Citizen science describes methodologies and technologies that allow members of the public to contribute actively to gathering, improving and analysing data. Museums, particularly natural history and science museums have started to utilise citizen science techniques to provide a way to increase the speed and volume of information processing that can be undertaken. Datasets published openly and online can be made available for transcription, pattern recognition and visual analysis. The skills of enthusiastic amateurs can be utilised to gather new data for research and to add to existing collections datasets. This panel presents the benefits to museum research and collections of citizen science approaches, along with case studies and discussions of technologies for large scale public data analysis. Presenters: Elycia J Wallis, Manager, Online Collections, Museum Victoria Arfon Smith, Director, Citizen Science, Adler Planetarium and Technical Lead for The Zooniverse, Adler Planetarium Jeff Holmes, Digital Learning Editor, Encyclopedia of Life Presented Thursday, Nov 8, 2012 at the Museum Computer Network Conference in Seattle, WA. mcn.edu