We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Citizen science beyond invited participation: nineteenth century amateur naturalists, epistemic autonomy, and big data approaches avant la lettre.
- Authors
Mahr, Dana; Dickel, Sascha
- Abstract
Dominant forms of contemporary big-data based digital citizen science do not question the institutional divide between qualified experts and lay-persons. In our paper, we turn to the historical case of a large-scale amateur project on biogeographical birdwatching in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to show that networked amateur research (that produces a large set of data) can operate in a more autonomous mode. This mode depends on certain cultural values, the constitution of specific knowledge objects, and the design of self-governed infrastructures. We conclude by arguing that the contemporary quest for autonomous citizen science is part of a broader discourse on the autonomy of scientific research in general. Just as the actors in our historical case positioned themselves against the elitism of gentlemen scientists, avant-garde groups of the twenty first century like biohackers and civic tech enthusiasts position themselves against the system of professional science—while "digital citizen science" remains to oscillate between claims for autonomy and realities of heteronomy, constantly reaffirming the classic lay-expert divide.
- Subjects
CITIZEN science; BIG data; AMATEUR scientists; BIOHACKING; CULTURAL values
- Publication
History & Philosophy of the Life Sciences, 2019, Vol 41, Issue 4, pN.PAG
- ISSN
0391-9714
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s40656-019-0280-z