Science, Technology and Society

Search Engines Matter: From Educating Users Towards Engaging with Online Health Information Practices

by Astrid Mager

Mager, A. (2012) Search Engines Matter: From educating users towards engaging with online health information practices, Policy & Internet 4(2), special issue on eHealth. (free download with guest account)

While the internet is often discussed as empowering or endangering patients due to broadening access to medical and... more While the internet is often discussed as empowering or endangering patients due to broadening access to medical and health-related information, little is known about the way patients actually get informed about medical conditions and how the technology shapes their practices. This article draws on 40 user observations and 40 qualitative interviews to explore how users employ the web to obtain knowledge about a chronic disease in the Austrian context. Following concepts from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) it elaborates how users’ individual medical preferences and search engines’ mechanisms of pre-filtering information co-shape online health information practices. This analysis exemplifies that search engines are no passive intermediaries, but rather actively shape how users browse through, select and evaluate health information in the context of their own bodies of knowledge. Accordingly, new skills are required on the part of users, but also on the part of medical professionals and policy makers. Both policy makers and doctors are invited to engage with users’ highly individual search practices and establish more dialogue-oriented and technology-focused health policy measures, rather than trying to educate users with standardized quality criteria for websites not responding to users’ online routines and needs, as will be finally concluded.

Uncorrected Insight: Metaphor and Transcendence "After Truth" in Qualitative Inquiry

by Timothy McGettigan

Wikileaks, Karl Marx and You

by Alistair Davidson

The free culture movement exists as a consequence of the internet’s political economy. Personal computers have... more The free culture movement exists as a consequence of the internet’s political economy. Personal computers have radically transformed the economic nature of information.

Un ciel de fer et de bronze

by Florent Mathias

Publié dans 'les Cahiers de Science et Vie' n°129 (mai 2012), pp. 27-31)

La question de l'existence d'une forme d'astronomie antérieure aux périodes historiques en Europe occidentale a... more La question de l'existence d'une forme d'astronomie antérieure aux périodes historiques en Europe occidentale a longtemps divisé archéologues et astronomes. Le sujet a malheureusement fait l'objet de nombreuses récupérations pour étayer des thèses pseudo-scientifiques, ce qui a contribué à le discréditer aux yeux de la communauté scientifique.

Au regard d'un certain nombre de découvertes archéologiques parmi les plus spectaculaires de ces vingt dernières années, la question mérite cependant d'être de nouveau considérée sérieusement.

Le présent article est une courte synthèse présentant les principaux résultats des recherches que je mène depuis maintenant deux ans dans le cadre d'un Master Recherche en Archéologie Protohistorique à l'Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.

The communication of technoscientific controversies on the environment in the Web 2.0

by Giuseppe Tipaldo

Co-authored with Andrea Lorenzet
accepted @ PCST 2012, Florence, 18-20 April 2012
Panel Debating Environmental Controversies

Based on the case of the High Speed Train (TAV) in the Val di SUsa area as it appears in Web 2.0 platforms (such as... more Based on the case of the High Speed Train (TAV) in the Val di SUsa area as it appears in Web 2.0 platforms (such as blogs, social networks and the new-coming citizen journalism portals), the paper aims at exploring how Web technologies at their cutting edge are changing technoscientific communication, arenas of public discussion and, probably, public participation in technoscientific issues. Applying different content analysis techniques , the work is also intended to enucleate the most shared issues and topoi, the main actors involved into the public debates as well as the argumentations they used the most to sustain their point of view. Finally, old and new models of technoscientific communication coming out from the corpora are critically discussed.

