Conference Models to Bridge Micro and Macro Studies of Science

Matthew Francisco,Selma Šabanovic,Staša Milojevic

doi:10.18564/jasss.1838

Abstract

We propose using community-centered analyses and agent-based models of scientific gatherings such as conferences, symposia and workshops as a way to understand how scientific practices evolve and transition between local, community, and systems levels in science. We suggest using robotics as a case study of global, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary scientific practice. What is needed is a set of modeling frameworks for simulating both the internal and population dynamics of scientific gatherings. In this paper we make the case for conference models as a mid-level unit of analysis that can advance the ways scientists and citizens design systems for transferring and producing knowledge.

Highlights

1.1 A continuing challenge in the study of science is bridging micro-level analyses that provide a rich interpretive understanding of local interactions among scientists and the material artifacts used in research with macro-level analyses of large data sets that give a systemic view of the large-scale structures and dynamics of knowledge production
We focus on academic gatherings such as conferences, symposia, and workshops as a mid-level unit of analysis that is of strategic importance to our search for a meso-scale bridge between existing approaches, but to the development and continued practice of science as information, techniques, tools, and people are exchanged among various local communities of practice
Focusing on dissemination of knowledge and ideas through publications, scientometrics looks at what happens to the products of daily work in the lab after they have been sanctioned by the broader scientific community, while lab studies look at the work and materials that go into making a publishable piece

Summary

Introduction

1.1 A continuing challenge in the study of science is bridging micro-level analyses that provide a rich interpretive understanding of local interactions among scientists and the material artifacts used in research with macro-level analyses of large data sets that give a systemic view of the large-scale structures and dynamics of knowledge production. Focusing on dissemination of knowledge and ideas through publications, scientometrics looks at what happens to the products of daily work in the lab after they have been sanctioned by the broader scientific community, while lab studies look at the work and materials that go into making a publishable piece Both of these approaches, miss the interaction and shaping of ideas and practices that occur in the space between local interactions in the lab and global exchange through scientific journals. What we see here is that most of the "action" (e.g. social construction of reality, stabilizing language) occurs in demic and macrodeme settings, which assemble within larger gatherings

Configuration Size

Modeling conferences

Future directions

Conclusion