Engaging citizen seismologists worldwide

Most of what we know about Earth's structure, dynamics, hazards, resources and exploration for raw materials comes from seismology. But it is only recently, thanks to cheap computers and the internet, that it has become possible to introduce the subject in schools and include live displays in museums and geoparks for the general public. As the educational value of the subject is becoming more widely appreciated, the need for this international discussion workshop for Educational and Citizen Seismology became apparent (see box “Details of the meeting – and the next ones”). The meeting was a forum for experts in educational and citizen seismology to meet, discuss areas of mutual interest and discover potential synergies and future collaborations (figure 1). It aimed for a balance between talks and discussion or demonstration sessions. There were keynote addresses from those most experienced in developing equipment and running school and citizen seismology programmes, in order to facilitate future collaboration and encourage the growing number of institutions around the globe interested in developing such programmes. There were breakout discussion groups on motivating leaders and maintaining engagement, hardware and software development, data sharing standards and archiving.