This research note proposes that it is instructive to ask what happens when evaluative practices ... more This research note proposes that it is instructive to ask what happens when evaluative practices go wrong. It shows how a close study of mistakes and mishaps in evaluation—both in the process of their disclosure and subsequent management—provides important insights into ways in which evaluation practices contribute to performing and sustaining the relations of accountability involved. The note examines two cases: 1) the mistaken award of the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture and 2) the incident in November 2016 when Thomson Reuters notified a large number of scholars that they had been awarded the distinction of being a " Highly Cited Researcher " in their field, only a few hours later to retract these awards. Studying such instances provides insights into what is at stake for participants, the choreography of performing and revealing evaluations, the ways in which different evaluation practices fold together, and the accountability structures which support valuation practices.
‘Reflexive Internet? - the British experience of new electronic technologies’ 125-142 in Manuel Castells (ed) The Network Society: a cross cultural perspective (Edward Elgar, 2004), 2004
A cartoon – well known to scholars in social studies of science – depicts a white-coated scientis... more A cartoon – well known to scholars in social studies of science – depicts a white-coated scientist holding a clipboard, intently taking notes on a group of baboons. Behind him, a sociologist holding a clipboard is intently taking notes on the scientist. The point of the joke is that no single set of observations occurs in a contextual vacuum, that " what the baboons are like " is not straightforwardly , objectively available, but is the upshot of observations which always implicate layers of circumstance and context. Indeed, it is this same situation that gives rise to the oft-noted phenomenon that, for example, baboons observed by German scientists exhibit markedly German characteristics ; that baboons observed by British scientists display remarkably " British " traits, and so on. Importantly, the effect is constitutive of the entity being observed; the baboons become British. Applied to our understanding of the Internet, this general phenomenon suggests a reflexive connection between our ideas about " the Internet " and the circumstances of its apprehension and use. In particular, it is difficult to continue to think of the Internet as some kind of neutral technology around which there are simply differential responses. The nature and meaning of the technology is inseparably bound up with the circumstances of its use. This, in turn, has implications for our efforts to ask straightforward questions of the kind: is the Internet actually very different in different countries, regions, areas, organizations, groups, households? 1 These observations are important and pertinent at this point in the evolution of Internet studies. The story to be told in this chapter is about a set of UK-based attempts to research the " social dimensions " of electronic technologies. But it is also a story about how to do such research while attempting to sustain a questioning attitude to the technologies under study. The first part of the chapter reviews some features of the evolution of Internet studies that now make a more reflexive appraisal of the Internet timely. In particular, it is argued, it is now time to take a hard analytic look at how we are using the 125
There is a need to develop an analytic frame-work that can help decision making about the nature ... more There is a need to develop an analytic frame-work that can help decision making about the nature and style of interactive research activity in social science. Substantial intellectual re-sources for doing this can be found in science and technology studies which offer insight into the ...
Abstract A general account is presented of the emergence, growth, and decline of scientific resea... more Abstract A general account is presented of the emergence, growth, and decline of scientific research networks and their associated problem areas. Research networks are seen to pass through three phases. The first, exploratory phase is distinguished by a lack of effective communication among participants and by the pursuit of imprecisely defined problems. The second phase is one of rapid growth, associated with increasing social and intellectual integration, made possible by improved communication. An increasingly precise scientific ...
This short paper sets out some aspects of the uses and transformations of Science and Technology ... more This short paper sets out some aspects of the uses and transformations of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in recent years, especially as STS is appropriated within new contexts, including management studies and business schools. The paper sets out some of the workshop ...
Our introductory essay in this journal’s 2013 Special Issue on the ‘turn to ontology’ examined th... more Our introductory essay in this journal’s 2013 Special Issue on the ‘turn to ontology’ examined the shift from epistemology to ontology in science and technology studies and explored the implications of the notion of enactment. Three responses to that Special Issue argue that (1) there is no fundamental qualitative difference between the ontological turn and social constructivism, (2) we need to be wary of overly generic use of the term ‘ontology’ and (3) the language of ‘turns’ imposes constraints on the richness and diversity of science and technology studies. In this brief reply, we show how each of those critiques varies in its commitment to circumspection about making objective determinations of reality and to resisting reification. We illustrate our point by considering overlapping discussions in anthropology. This brings out the crucial difference between the science and technology studies slogan ‘it could be otherwise’ and the multinaturalist motto ‘it actually is otherwise’.
This research note proposes that it is instructive to ask what happens when evaluative practices ... more This research note proposes that it is instructive to ask what happens when evaluative practices go wrong. It shows how a close study of mistakes and mishaps in evaluation—both in the process of their disclosure and subsequent management—provides important insights into ways in which evaluation practices contribute to performing and sustaining the relations of accountability involved. The note examines two cases: 1) the mistaken award of the 2017 Oscar for Best Picture and 2) the incident in November 2016 when Thomson Reuters notified a large number of scholars that they had been awarded the distinction of being a " Highly Cited Researcher " in their field, only a few hours later to retract these awards. Studying such instances provides insights into what is at stake for participants, the choreography of performing and revealing evaluations, the ways in which different evaluation practices fold together, and the accountability structures which support valuation practices.
