Flexible Interpretation Research Articles

THE THIRD WAVE OF SCIENCE STUDIES AS A PHILOSOPHICAL JUSTIFICATION FOR STS

The principle of reflexivity is a stumbling block for David Bloor’s “strong program” in the sociology of scientific knowledge — the program that gave rise to alternative projects in the field called science and technology studies (STS). The principle of reflexivity would require that the empirical sociology of scientific knowledge must itself be subject to the same kind of causal, impartial, and symmetrical investigation that empirical sociology applies to the natural sciences. However, applying reflexivity to empirical sociology would mean that sociologists of science fall into the trap of the “interpretive flexibility of facts” just as natural scientists do when they try to build theories upon facts, as the empirical sociology of scientific knowledge has discovered. Is there a way to overcome this regression in the empirical sociology of knowledge? Yes, but it lies in the philosophical rather than the empirical plane. However, the philosophical “plane” is not flat, because philosophy is accustomed to inquiring into its own foundations. In the case of STS, this inquiry takes us back to the empirical “plane,” which is also not flat because it requires philosophical reflection and philosophical ontology. This article considers the attempt by Harry Collins to bypass the principle of reflexivity by turning to philosophical ontology, a manoeuver that the empirical sociology of science would deem “illegal.” The “third wave of science studies” proposed by Collins is interpreted as a philosophical justification for STS. It is argued that Collins formulates an ontology of nature and society, which underlies his proposed concepts of “interactional expertise” and “tacit knowledge” — keys to understanding the methodology of third-wave STS. Collins’ ontology begins by questioning the reality of expert knowledge and ends (to date) with a “social Cartesianism” that asserts a dualism between the physical and the mental (or social).

Mapping Discourses of Climate Change Adaptation in the United Kingdom

AbstractThe concept of adaptation is becoming part of mainstream public discourse on climate change. Yet the diversity, complexity, and novelty of the adaptation concept itself leads to interpretive flexibility, differing public understanding of (and engagement with) adaptation strategies, and hence differentiated policy responses. The boundary work of communicative practices and public understanding of the adaptation concept therefore requires empirical analysis in different cases and contexts. This study employs Q-methodology (a combined quantitative–qualitative social research method) to reveal the typologies of perspectives that emerge around the adaptation concept among a diverse group of citizen-stakeholders in the United Kingdom. Four such typologies are identified under the labels 1) top-down climate action, 2) collective action on climate change, 3) optimistic, values-focused adaptation, and 4) adaptation skepticism. The division between these perspectives reveals a perceived “responsibility gap” between the governmental–institutional and/or individual–community levels. Across the emergent discourses we find a consensual call for a multisector, multiscalar, and multistakeholder-led approach that posits adaptation as a contemporary, intragenerational problem, with a strong emphasis upon managing extreme weather events, and not as an abstract future problem. By attending to these public discourses in climate policy, this presents a potential means to lessen such a responsibility gap.

CO-RIP: A Riparian Vegetation and Corridor Extent Dataset for Colorado River Basin Streams and Rivers

Here we present “CO-RIP”, a novel spatial dataset delineating riparian corridors and riparian vegetation along large streams and rivers in the United States (US) portion of the Colorado River Basin. The consistent delineation of riparian areas across large areas using remote sensing has been a historically complicated process partially due to differing definitions in the scientific and management communities regarding what a “riparian corridor” or “riparian vegetation” represents. We use valley-bottoms to define the riparian corridor and establish a riparian vegetation definition interpretable from aerial imagery for efficient, consistent, and broad-scale mapping. Riparian vegetation presence and absence data were collected using a systematic, flexible image interpretation process applicable wherever high resolution imagery is available. We implemented a two-step approach using existing valley bottom delineation methods and random forests classification models that integrate Landsat spectral information to delineate riparian corridors and vegetation across the 12 ecoregions of the Colorado River Basin. Riparian vegetation model accuracy was generally strong (median kappa of 0.80), however it varied across ecoregions (kappa range of 0.42–0.90). We offer suggestions for improvement in our current image interpretation and modelling frameworks, particularly encouraging additional research in mapping riparian vegetation in moist coniferous forest and deep canyon environments. The CO-RIP dataset created through this research is publicly available and can be utilized in a wide range of ecological applications.

