Knowledge Production Research Articles

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The article presents locality in the light of Bernard Stiegler’s philosophy, placing particular emphasis on the non-spatial (non-territorial) dimension of locality, as well as on its relationship to temporality, idiomaticity, sense-making, and knowledge production. Such locality is thus more about what gives or produces place than what protects it. The concept of locality described in the article is a counterweight to discourses presenting locality as a cure for globalization and its dangers, in which locality appears as a constitutive, sustainable, harmonious, and originating place, prior to the technological exploitation of nature. Key-words: différance, gram, grammatology, Jacques Derrida, anticipation, temporality

Qualitative research during the COVID19 pandemic: the impact of remote research on the collaborative production of methodological knowledge

ABSTRACT During the COVID19 crisis, school closure was a frequent feature of Government responses. The Children’s School Lives (CSL) national cohort study of primary schooling in Ireland had to be adapted and transferred online as an interim response to the unprecedented impact that the pandemic had on the research environment. Adapting longitudinal qualitative research in response to a global pandemic brought specific challenges. In addition to moving data collection to remote methods, longitudinal studies also needed to maintain a focus on retention of research participants and sustain an analysis that informs the longitudinal design of the study. Based on reflective research practice during the COVID19 pandemic and through the collaborative production of methodological knowledge, this paper contributes to the literature on remote research during times of crisis. However, it also extends this literature as the methodological learning can be applied beyond the very particular circumstances of a pandemic.

Language experts on a sinking island: critiquing language endangerment rhetorics through participation in and around a tabletop game

ABSTRACT The participatory study of language addresses the unequal relationships between the ‘researcher’ and the ‘researched’. As part of this undertaking, university-based researchers seek to develop more accessible ways of knowledge production to involve other participants in the creation of novel forms of representation at the levels relevant to them. The university-based participants of our research addressed this challenge by co-designing a language-centred tabletop game together with participants from a Romanian multilingual village. Bringing their language expertise into action, all participants collaboratively represented, analysed, and reflected on marginalised local language practices. The game was the culmination of several years of participatory research and aimed to explore interpretations of practices that are widely discussed as threatened, allowing for a critical approach to language endangerment rhetorics. Drawing on the ethnographic analysis of eight sessions in which players engaged with each other and the tabletop game’s creators, this article argues that developing innovative multimodal representations of language on the margins can make new knowledge more accessible, but in itself does not guarantee the subversion of language endangerment rhetorics. To have an impact on well-established discourses, the language experts’ participation throughout the research process is needed.

Debris: autoethnography, feminist epistemology, ethics, and sexual violence

ABSTRACT This article examines the impact of methodological choices and collaborative processes in a complex study that delved into the intimate experiences of violence as narrated by conscripts to the Peruvian armed forces. Lurgio Gavilán is a Peruvian anthropologist who strongly identifies with the interviewed veterans because of his own experiences, and Jelke Boesten is European feminist scholar with specific ideas about gender justice. Our collaboration allows us to raise fundamental questions around the limitations, validity, and ethics of knowledge production. The “debris” of this collaboration refers to the ethical questions that we may have previously failed to raise and address. Why did each of us embark on this research? Have our respective epistemological positions shifted due to the research? How has the nature of the collaboration, and our different positions of power therein, enlightened or concerned us? With what are we left, and what do we leave behind?

A proposed guide to reducing bias and improving assessments of decolonization in global health research

IntroductionThe movement to decolonize global health encompasses efforts to dismantle historically inequitable structures and processes in global health research, education, and practice. However, despite increasing literature on the decolonization of global health, gaps between action and knowledge exist in assessments of knowledge production. In this Perspective, we will outline potential biases in current approaches to assessing knowledge production and propose a systems-focused guide to improve the interrogation of knowledge production in this field.MethodsWe leverage the “Inner Setting” and “Outer Setting” domains of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), a well-established, commonly-used implementation science framework to critically assess the status quo of decolonization and to develop criteria to help guide decolonization efforts in academic contexts. We defined the Inner Setting as academic and research institutions leading and participating in global health research collaborations, and the Outer Setting as the funding, editorial, and peer review policies and practices that influence knowledge production in global health. Research institutions in the Inner organizational domain continually interact with the Outer policy domains. We categorize the levels at which decolonization may occur and where action should be focused as follows: (1) North–South, (2) South–South, (3) Local South, and (4) Local North. Using CFIR domains and the levels of action for decolonization, we propose a multi-level guide to improve on the standardization, granularity, and accuracy of decolonization assessments in global health research.Conclusion and expected impactThe proposed guide is informed by our global health research expertise and experiences as African scientists with extensive exposure in both global North and global South research contexts. We expect that the proposed guide will help to identify and address the biases identified and will lead to better knowledge-driven action in the process of decolonizing global health research.

