Studying how past futures, or futures envisioned in the past through the visionary eyes of science fiction writers, have shaped the present can help us to improve the future. The goal of this pilot study is to explore the influence of science fiction in shaping the intellectual development of scientists and engineers, especially during their formative years. This project meets the requirements for a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) because it constitutes preliminary work on untested and novel ideas. Specifically, it proposes to explore the idea that science fiction influences the career choices and research trajectories of scientists and engineers, a notion for which anecdotal support can be mobilized yet which has never been substantiated through empirical research. This pilot study will serve as the foundation for a larger proposal for an NSF Scholars Award to conduct follow-up research on the relationship between technoscience and science fiction. This project emerges at the intersection of the fields of science and technology studies (STS) and library and information science (LIS), and seeks to explore how exposure to science fiction influences the career choices and research trajectories of scientists and engineers. In so doing, it merges the theoretical strand of the social shaping of technoscience from the STS literature with work on mass media in the life of the reader/listener/viewer/visitor/player from the field of LIS. The project is made possible by the hybrid expertise of the PI, whose Ph.D. is in STS and whose current faculty position is in LIS, and who has previously conducted NSF-funded research projects on the ethical implications of values embedded in information technologies such as dissection simulations and computational models. This project will allow the PI to further his research agenda at the intersection of the fields of STS and LIS, and to conduct research that will make significant contributions to both fields. The three primary objectives of this study are to develop a more robust understanding of the relationship between technoscience and society, mass media, and science fiction. This study hypothesizes that the career choices and research decisions of scientists and engineers are influenced by science fictionas well as other mass media and social factors as a whole. Data collection includes ten semi-structured, open-ended interviews with scientists and engineers. Interview data will be analyzed using grounded theory such that research findings will be continuously integrated to further refine the research design, leading to the construction of a theory that can provide a preliminary explanation how society, mass media, and science fiction influence scientists and engineers and which can be tested and refined through additional research. Results will be disseminated via academic conferences and peer-reviewed journals.
Intellectual Merit: This study will contribute to the STS literature by exploring the social factors that influence the career decisions and research trajectories of scientists and engineers. The contribution to the LIS literature will be detailed exploration of the relationship between technoscience and mass media through an in-depth case study of mass media in the lives of scientists and engineers as readers/listeners/viewers/visitors/players. Finally, this study will also contribute to the literature on the relationship between technoscience and science fiction by exploring if and how science fiction might influence the career choices and research trajectories of scientists and engineers.
Broader Impacts: This study also aims to produce broader impacts that focus on the recruitment and retention of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. First, by improving understanding of how science fiction shapes the career choices of scientists and engineers, educators will be able to determine when and how to use science fiction to promote student interest in STEM, potentially reinforcing and legitimating existing educational programs. In addition, this study may also be able to provide insights into how science fiction can promote diversity among STEM students, through emphasis on female and non-white authors and characters and feminist and multicultural themes. Finally, this study may discover ways that science fiction can help students majoring in STEM to become more conscious of the social and cultural dimensions of science and technology.
