Suchergebnisse

THE DILEMMA OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY ILLUSTRATES THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PROBLEMS FACING PRESIDENT BORIS YELTSIN'S GOVERNMENT IN 1991-92 AS IT SOUGHT TO REPLACE THE ADMINISTRATIVE-COMMAND SYSTEM BY MOVING RAPIDLY TOWARDS A MARKET ECONOMY. THE CHALLENGING NATURE OF THESE PROBLEMS WAS REFLECTED IN "A DRAFT CONCEPTION OF A SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY FOR THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION" FORMULATED BY A TEAM HEADED BY ANATOLII RAKITOV AND BORIS SALTYKOV. THIS DOCUMENT, WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN APRIL 1992, EMPHASIZED THE POTENTIAL VALUE OF THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM INHERITED FROM THE SOVIET UNION IN CONTRIBUTING TO THE TRANSITION TO A MARKET ECONOMY. HOWEVER, THIS INHERITANCE WAS GEARED TO MEETING THE PRIORITIES OF THE SOVIET SYSTEM, WHICH THE YELTSIN GOVERNMENT WAS COMMITTED TO REPLACING AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. THE KEY CHALLENGE LAY IN REDIRECTING THIS LEGACY TO ADDRESS NEW PRIORITIES WITHOUT JEOPARDIZING SOME OF ITS MOST VALUABLE ASSETS.

Open science hardware (OSH) are prototypes of laboratory instruments that use open source hardware to extend the purely epistemic (improving knowledge about nature) and normative (improving society) ideals of science and emphasize the importance of technology. They remind us of Zilsel's 1942 thesis about the artisanal origins of science and instrument making that bridged disciplinary and social barriers in the 16th century. The emphasis on making, tinkering, and design transcends research, reproducibility, and corroboration in science and pushes to the forefront educational, emancipatory, and aesthetic and exploratory uses. I will use two recent projects, OpenDrop electrowetting platform and Open Source Estrogen that make but also reflect OSH's playful, expressive, and performative strategies and define the present practices as "artisanal science." These hybrid and ambiguous practices bridge divides between present disciplines and skills but they also define science as an everyday activity directly connected to the private and public interests of the citizens. To describe this epistemic and normative ambiguity of artisanal science, I employ Hannah Arendt's 1958 critique of homo laborans and homo faber and claim that science artisans (citizen scientists, geeks, makers, and hackers) offer an alternative to professionalization of science as practiced in the university and R&D laboratories. Science artisans design and build instruments to engage in civic "vita activa" over instruments but also leisurely "otium" outside of the work and science labor. OSH in this sense empowers individuals and communities to explore new connections between scientific practices, public actions, and private interests (leisure). The science artisans strive for and explore sovereignty, dignity, and freedom in an age immersed in science and technology controversies by bridging the divides between art, science, engineering, and humanities.