‘Reflexive Internet? - the British experience of new electronic technologies’ 125-142 in Manuel Castells (ed) The Network Society: a cross cultural perspective (Edward Elgar, 2004), 2004
A cartoon – well known to scholars in social studies of science – depicts a white-coated scientis... more A cartoon – well known to scholars in social studies of science – depicts a white-coated scientist holding a clipboard, intently taking notes on a group of baboons. Behind him, a sociologist holding a clipboard is intently taking notes on the scientist. The point of the joke is that no single set of observations occurs in a contextual vacuum, that " what the baboons are like " is not straightforwardly , objectively available, but is the upshot of observations which always implicate layers of circumstance and context. Indeed, it is this same situation that gives rise to the oft-noted phenomenon that, for example, baboons observed by German scientists exhibit markedly German characteristics ; that baboons observed by British scientists display remarkably " British " traits, and so on. Importantly, the effect is constitutive of the entity being observed; the baboons become British. Applied to our understanding of the Internet, this general phenomenon suggests a reflexive connection between our ideas about " the Internet " and the circumstances of its apprehension and use. In particular, it is difficult to continue to think of the Internet as some kind of neutral technology around which there are simply differential responses. The nature and meaning of the technology is inseparably bound up with the circumstances of its use. This, in turn, has implications for our efforts to ask straightforward questions of the kind: is the Internet actually very different in different countries, regions, areas, organizations, groups, households? 1 These observations are important and pertinent at this point in the evolution of Internet studies. The story to be told in this chapter is about a set of UK-based attempts to research the " social dimensions " of electronic technologies. But it is also a story about how to do such research while attempting to sustain a questioning attitude to the technologies under study. The first part of the chapter reviews some features of the evolution of Internet studies that now make a more reflexive appraisal of the Internet timely. In particular, it is argued, it is now time to take a hard analytic look at how we are using the 125
There is a need to develop an analytic frame-work that can help decision making about the nature ... more There is a need to develop an analytic frame-work that can help decision making about the nature and style of interactive research activity in social science. Substantial intellectual re-sources for doing this can be found in science and technology studies which offer insight into the ...
Abstract A general account is presented of the emergence, growth, and decline of scientific resea... more Abstract A general account is presented of the emergence, growth, and decline of scientific research networks and their associated problem areas. Research networks are seen to pass through three phases. The first, exploratory phase is distinguished by a lack of effective communication among participants and by the pursuit of imprecisely defined problems. The second phase is one of rapid growth, associated with increasing social and intellectual integration, made possible by improved communication. An increasingly precise scientific ...
This short paper sets out some aspects of the uses and transformations of Science and Technology ... more This short paper sets out some aspects of the uses and transformations of Science and Technology Studies (STS) in recent years, especially as STS is appropriated within new contexts, including management studies and business schools. The paper sets out some of the workshop ...
Our introductory essay in this journal’s 2013 Special Issue on the ‘turn to ontology’ examined th... more Our introductory essay in this journal’s 2013 Special Issue on the ‘turn to ontology’ examined the shift from epistemology to ontology in science and technology studies and explored the implications of the notion of enactment. Three responses to that Special Issue argue that (1) there is no fundamental qualitative difference between the ontological turn and social constructivism, (2) we need to be wary of overly generic use of the term ‘ontology’ and (3) the language of ‘turns’ imposes constraints on the richness and diversity of science and technology studies. In this brief reply, we show how each of those critiques varies in its commitment to circumspection about making objective determinations of reality and to resisting reification. We illustrate our point by considering overlapping discussions in anthropology. This brings out the crucial difference between the science and technology studies slogan ‘it could be otherwise’ and the multinaturalist motto ‘it actually is otherwise’.
Digitalization and computerization are now pervasive in science. This has deep consequences for o... more Digitalization and computerization are now pervasive in science. This has deep consequences for our understanding of scientific knowledge and of the scientific process, and challenges longstanding assumptions and traditional frameworks of thinking of scientific knowledge. Digital media and computational processes challenge our conception of the way in which perception and cognition work in science, of the objectivity of science, and the nature of scientific objects. They bring about new relationships between science, art and other visual media, and new ways of practicing science and organizing scientific work. Not least, new visual media are being adopted by science studies scholars in their own practice. This volume gathers together thirteen contributions from science studies scholars from anthropology, visual studies and the sociology, history and philosophy of science, reflecting on the way that scientists use images in this age of computerization, and on the way digital technologies are affecting the study of science.
Contributors were involved with the Oxford University conference in 2011, 'Visualisation in the Age of Computerisation', and include:
Chiara Amrosio
Anne Beaulieu
Andreas Birkbak
Annamaria Carusi
Lisa Cartwright
Matt Edgeworth
Peter Galison
Aud Sissel Hoel
Torben Elgaard Jensen
Michael Lynch
Anders Koed Madsen
Anders Kristian Munk
David Ribes
Kathryn de Ridder-Vignone
Tom Schilling
Alma Steingart
Timothy Webmoor
Steve Woolgar
Albena Yaneva
Digitalization and computerization are now pervasive in science. This has deep consequences for o... more Digitalization and computerization are now pervasive in science. This has deep consequences for our understanding of scientific knowledge and of the scientific process, and challenges longstanding assumptions and traditional frameworks of thinking of scientific knowledge. Digital media and computational processes challenge our conception of the way in which perception and cognition work in science, of the objectivity of science, and the nature of scientific objects. They bring about new relationships between science, art and other visual media, and new ways of practicing science and organizing scientific work, especially as new visual media are being adopted by science studies scholars in their own practice. This volume reflects on how scientists use images in the computerization age, and how digital technologies are affecting the study of science.
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Contributors were involved with the Oxford University conference in 2011, 'Visualisation in the Age of Computerisation', and include:
Chiara Amrosio
Anne Beaulieu
Andreas Birkbak
Annamaria Carusi
Lisa Cartwright
Matt Edgeworth
Peter Galison
Aud Sissel Hoel
Torben Elgaard Jensen
Michael Lynch
Anders Koed Madsen
Anders Kristian Munk
David Ribes
Kathryn de Ridder-Vignone
Tom Schilling
Alma Steingart
Timothy Webmoor
Steve Woolgar
Albena Yaneva