Your Wild Life is relocating to the West Coast this week to participate in the inaugural meeting of the Citizen Science Association in San Jose, California. We’re looking forward to two FUN-FILLED days of building connections and exchanging ideas with 600 other scientists, volunteers, data managers, educators, and science communicators who – like us – are dedicated to engaging the public in scientific research.

Together with our colleagues and collaborators at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, we’ll be sharing insights and lessons learned from many Your Wild Life projects including Belly Button Biodiversity, Wild Life of Our Homes, Cat Tracker and Students Discover.

In advance of the meeting, the Citizen Science Association launched a Twitter campaign called #WhyICitSci. Think of it as a virtual pep rally, drawing international attention our rapidly expanding field. They want everyone – those attending the conference and those who are not – to tell the world what you love about citizen science and what drives you to participate.

Here’s Why We Cit Sci – Now it’s your turn to chime in!

We’ll be tweeting up a storm throughout the conference. Follow the conversation through Twitter via the meeting hashtag: #CitSci2015.

And check out this superb listing of symposia, panels, talks and posters that will be presented by our team and close collaborators (bold):