Maintenance schedules as boundary objects for improved organizational reliability

Organizations that manage complex technologies use planning in various forms to determine priorities and structure work with the goal of controlling both production and system reliability. In addition to this purely functional view of planning, there is a social dimension that also has important system safety implications. Drawing on 53 semi-structured interviews with workers at a nuclear fuel processing plant, this paper addresses the role of the schedule for planned maintenance work. Characterizing the schedule as a boundary object highlights the socio-material dimension of high reliability organizing. It sheds light on the negotiation that takes place at the boundary between five worker groups around the schedule, which allows cooperation without the need for consensus thanks to the interpretive flexibility. Diversity of views is acknowledged, but resolved sufficiently. A ‘reliable’ schedule is one that is accurate enough to facilitate necessary conversations without providing unnecessary constraints. It is a balance between what should be brought to light and what should deliberately be left in the shadows. Yet, the possibility for the schedule to act as a boundary object and to support interdepartmental coordination and organizational reliability depends on organizational and occupational conditions. When managers see the schedule as an object of control, they seek to impose additional standardization. Taken to the extreme, introducing rigidity into the system is aimed at organizational invariance that HRO researchers warn is not the key to reliable operations. The role and legitimacy of planners is also discussed, as a safeguard against the schedule becoming a fantasy plan.

Enabling the IPBES conceptual framework to work across knowledge boundaries

The IPBES conceptual framework (CF) serves an instrumental value to translate usable knowledge into policy across spatial scales, alongside a normative function to engage diverse knowledge systems, promoting inclusivity and enhancing legitimacy. It has been argued that the CF operates as a boundary object, a communication and organisation tool for those working across diverse knowledge systems, designed to help them reach shared goals. The paper focuses on this claim, exploring the three core characteristics of a boundary object: interpretive flexibility, material and organisational structure, and the recognition of dissention. We suggest that too much emphasis is placed within the CF upon interpretive flexibility, whilst meeting information needs and the work requirements of all individuals, groups and communities who use the CF are overlooked. By forcing consensus, the IPBES CF ignores the critical dimensions of a boundary object. We argue that embracing the full characteristics of a boundary object will enable the IPBES to support knowledge coproduction and translation across the knowledge systems, better achieving its goal of providing policy advice.

Die Janusköpfigkeit des ahd. Konnektorswantaund ihre Relevanz für die korpusbasierte historische Syntaxforschung

AbstractThe Old High German clause connectorwanta(‘because’) has been variously categorized in the literature, as well as in the largest existing corpus of annotated Old High German texts (theReferenzkorpus Altdeutsch), with respect to its selectional properties: when it introduces a causal clause, it is generally classified as a conjunction with variable (coordinating or subordinating) formal features or, in a smaller number of cases, as an adverb. This heterogeneous taxonomy, however, does not seem to besystematicallyjustified by any evident semantic or syntactic correlate. In this paper, it is shown – on the basis of data from the main prose texts of this period – thatwantaexhibits the same interpretive flexibility as embedding Present-Day Germanweil(viz. a propositional and a speech-act related reading) and that at least its function as a subordinating conjunction can, in most cases, be disambiguated by means of diagnostic tests (e. g., the predicates it introduces can resume cataphoric main-clause pronouns and appear in topicalized positions). The aim of the present contribution is therefore twofold: in the first place, to descriptively address the strategies for the expression of causation in Old High German; in the second place, to provide a precise syntactic categorization for Old High Germanwantaas a complementizer that may be of help to historical syntacticians who analyze clause phenomena in the above mentioned sources; finally, to address the methodological problem related to the categorization of non-disambiguable occurrences ofwanta.

Leading Beyond Civilian Power: Germany’s Role Re-conception in European Crisis Management

In 2014, Germany’s foreign policy elite promoted a new international role. It promised more leadership in foreign and security policy, in line with the country’s international responsibility and firmly embedded in the European Union. This article applies sociological role theory and foreign policy analysis to review the origins and implications of this role re-conception. The empirical focus is on Germany’s role in crisis management vis-à-vis Libya and Syria. The analysis shows that the 2011 Libyan crisis fuelled existing intra-role tensions between multilateralism and military restraint. Role re-conception was an attempt to overcome tensions while satisfying international and domestic audiences. In practice, there has been a gradual adaptation based on a more flexible interpretation of military restraint. However, Germany’s ability to project leadership beyond the confines of the civilian power role remains limited and depends on the situation-specific balance between domestic and external expectations.

