Situating anticipation in everyday life: Using sensory methods to explore public expectations of synthetic biology.

Robert Meckin,Andrew Balmer

doi:10.1177/0963662518808694

Abstract

Public involvement in technological anticipation is a common feature of contemporary sociotechnical innovation. However, most engagements abstract sociotechnical futures, rather than situating them in the everyday practices in which people are routinely engaged. Recent developments in synthetic biology have established the potential for ‘drop in’ replacements for ingredients in consumer products, particularly in flavour and fragrance markets. This article explains how a sensory methodology can be used to explore citizens’ everyday experiences and how these can be used to ground anticipation of possible sociotechnical futures. The article uses a socio-historical approach to analyse and compare two practice domains – caring for families and hygiene and personal care – to show how biosynthetic futures can disrupt existing relations between people, objects and ideas. The implications for conceptualising publics in synthetic biology and for approaches to public engagement and participation are discussed more broadly.

Highlights

Public involvement in ex ante technology assessment is a common feature of contemporary science and technology innovation and figures prominently in the governance of emerging technologies
The approach we have described offers several strengths over some more common engagement and anticipation strategies and builds on recent, more creative efforts
It contributes to existing research diversity by showing how it is possible to enrich deliberative and anticipatory methods through a sensory, situated engagement with possible futures

Summary

Introduction

Public involvement in ex ante technology assessment is a common feature of contemporary science and technology innovation and figures prominently in the governance of emerging technologies. Attempts have been made to overcome such framing biases (e.g. Chilvers, 2007) but even here there is a problem regarding how we should determine what will count as relevant futures to consider (Krzywoszynska et al, 2018) Such events are often held in research and educational spaces, divorcing publics from the everyday situations in which science and technology become salient (Gehrke, 2014; Marres, 2015). Because the concept of synthetic biology is itself broad and contested, discussions of general futures can be even more unfocussed than in other fields, and large-scale surveys and expert consultations struggle to address the consequent variability in the field’s possible applications and anticipated outcomes This means researchers have engaged with publics, but with a focus on measuring general ‘public perceptions’ or ‘awareness’ of a ‘fuzzy’ object, namely ‘synthetic biology’ in general (Pardo Avellaneda and Hagen, 2016). We show how such an approach can be used to understand people’s anticipation of the distributed, mobile and personal consumer goods that might result from technoscientific innovations in a rich, situated fashion

Sensory engagement

Mentholated practices

Caring for children

Hygiene and personal care

Concluding discussion