Study+Components+EF


 * STUDY COMPONENTS:**

__Review of Relevant Literature and development of methodological in-roads for research__ Review of Literature on Making, “DIY”, Citizen Science, How the public and science have interacted historically and how this interaction occurs today. Although I plan to do some interviewing, I will probably focus on an approach that gathers gray material and examines how public engagement with the sciences has occurred historically, its current state, and possibilities for the future, particularly through Critical-making/Participatory Design practices through Maker communities. I will be focusing on grounded theory, symbolic interactionalist theory and a Foucauldian discourse analysis method, which I am still developing and getting a handle of.

__Collection of gray material__ I will do a survey of programming at science museums as well as how displays have transformed and what information they currently display, and how technology might have possibly changed this. I will also collect data from On-line communities, follow their forums and message boards and take note of the programming and workshops they show and the face they put forth for the greater community. I may also visit archives to look at the historical relationship between science museums and the public.

__Survey of Possible Sites__ Before I fully commit to observing at particular sites for data collection, I want to gather information on various places through website literature and hopefully through travel during the coming summer of 2013. I think it will be very important to compare the public face of the Makerspaces, Science Museums and community centers with the physical space and concrete work that they are doing and an upfront survey of what they bring to the community and their visibility within their immediate surroundings.

__ Some participant Observations at Makerspaces and community centers, Interviews and Workshops __ As I am still feeling out my overall methodological I may not do participant observation, but instead help to set-up and run workshops that create a space for the community centers, makerspaces and citizen science groups to do reflexive work and think critically about their actions, innovations, and dealings with technology and science.

__Data Analysis__ This will involve discourse analysis of gray material, particularly for online communities and other symbolic imagery and artifacts. I will also analyze surveys and interviews conducted within Makerspaces, in community centers and at science museums. If I am allowed to set-up workshops that incorporate participatory design and critical-making within a community, I will analyze the results from these workshops and gather opinions and ideas from the participants.