The Preferred User: How Audio Description could Change Understandings of Australian Television Audiences and Media Technology

Abstract Audio description continues to be unavailable on broadcast television in Australia, despite the technological capabilities to provide it and the existence of a federally funded back catalogue or ‘secret library’ of audio described television content. This paper reveals findings into both the amount of audio described content that has been created but not made available to television audiences, while also reviewing existing innovative platforms for audio description, such as the app BAM-Describe. It contextualises these findings in an overview of the history of audio description in and outside of Australia, highlighting key technological and policy changes. Evoking theories of the preferred user and how this understanding of television audiences addresses disability, we argue that different interpretations of how audio description can be delivered, determined through a process of interpretive flexibility (and continued industry creativity and innovation) may finally shift the stagnating discussions around audio description provision, and thus ultimately change the accessibility of television for the blind and vision impaired.

Analysing the role of virtualisation and visualisation on interdisciplinary knowledge exchange in stem cell research processes

Interdisciplinary work is an increasingly frequent and important aspect of scientific research. However, successful knowledge exchange and collaboration between experts is itself a challenging activity with both technical and social components that require consideration. Here, this article analyses the cultural factors involved in interdisciplinary research, specifically in the context of a software programme designed to improve knowledge exchange. The authors undertook an ethnographic study to understand the impact of virtualisation and visualisation on an interdisciplinary research team, working together to develop novel imaging technologies for investigating stem cells. In this discovery-research environment the challenge was to determine the socio-technical effect of an in-house software tool called ProtocolNavigator, which provided a virtual laboratory environment for the team to simulate and map their ‘real-life laboratory’ activities. This display, together with activity icons and a timeline, could be visually analysed and transferred between multi-institutional researchers in a non-narrative approach. The aim of the work reported here is to provide the first detailed analysis of how software of this type is used in practice, and to analyse this through a robust social science-based perspective. Subsequently this study examines the effectiveness of this virtual laboratory environment on enhancing communication and understanding using a theoretical framework drawing upon three insights from the Sociology of Expertise and Experience: (i) interactional and contributory expertise, (ii) knowledge exchange and interpretative flexibility, and (iii) trading zones. The framework was extended by introducing the notion of material, concept and practice trade at these trading zones with a demonstration of how interactive visualisation of interconnected trading routes can empower interdisciplinary work. The addition of Foucault’s classic account of power found evidence of a panoptical effect due to the augmented visibility of each other’s work. In summary, the article offers a theoretical framework together with novel analysis to determine the influence of introducing tools and approaches designed to enhance interdisciplinary working—particularly in the context of knowledge sharing and trust.

Productive Contestation, Civil Society, and Global Governance: Human Rights as a Boundary Object in ICANN

Human rights have long been discussed in relation to global governance processes, but there has been disagreement about whether (and how) a consideration for human rights should be incorporated into the workings of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), one of the main bodies of Internet governance. Internet governance is generally regarded as a site of innovation in global governance; one in which civil society can, in theory, contribute equally with government and industry. This article uses the lens of boundary object theory to examine how civil society actors succeeded in inscribing human rights as a Core Value in ICANN's bylaws. As a “boundary object” in the negotiations, the concept of human rights provided enough interpretive flexibility to translate to the social realities of the various stakeholder groups, including government and industry. This consensus‐building process was bound by the organizing structure of the boundary object (human rights), and its ability to accommodate the interests of the different parties. The presence of civil society at the negotiating table demanded a shift in strategy from the usual “outsider” tactics of issue framing and agenda setting, to a more complex and iterative process of “productive contestation,” a consensus‐building process fueled by the differences of experience and interests of parties, bound together by the organizing structure of the boundary object. This article describes how this process ultimately resulted in the successful adoption of human rights in ICANN's bylaws.

