors and group identification. Results of linear mixed‐model analysis showed that, compared to the control groups, citizen scientists significantly increased their objective stream‐related knowledge, their self‐reported stream monitoring skills and their awareness of stream stressors. These changes remained stable 6 weeks after the citizen science intervention. Notably, citizen scientists also reported increased identification with their citizen science project group and higher levels of collective and personal behaviour to protect streams at posttest (e.g. contacting local politicians with ideas for stream protection or using biodegradable detergents). Analysis revealed that increases in group identification and collective stream protection behaviour were significantly correlated. We could show that the citizen science intervention was particularly effective for participants with high intrinsic motivation and for those with low prior knowledge and experience in stream monitoring. Synthesis and applications. Citizen science can serve as a useful tool to promote ecological understanding, awareness and collective action to conserve freshwater streams. By fostering volunteer skills and community building, citizen science projects can empower participants with different levels of experience to engage in freshwater monitoring and protection. Decision makers should actively support approaches for citizen participation in freshwater monitoring, recognising that collective engagement of diverse community members is needed to finally meet the European Water Framework Directive's goal of restoring the good ecological status of freshwater ecosystems. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.