GIS for Marginalization or Empowerment In Environmental Management: a South Indian Example

by Martin Bunch

Bunch, M. J. (2001). "GIS for Marginalization or Empowerment in Environmental Management: A South Indian Example." The Indian Geographical Journal 77(2): 1-17.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) exist to transform data into knowledge and present this knowledge in various... more Geographic Information Systems (GIS) exist to transform data into knowledge and present this knowledge in various formats for the purpose of supporting decisions. In doing so, GIS are portrayed as knowledge-based systems that are free from bias. In fact, GIS is a socially constructed technology. The entire process of GIS production, from software development to data creation, analysis, visualization and interpretation of GIS output, is characterized by political, economic and social motivations. This paper presents a model of communication for GIS that illuminates the potential for GIS to both marginalise and empower vulnerable and excluded groups in environmental management and planning situations at each stage of the GIS production process. Inclusive and empowering uses of GIS in recent research in South India are discussed. In particular, GIS was central to a process of conceptual and environmental modelling intended to support rehabilitation and management of the Cooum River in Chennai. This process incorporated the perspectives of citizens and NGOs into expression of system relationships that were represented in a GIS-based Decision Support System and simulation model. The process led to identification of qualitatively different kinds of system interventions than were tried (and failed) in the past to rehabilitate this extremely stressed system.

Food, Drugs and TV: The Social Study of Corporate Science

by Bart Penders

Schleifer, D. & Penders, B. (2011) Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society 31 (6): 431-434.

Michalis Lianos & Mary Douglas: Dangerization and the End of Deviance

by Michalis Lianos

Carse A (2012) Nature as infrastructure: Making and managing the Panama Canal Watershed.” Social Studies of Science 32(4).

by Ashley Carse

In: Special Issue on Water and Science and Technology Studies, Samer Alatout & Jessica Barnes, eds. Comments by Karen Bakker & Wiebe Bijker.

The Panama Canal requires an enormous volume of fresh water to function. A staggering 52 million gallons are released... more The Panama Canal requires an enormous volume of fresh water to function. A staggering 52 million gallons are released into the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with each of the 35–45 ships that transit the canal daily. The water that facilitates interoceanic transportation and global connection falls as rain across the watershed surrounding the canal and is managed by an extensive system of locks, dams, and hydrographic stations. These technologies – which correspond with the popular understanding of infrastructure as hardware – were largely constructed during the early 20th century. Since the late 1970s, however, administrators and other concerned actors have responded to actual and potential water scarcity within the canal system by developing a managerial approach that integrates engineered technologies and new techniques of land-use planning and environmental regulation across the watershed. Through this process, techno-politics and environmental politics have become increasingly inextricable in the transit zone. Whereas canal administrators previously emphasized the control of water in its liquid state, watershed management emerged as an attempt to manipulate water flows through the legal protection of forests and restriction of agriculture. As forested landscapes have been assigned new infrastructural functions (water storage and regulation), campesino farmers have been charged with a new responsibility (forest conservation) often at odds with their established agricultural practices. Consequently, I bring together scholarship on infrastructure in science and technology studies and political ecology in anthropology and geography to examine why, how, and to what effect landscapes around the canal have been transformed from agricultural frontier to managed watershed. I suggest that the concept of infrastructure is a useful theoretical tool and empirical topic for analyzing the politics of environmental service provision. By paying attention to the contingent history of engineering decisions and the politics embedded in the changing socio-technical system that delivers water to the canal, we can better understand the distributional politics of environmental service provision in Panama today.

Resistance to impact criteria can lead to a tightening of the accountability noose

by J Britt Holbrook

Co-authored with Robert Frodeman, published on London School of Economics Impact blog.

Vague impact criteria are a blessing in disguise. Researchers who push against criteria that allow considerable... more Vague impact criteria are a blessing in disguise. Researchers who push against criteria that allow considerable autonomy are foolish and should learn from overseas contemporaries that a clearer definition of impact requirements is not dissimiliar from a tightening of the noose.

Science: For Science’s or Society’s Sake? Owning the National Science Foundation’s Broader Impacts Criterion

by J Britt Holbrook

Co-authored with Robert Frodeman, published in 'Science Progress'.

Describes changes in US NSF's merit review criteria. Argues that scientists are more likely to preserve their autonomy... more Describes changes in US NSF's merit review criteria. Argues that scientists are more likely to preserve their autonomy by embracing -- or 'owning' -- the new Broader Impacts Criterion rather than resisting it.

L. Magnani (2012), Scientific Models Are Not Fictions. Model-Based Science as Epistemic Warfare

by Lorenzo Magnani

In L. Magnani and P. Li (eds.), Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Western and Eastern Studies, Springer, Heidelberg/Berlin, 2012, pp. 1-38.