Semiotic Mechanisms Underlying Niche Construction

The explanatory value of niche construction can be strengthened by firm footing in semiotic theory. Anthropologists have a unique perspective on the integration of such diverse approaches to human action and evolutionary processes. Here, we seek to open a dialogue between anthropology and biosemiotics. The overarching aim of this paper is to demonstrate that niche construction, including the underlying mechanism of reciprocal causation, is a semiotic process relating to biological development (sensu stricto) as well as cognitive development and cultural change. In making this argument we emphasize the semiotic mechanisms underlying the niche concept. We argue that the “niche” in ecology and evolutionary biology can be consistent with the Umwelt of Jakob von Uexkull. Following John Deely we therefore suggest that investigations into the organism—environment interface constituting niche construction should emphasize the semiotic basis of experience. Peircean signs are pervasive and allow for flexible interpretations of phenomena in relation to the perceptual and cognitive capacities of the behaving organism, which is particularly pertinent for understanding the relation of proximate/ultimate selective forces as co-productive (i.e., reciprocal). Additionally, theoretical work by Kinji Imanishi on the evolution of daily life and Gregory Bateson’s relational view of evolution both support the linkage between proximate and ultimate evolutionary processes of causation necessitated by the niche construction perspective. We will then apply this theoretical framework to two specific examples: 1) hominin evolution, including uniquely human cultural behaviors with niche constructive implications; and 2) the multispecies and anthropocentric niche of human-dog coevolution from which complex cognitive capacities and semiotic relationships emerged. The intended outcome of this paper is the establishment of concrete semiotic mechanisms and theory underlying niche constructive behavior which can then be applied to a broad spectrum of organisms to contextualize the reciprocal relation between proximate and ultimate drivers of behavior.

Improving the Quality of Primary Care by Optimizing Implementation Research Reporting.

The potential of implementation research in understanding strategies for changing practice is undermined by poor reporting, leaving readers unable to replicate such strategies and unclear whether they apply in the context of their practice. These challenges are particularly pertinent in the complex, diverse world of primary care. The recently published Standards for Reporting Implementation Studies (StaRI) provides a framework for comprehensive reporting of implementation research. A key concept is the consideration and reporting in "dual strands": on the one hand, the implementation strategy and on the other, the evidence-based intervention. Other requirements are full descriptions of context, strategies and interventions (and how the strategies were adopted or adapted), and evaluation methods, which will require flexible interpretation of journal limit constraints or innovative approaches to supplementary information. The choice is between accepting the unsatisfactory status quo or adopting strategies to improve reporting with a view to optimizing the potential of implementation research to advance primary care.

How have EU ‘fire-fighters’ sought to douse the flames of the eurozone’s fast- and slow-burning crises? The 2013 structural funds reform

This article examines the debates surrounding the Regulation 1303/2013 on structural funds, arguing that the rules adopted in the midst of the eurozone crisis to strengthen the governance of the euro area had spill-over effects on cohesion policy. It shows how, in the fast-burning phase of the crisis (2010–2013), some actors pushed forward the idea of suspending structural funds in case of non-compliance with the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, making funding conditional on Member States’ compliance with the rules of the new economic governance, and how, after the entry into force of this Regulation, in the slow-burning phase of the crisis (from 2013 onwards), a greater number of actors has been calling for a more flexible interpretation of the rules. To explain the disruption between t1 and t2, the article examines the change in the power relations between and within institutions and the change in ideas.

Constraints on Tone Sensitivity in Novel Word Learning by Monolingual and Bilingual Infants: Tone Properties Are More Influential than Tone Familiarity.

