Preserving Data About the Knowledge Creation Process

Abstract

Creation of the Cold Fusion Archive at Cornell University raises questions about documenting-in real time, as the scientific and political debate rages-how sciientific knowledge is created, diffused, and evaluated. The archive contains material offive types: published, manuscript electronic, material culture, and interviews. Technical questions involve the acquisition, organization, and preservation of materials. Intellectual questions involve the scope and limitatons of systematic collecting. Despite about the truth of cold fusion claims, documenting the controversy provides insight into the process of knowledge creation and diffusion.