CITIZAN’s digital toolkit: allowing citizen scientists to monitor England’s at-risk coastal heritage
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 15/10/2018

England’s coastal and intertidal archaeology is increasingly at risk from winds, waves, rising sea levels and ferocious winter storms and can be revealed suddenly and disappear just as suddenly. However there is no statutorily informed intervention for this heritage outside of the national planning framework for this at-risk archaeology and so no infrastructure in place to systematically record these freshly exposed sites before the next storm potentially washes them away. CITiZAN (the Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network) is a community archaeology and citizen science project set up in direct response to these threats which raises awareness of at-risk archaeology across England. CITiZAN runs training sessions, teaching local volunteers to identify, survey and monitor the long-term fate of their local coastal sites. This paper will discuss the digital methods on which CITiZAN rely to not only engage with but also to mobilise wider audiences, including 3D photogrammetry of intertidal sites, an open-access interactive website and free smart phone app. These tools allow those who cannot physically access the demanding environment of the foreshore to still interact with, interrogate and interpret intertidal heritage. The smart phone app is a rapid recording tool which allows not only trained CITiZAN volunteers but also any coastal user with a keen eye and a smart phone to record fragile coastal and intertidal heritage and monitor changes brought about by erosion and storm damage. CITiZAN volunteers are empowered to be not just data collectors but true citizen scientists, and are encouraged to discuss their findings and provide preliminary analysis on our blog and at our annual national conference. This digital toolkit enables the public to ‘take responsibility’ for the archaeology in their local areas, giving them a sense of pride and ownership over their heritage while they make real contributions to the archaeological field.

Author: Ostrich, Stephanie - CITiZAN (Coastal and Intertidal Zone Archaeological Network); MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) (Presenting author)