This study compared tone sensitivity in monolingual and bilingual infants in a novel word learning task. Tone language learning infants (Experiment 1, Mandarin monolingual; Experiment 2, Mandarin-English bilingual) were tested with Mandarin (native) or Thai (non-native) lexical tone pairs which contrasted static vs. dynamic (high vs. rising) tones or dynamic vs. dynamic (rising vs. falling) tones. Non-tone language, English-learning infants (Experiment 3) were tested on English intonational contrasts or the Mandarin or Thai tone contrasts. Monolingual Mandarin language infants were able to bind tones to novel words for the Mandarin High-Rising contrast, but not for the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast; and they were insensitive to both the High-Rising and the Rising-Falling tone contrasts in Thai. Bilingual English-Mandarin infants were similar to the Mandarin monolinguals in that they were sensitive to the Mandarin High-Rising contrast and not to the Mandarin Rising-Falling contrast. However, unlike the Mandarin monolinguals, they were also sensitive to the High Rising contrast in Thai. Monolingual English learning infants were insensitive to all three types of contrasts (Mandarin, Thai, English), although they did respond differentially to tone-bearing vs. intonation-marked words. Findings suggest that infants' sensitivity to tones in word learning contexts depends heavily on tone properties, and that this influence is, in some cases, stronger than effects of language familiarity. Moreover, bilingual infants demonstrated greater phonological flexibility in tone interpretation.

Stabilizing the Contours of Democracy in Kenya: An Analysis of Audiences’ Perceptions of Radio Contents in 2007 and 2013 Political Cycles.

The paper argues that the understanding of the social construction of the practice of democracy is expanded when relevant social groups such as mass media and voters are analyzed to see how ‘interpretative flexibility’ and ‘closure’ occurs. The paper focuses on the coverage of the presidential candidates by vernacular radio in the 2007 and 2013 general elections in Kenya. The two political cycles present what the author calls the ‘ dilatory and cogent waves of media operations in Kenya. The two political cycles are used in the analyses of mass media operations for two major reasons; First, they provide what Nigel and Mulkay (1984) called ‘Rhetorical Repertoire’ through which audience give their interpretation of a process as well as their application in terms of their actions. And second, they are used as an analytical tools of comparison. The media terrain is explored by analyzing both Inooro and Kass FM audiences’ perceptions about how the two stations covered the key presidential candidates in the two general elections. It concludes that, a cogent mass media wave can be used to break the audiences’ intercultural barriers which stand in the way of a community’s strength and mutual benefits. Keywords: Democracy, vernacular radio, audience, perception, mass media coverage

Bayesian item response model: a generalized approach for the abilities' distribution using mixtures

ABSTRACTTraditional Item Response Theory models assume the distribution of the abilities of the population in study to be Gaussian. However, this may not always be a reasonable assumption, which motivates the development of more general models. This paper presents a generalized approach for the distribution of the abilities in dichotomous 3-parameter Item Response models. A mixture of normal distributions is considered, allowing for features like skewness, multimodality and heavy tails. A solution is proposed to deal with model identifiability issues without compromising the flexibility and practical interpretation of the model. Inference is carried out under the Bayesian Paradigm through a novel MCMC algorithm. The algorithm is designed in a way to favour good mixing and convergence properties and is also suitable for inference in traditional IRT models. The efficiency and applicability of our methodology is illustrated in simulated and real examples.

Feeling the Heat: Climate Litigation Under the Charter's Right to Life, Liberty and Security of the Person

Citizens are increasingly searching for ways to spur their governments to take climate change action, and recent successes in courtrooms around the world suggest litigation may be an effective recourse. This article evaluates the legal basis for a claim that the Canadian government’s conduct in relation to climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions violates the Charter’s right to life, liberty and security of the person. A section 7 climate case would raise a number of novel questions, three of which are addressed in detail. The first question arises because there is not one specific law or decision that alone is leading to harmful climate change, but rather a series of government plans, policies and decisions made over many years that infringe rights. Framing the challenge around a constellation of decisions versus the government’s inadequate action in achieving national GHG reduction targets would raise different questions and potentially yield different results. We explore some of these tensions, and argue for a flexible and purposive interpretation of section 7 that overcomes this issue. A second question relates to the issue of the evidentiary burden. Establishing causation is often the thorn in the side of environmental cases. Unlike in many environmental cases, however, the state of climate science provides a rich evidentiary basis that shows how a certain level of GHG emissions leads to warming that causes harm. We discuss the evidentiary burden required in a Charter case and how this would be applied to the context of government conduct in relation to climate change. We also consider and reject the de minimus argument that the government should not be held responsible given that it only emits a small proportion of global GHG emissions (though it still ranks high among emitting countries). The third question relates to justiciability of a Charter challenge. This issue is important in a Canadian context because there have been two climate lawsuits against the federal government and both were dismissed for being non-justiciable. We explain why we believe those cases are distinguishable from the kind of challenge contemplated in this article. Throughout the article we argue that in determining how to handle this relatively uncharted terrain, courts should be guided by a normative approach. In other words, courts should interpret the Constitution in light of its purpose, overarching principles and the evolving circumstances of climate change which poses serious risks to the future of life as we know it. The international community and Canadian governments have acknowledged the severity of the problem and the need to take urgent action to prevent dangerous levels of warming. Ultimately, we believe courts should avoid using the unusual circumstances of climate change to justify a narrow, technical application of the Charter, and rather adapt their reasoning to ensure the Charter achieves its purpose of guaranteeing the fundamental rights and freedoms of Canadians. Canadians are already adapting to the realities of climate change, and judges should do the same.