In the current epistemological debate scientific models are not only considered as useful devices for explaining facts... more In the current epistemological debate scientific models are not only considered as useful devices for explaining facts or discovering new entities, laws, and theories, but also rubricated under various new labels: from the classical ones, as abstract entities and idealizations, to the more recent, as fictions, surrogates, credible worlds, missing systems, make-believe, parables, functional, epistemic actions, revealing capacities. The paper discusses these approaches showing some of their epistemological inadequacies, also taking advantage of recent results in cognitive science. The main aim is to revise and criticize fictionalism, also reframing the received idea of abstractness and ideality of models with the help of recent results coming from the area of distributed cognition (common coding) and abductive cognition (manipulative). The article also illustrates how scientific modeling activity can be better described taking advantage of the concept of “epistemic warfare”, which sees scientific enterprise as a complicated struggle for rational knowledge in which it is crucial to distinguish epistemic (for example scientific models) from non epistemic (for example fictions, falsities, propaganda) weapons. Finally I will illustrate that it is misleading to analyze models in science by adopting a confounding mixture of static and dynamic aspects of the scientific enterprise. Scientific models in a static perspective (for example when inserted in a textbook) certainly appear fictional to the epistemologist, but their fictional character disappears in case a dynamic perspective is adopted. A reference to the originative role of thought experiment in Galileo’s discoveries and to usefulness of Feyerabend’s counterinduction in criticizing the role of resemblance in model-based cognition is also provided, to further corroborate the thesis indicated by the article title

Tecnología y Marketing: el papel de la retórica comercial en el desarrollo de dispositivos de navegación

by Pedro Mendonça

ARBOR Ciencia, Pensamiento y Cultura (2012), vol. 188-743, pp. 229-241

The Use of Self-Directed Learning to Promote Active Citizenship in Science, Technology, and Society Classes

by Joshua Pearce

Joshua Pearce, "The Use of Self-Directed Learning to Promote Active Citizenship in Science, Technology and Society Classes", Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 21 (4), 312-321, 2001.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the viability of a student directed assignment within collegiate level Science... more The purpose of this paper is to outline the viability of a student directed assignment within collegiate level Science Technology and Society (STS) curricula for the improvement of the utilization of scientific knowledge and technology in society. The assignment, christened the “Do Something!” assignment, is a novel teaching tool that utilizes students’ individual interests to encourage in-depth learning across disciplines and capitalizes on their personal skills and talents to solve real world problems. The “Do Something!” assignment has been utilized in two STS courses at the Pennsylvania State University (STS 100: The Ascent of Humanity and STS 200: Critical Issues in STS). The structure of this assignment allowed students to make small but concrete contributions towards a sustainable future by applying STS principles. Outcomes indicated that (i) students had an overwhelming positive attitude toward the assignment, (ii) students accomplished in-depth understanding of STS issues outside of their individual fields of study, (iii) students perceived a high level of attainment which resulted in a personal fulfillment, and (iv) that this positive perception encourages them to attempt similar socially beneficial actions outside of the classroom.

Interdisciplinary Environmental Education: Communicating and Applying Energy Efficiency for Sustainability

by Joshua Pearce

Joshua Pearce and Chris Russill, "Interdisciplinary Environmental Education: Communicating and Applying Energy Efficiency for Sustainability", Applied Environmental Education and Communication, 4(1), 65-72, 2005.

This paper demonstrates that interdisciplinary alliances on environmental education projects can effectively address... more This paper demonstrates that interdisciplinary alliances on environmental education projects can effectively address the gap between complex environmental problems in the real world and disciplinary curricula in a university. We describe an alliance between an advanced communication course and a general science course wherein we addressed interconnections of energy efficiency, economics, and global climate change with respect to their impact on individuals, local businesses, and society. This project established that an interdisciplinary environmental project focused on local solutions to global problems is both a valuable learning tool for students and an effective method of accelerating the application of appropriate technologies.

