Folklore

Identification (biology)

Physics

Literature

Data collection

Sociology

Publishing

Library science

Archaeology

Political science

Ecology

Citizen science

Newspaper

Ethnobotany

Geography

Medicinal plants

Vernacular

Action (physics)

Media studies

Social science

Public relations

Computer science

Literacy

Traditional medicine

Botany

Quantum mechanics

Medicine

Biology

Plants

Presently, collecting data through citizen science (CS) is increasingly being used in botanical, zoological and other studies. However, until now, ethnobotanical studies have underused CS data collection methods. This study analyses the results of the appeal organized by the physician Dr. Mihkel Ostrov (1863-1940), which can be considered the first-ever internationally known systematic example of ethnopharmacological data collection involving citizens. We aim to understand what factors enhanced or diminished the success of the collaboration between Ostrov and the citizens of that time. The reliability of Ostrov's collection was enhanced by the herbarium specimens (now missing) used in the identification of vernacular names. The collection describes the use of 65 species from 27 genera. The timing of its collection coincided with not only a national awakening and recently obtained high level of literacy but also the activation of civil society, people's awareness of the need to collect folklore, the voluntary willingness of newspapers to provide publishing space and later to collect data, and the use of a survey method focusing on a narrow topic. While Ostrov's only means of communication with the public was through newspapers, today, with electronic options, social media can also be used.

Early Citizen Science Action in Ethnobotany: The Case of the Folk Medicine Collection of Dr. Mihkel Ostrov in the Territory of Present-Day Estonia, 1891–1893