Classification of Solar Wind With Machine Learning

AbstractWe present a four‐category classification algorithm for the solar wind, based on Gaussian Process. The four categories are the ones previously adopted in Xu and Borovsky (2015): ejecta, coronal hole origin plasma, streamer belt origin plasma, and sector reversal origin plasma. The algorithm is trained and tested on a labeled portion of the OMNI data set. It uses seven inputs: the solar wind speed Vsw, the temperature standard deviation σT, the sunspot number R, the F10.7 index, the Alfven speed vA, the proton specific entropy Sp, and the proton temperature Tp compared to a velocity‐dependent expected temperature. The output of the Gaussian Process classifier is a four‐element vector containing the probabilities that an event (one reading from the hourly averaged OMNI database) belongs to each category. The probabilistic nature of the prediction allows for a more informative and flexible interpretation of the results, for instance, being able to classify events as “undecided.” The new method has a median accuracy larger than 90% for all categories, even using a small set of data for training. The Receiver Operating Characteristic curve and the reliability diagram also demonstrate the excellent quality of this new method. Finally, we use the algorithm to classify a large portion of the OMNI data set, and we present for the first time transition probabilities between different solar wind categories. Such probabilities represent the “climatological” statistics that determine the solar wind baseline.

When ‘Anxious Scrutiny’ of Arms Exports Facilitates Humanitarian Disaster

AbstractHow is it that the UK government continues to export weapons to Saudi Arabia for use in the war in Yemen, despite an explicit commitment to international humanitarian law (IHL)? And how is it that the High Court recently dismissed a case of judicial review, confirming that the government was ‘rationally entitled to conclude’ that arms exports pose no clear risk to IHL in Yemen? In what follows, I explain how a flexible interpretation of risk, reliance on secret information, and deference of the Court to the executive serve to facilitate rather than restrict arms exports. The judges’ decision provides a stamp of approval to an arms export policy that has directly contributed to the deaths of thousands of civilians in Yemen. Attention to the Saudi/Yemen case shows the political and legal manoeuvring that goes into managing the contradictions in government arms export policy.

Working in the crowded underground: One call services as a boundary object

The network of high pressure natural gas pipelines under our towns and cities operates with little public or academic attention. Since the pipelines are buried, they are largely invisible and awareness is low until there is a serious accident (e.g. Ghislenghien, San Bruno). Importantly, pipeline integrity is threatened by activities of third parties outside the pipeline sector such as local councils, other utilities and civil contractors doing work on other kinds of infrastructure.This paper focuses on how Dial Before You Dig (DBYD) – Australia’s one-call service for those doing civil works – functions at the boundary between the social worlds of various relevant actors. Drawing on more than 50 interviews with those involved in work near pipelines, we conceptualize DBYD asa boundary object. The pipeline sector sees DBYD asan effective system that minimizes risk to their assets. Those working near pipelines see it asa system that should support their own business goals. Nevertheless, the interpretive flexibility of DBYD allows cooperation without complete consensus.The boundary object framework reveals three key aspects of the social architecture provided by DBYD – the extent to which temporal considerations vary, the way in which the system institutionalises conflict and how DBYD constitutes a form of surveillance by one sector over another. The paper argues that as more essential services, including those that are potentially hazardous, are located in the ‘crowded underground’ below our cities, it is more important than ever to understand how the relevant actors interact.