Appropedia as a Tool for Service Learning in Sustainable Development

by Joshua Pearce

Joshua M. Pearce, "Appropedia as a Tool for Service Learning in Sustainable Development", Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 3(1), pp.47-55, 2009.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that university students are capable of contributing to sustainable development... more Numerous studies have demonstrated that university students are capable of contributing to sustainable development while improving their academic skills. Unfortunately for many institutions, the expense of sending large cohorts of students on international service learning trips is prohibitive. Yet, students remain enthusiastic and well equipped to assist in sustainable development. This article reports on two pedagogical experiments in service learning that overcame this challenge by providing solutions to sustainable development problems using Appropedia.org, the site for collaborative solutions in sustainability, poverty reduction and international development. The course successfully used Appropedia (1) as a forum for students who were geographically dispersed, (2) for a whole-class writing collaboration, (3) to coordinate a sustainability-focussed outreach campaign to retrofit stop lights in communities throughout Pennsylvania and (4) to review class material with application to technologies for sustainable development.

Student Inquiries into Neglected Research for a Sustainable Society: Communication and Application

by Joshua Pearce

Joshua Pearce and Chris Russill, "Student Inquiries Into Neglected Research For A Sustainable Society: Communication and Application", Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society, 23(4), 311-320, 2003.

By applying the interdisciplinary approach of Science, Technology & Society, students can solve often-neglected... more By applying the interdisciplinary approach of Science, Technology & Society, students can solve often-neglected research problems of shifting society’s operation towards a sustainable state. A recent Penn State University student research report entitled “The Mueller Report: Moving from Sustainability Indicators to Sustainability Action”, contained a detailed ecological analysis of one campus building and addressed methods to optimize its ecological performance in terms of sustainability by utilizing both behavioral and technological improvements. This paper analyzes the factors that affected the successful implementation of sustainable practices generated by student research: i) choosing a receptive primary audience, ii) establishing interpersonal relationships with decision makers, iii) saturating the local media, iv) making sustainability convenient, and v) demonstrating fiscal responsibility.

L. Magnani (2012), Structural and Technology-Mediated Violence

by Lorenzo Magnani

International Journal of Technoethics, 2(4), 1-19, October-December 2011

A kind of common prejudice is the one that tends to assign the attribute “violent” only to physical and possiblymore A kind of common prejudice is the one that tends to assign the attribute “violent” only to physical and possibly
bloody acts – homicides, for example – or physical injuries; but linguistic, structural, and other various aspects of violence – also embedded in artifacts – have to be taken into account. The paper will deal with the so-called “technology-mediated violence” taking advantage of the illustration of the case of profiling. If production of knowledge is important and central, this is not always welcome and so people have to acknowledge
that the motto introduced in the book Morality in a Technological World (Magnani, 2007) “knowledge as a duty” has various limitations. Indeed, a warning has to be formulated regarding the problem of identity and cyberprivacy. The author contends that when too much knowledge about people is incorporated in external artificial things, human beings’ “visibility” can become excessive and dangerous. Two aims are in front of people to counteract this kind of technological violence, which also jeopardizes Rechtsstaat and constitutional democracies: preserving people against the various forms of circulation of knowledge about them and building new suitable “technoknowledge” (also to originate new “embodied” legal institutions) to reach this protective result.

E-Democracy and Values in Information Systems Design

by Judith Simon

Published in: LEGITIMACY 2.0 E-DEMOCRACY AND PUBLIC OPINION IN THE DIGITAL AGE, edited by PATRICIA MINDUS, ANDREA GREPPI, MASSIMO CUONO, p. 40-64

In this paper I demonstrate the utility of a Values in Design (VID) perspective for the assessment, the design and... more In this paper I demonstrate the utility of a Values in Design (VID) perspective for the assessment, the design and development of e-democracy tools. In the first part, I give some background information on Values in Design and Value-Sensitive Design and their relevance in the context of e-democracy. In part 2, I analyze three different e-democracy tools from a VID-perspective. The paper ends with some conclusions concerning the merits of VID for e-democracy as well as some considerations concerning the dual tasks of philosophers in assessing and promoting value-sensitive technology design.

The Invasive Ideology | Biologists and conservationists are too eager to demonize non-native species

by Matt Chew

A response to published comments regarding Davis, et al 2011 "Don't Judge Species on their Origins" Co-authored with Scott Carroll.