Mugar, Gabriel, et al. "Being present in online communities: learning in citizen science." Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Communities and Technologies. 2015.

Community & Technology researchers investigate how online community members learn to contribute effectively, emphasizing practice access, feedback, and relationship building. However, not all crowdsourcing environments offer these opportunities. This study explores volunteer learning in the citizen science project, Planet Hunters, through observation, interviews, and trace ethnography, extending situated learning theories to include various learning modes. Findings reveal volunteers utilize multiple forms of access, feedback, and relationship building beyond communal relations, including authority-subject and agent-centered approaches.