Memo+16-Methodological,+Empirical,+Theoretical+and+Practical+Contributions

Try to articulate these in formal, proposal-ready prose, starting with the rhetorical structures below. Following are two sections of Aalok's grant that make over use of these articulations -- his abstract, and then the "intellectual merit and broad significance" section, a required part of an NSF grant.

Methodological
Data will include interviews with several different classes of actors. The core set of interviews will encompass members of advocacy groups that are both for and against bioplastics, representatives of waste and recycling industry groups, representatives of two manufacturing sites, and environmental movements that overlap with the technology specific advocacy groups. A less formal set of interviews will be conducted with workers at the two manufacturing sites, owners and managers of the distribution warehouses of bioplastic consumer goods and consumers interested in this class of product.

Three primary research sites were selected in order to encounter differing variables that overlap with complements and differences for comparative research. The first site will be ongoing work with citizens of New York and relevant government agencies that argue for sustainability through the introduction of a local centric bioplastic industry. A second site in Nebraska, the Natureworks manufacturing facility, will present a large industry dominated bioplastic project. The final site will occur outside of Milan in Italy at the Novamont bioplastic facility. This case overlaps with the two prior case studies in that the industry is well established like that in California and yet the interests are to work with local farmers and groups to produce bioplastics with particular embedded social and cultural characteristics.

Participant observation within a developing bioplastic industry in New York will augment the interviews with the lived experiences of those involved in the project as well as lead to specific interviewees from the groups and individuals interacting with this project. Participant observation at seminars and conferences will further suplement data gathered through interviews.

Finally, a discourse analysis of primary literature derived from: a) company documents and advertising, b) regulatory, standards and legislative actions on recyclability and compostability of this class of technology and associated public commentary and c) documents released by advocacy organizations. EmpiricalThere is a great deal of work being performed on the introducting and promotion of biofuels in different contexts. What has been less well studied is the role of petroleum and biobased feedstocks on non-fuel goods. This research contributes to the ongoing discussion on moving away from a petroleum economy and how this can best be managed. An analysis of the network of institutions that create, promote and manage biobased goods will be developed in the context of an important component of consumer products, polymers. The research develops a local, global and historical set of data on bioplastics.

Conceptual/Theoretical
This study will advance conceptualization of... The study will draw on and contribute to scholarly literatures that examine...

This study is focused on conceptualizing the construction of sustainability in material culture. The research will develop the social, political and economic reasons for renewed attention to biobased goods as well as the pathways of innovations in the technology that were closed off or made visible over the short history of this industry. A second contribution stemming from this research will be how to conceptualize social movement and advocate intervention in material culture.

Theoretically, the research augments work on environmental movements by developing movement conflict over spatial and temporal locations.

Practical
This work will be of significant usefulness to several groups of individuals. Policy makers will benefit from an understanding of how technologies can be introduced and managed in society to best benefit a larger group of citizens. Environmental and social movements will be able to shift their practices to better collaborate with one another and more successfully intervene in industry innovation.