This project will support two interdisciplinary training workshops designed to bring together graduate students and scholars in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS), with the goal of framing an agenda for the emerging study of cyber-mediated science. The first workshop will take place in Summer 2013 at Harvard University, with a focus on the role of design methods (such as codesign and data visualization) in digital science. The second workshop will take place in Fall 2013 at the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, on the campus of the University of California-San Diego, where it will be co-located with the annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S).
As science becomes increasingly computational and increasingly dependent on cyberinfrastructure, much can be gained by extending STS inquiry beyond the traditional STS focus on bench science and civil engineering, to encompass virtual science and CI-engineering. The proposed workshops will address this intellectual gap, both by sparking a conversation among digital STS researchers about topics, methods and directions for the field, and also by making that conversation accessible to graduate students and other emerging scholars. In particular, the digitalSTS workshops will introduce STS scholars to design methods that can enhance studies of digital materiality and hybrid sociotechnical systems. As a means of engaging with cyber-mediated scientific research materials and communities of practice, the use of visualizations, models, maps, and data documentaries is well suited to the current technological moment. The long-term goal of this workshop is the development of a Digital Science and Technology Studies Handbook, which will offer a methodological and substantive guide on the present and future of the field.
