Research+Design+Grid+EF

MEMO: Research Design Grid


 * Aims || Questions || Data collection || Emerging arguments || Literatures ||
 * Exploring how different media shape public encounters with science || How has the digital worked to mystify or demystify science?

What is the historical and current trajectory for public engagement as mediated by changing technologies and interfaces for outreach? || Analysis of websites, brochures of outreach/engagement groups analysis of museum displays, Interviews with outreach coordinators and involved citizens-- Participant Observations in various outreach and community centers || There is a different response from people physically engaging with ‘scientific’ endeavors and those engaging with scientific information digitally. There is a current bias toward the digital, but in response there is an insurgence of DIY and maker communities –  could what is happening in the digital also be considered a form of “making”? || History of Public Engagement within Science

Literature on Public participation || Have these explorations been informed by political leanings or shaped political standings among the groups? || Interviews with outreach coordinators, maker community members and citizen science group members. || By physically engaging with technical practice, citizens are changing their relation to scientific information and the scientific community, but to what extent and in what way? || Literatures on instrumentation and the technical (Rheinberger)
 * Exploring how technical practice shapes scientific understanding and subjectivities as well as the political. || Have citizen science groups and maker communities utilized technical practices to shape their understandings of science? How have they shaped science through their technical practice?

Socio-political and Social Theory Lit ||
 * To generate more knowledge regarding on-line scientific communities and skill-sharing sites || What is the visibility of these communities to the general public? Who is involved in these maker and citizen science communities? What knowledge are they producing and who does it benefit? || Analysis of websites and online gray material

Interviews with website participants and moderators || While these groups give the illusory feeling of connectivity between distant members, they could benefit from local physical spaces and groups that meet and work to consider the local issues that face their communities. || Literature on Digital Humanities

Literature on Citizen Science ||
 * To explore the possibilities of substantive work being done within “Maker” communities and spaces. || What projects are being explored within maker spaces and how is it decided which projects to focus upon? How could these spaces better engage the immediate public and help to build programming that spoke to the needs of the community? || Participant observations at maker spaces, interviews with maker members and coordinators

Surveys and interviews with the general public regarding maker spaces. || There may need to be more visibility and interfacing of Maker spaces within their immediate communities. || Literature on Critical-Making and Participatory Design (Agre, Disalvo, Wylie) ||