Traditional knowledge of baniwa peppers

It examines the scientific and technological context that surrounds the production of the Pimenta Baniwa product and the protection of its originality, with the aim of discussing the issue of traditional knowledge that involves indigenous entrepreneurship in the Amazon. The focus of the study is the trajectory of the composition of the Pimenta Baniwa product type Jiquitaia and indigenous female protagonism. It establishes as a methodological element the metric studies of information, especially the bibliometric and patentometric field to measure the scientific and technological state of the topic, analyzing the mapping of scientific production on the topic using bibliometrics and technological indicators in patentometrics. The results demonstrate that there is a lot of scientific and technological material that contains pepper from the genus Capsicum ssp. as the main theme, however, when it comes to Baniwa Pepper, little is found within scientific research and regarding the technological domain, no type of protection directed to the product was found. It is concluded that the production of knowledge on the topic discussed is predominantly focused on the agrarian field, with an emphasis on expanding production and safeguarding pepper, with notable little production that addresses in depth the indigenous entrepreneurship of the Baniwa people.

Practical Realism and the Philosophy of Science and Technology

In this article, I analyse the role of the concepts of ‘practice,’ ‘relations,’ and ‘process’ in Rein Vihalemm’s philosophy of science and the way he defined and articulated these concepts to study the production of scientific knowledge. Then, following Vihalemm’s line of reasoning, I will show how this approach is promising for thinking in a new way about some developments in contemporary sciences and technology.

FACTORS AFFECTING RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

In the context of knowledge production and knowledge-based economy leading to current global competition among universities of the world, the research activity of universities is of particular importance in terms of creating, disseminating and using new knowledge for the benefits of society. From this point of view, it is considered appropriate to determine the factors having an influence on the research productivity of universities, and to study deeper the issues of proper organization, planning and management of the future research activity. In addition, as new educational policies prioritize the research activities of higher education institutions and encourage the establishment of research universities, it is of particular importance to investigate individual and institutional factors affecting research productivity.

Fertility apps, datafication and knowledge production in reproductive health.

Despite being the target of much criticism, commercialised digital technologies have proliferated in reproductive health arenas. Fertility applications (apps) are now some of the most popular and ubiquitous digital health tracking technologies, with millions of downloads. Previous scholarship has already underlined the problematic nature of their design and surveillance features. However, less attention has been paid to the wider effects of datafied knowledge availability. This research specifically asks: How does the proliferation of fertility apps shape knowledge (and associated practices) in reproductive health? Drawing on an analysis of key document sources, I here argue that fertility apps act as mediators between stakeholders, data and datafied outputs, thus facilitating: (1) the datafication of fertility awareness knowledge and the production of new datafied knowledge, (2) legitimation discourses and practices and (3) the remaking of private/public expertise and knowledge production networks in reproductive health. To effectively analyse the effects of commercialised reproductive health apps, this work argues for an understanding of data technologies that is informed by critical data studies.

Data and the Aggregate Economy

Recent data technology innovations, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, have transformed the production of knowledge and increased the importance of data. This review explores how data—digitized information—has been modeled within classic macroeconomic frameworks. It compares the economics of data to other concepts such as ideas, patents, and learning-by-doing. This paper also shows potential ways to model applications for data, including innovation, process optimization, and matching. Because this research area is nascent, much of the article is devoted to open questions and directions for future data economy research. (JEL C80, D21, D83, E23, E24, J23)

Living labs as transformative incrementalism: lessons learned on the role of a university living lab in mobilising just sustainabilities on campus

ABSTRACT The Living Lab approach is an opportunity for diverse actors to co-create solutions to solve real-world issues. Simon Fraser University, situated on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Katzie, Kwikwetlem, Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Semiahmoo and Tsawwassen peoples in British Columbia, Canada developed a Living Lab program to apply the university’s leading climate research expertise to solve its own infrastructure, operations and service challenges. Projects were led by “Living Lab Scholars,” graduate students who form teams with faculty and staff to co-design research to help the university meet its sustainability and equity goals. The scholars took part in experiential learning, received mentorship and financial support and were provided with the opportunity to apply their academic research skills to address four sustainability issues: (1) waste management, (2) sustainable transportation, (3) carbon footprint of streaming, and (4) food security. While being grounded in participatory action research and integrating justice, decolonisation, equity, diversity and inclusivity considerations into the process design, the limited resources, time scarcity and operational reality reflected that the reality of implementing the solutions resulted in varying degrees of transformational impact. This paper applies autoethnography to enable the participants to reflect upon how the university as a system can support advances in just sustainabilities and highlights practical lessons learned for future Living Lab practitioners who aim to mobilise their solutions on campus. Findings from the project highlight the role of the Living Lab in supporting “transformative incrementalism” and challenging the conventions of academic knowledge production.

Objectivity interrogation of racial scholarship in psychology and management

Scholars of color remain underrepresented in US institutions in academia. In this paper, we will examine one factor that contributes to their continued marginalization in psychology and management: the scientific method’s commitment to traditional notions of objectivity. We argue that objectivity—defined as practices and policies rooted in the heightened value placed on a research process that is ostensibly free from bias—is central to the prominence of primarily White scholarship in psychology and management research and remains central to knowledge production. To investigate this, we employ a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative data to codify how scholars of color experience objectivity interrogations, or written and verbal questioning in academic contexts that implicates their scientific rigor. We also identify how scholars of color engage in objectivity armoring, or self-presentational strategies (toning down and stepping up) to contend with these interrogations. Finally, we reveal these toning down processes in language use within publications on racial scholarship. Overall, these studies reveal the unique challenges scholars of color face to legitimize and validate their work on race and racism within predominantly White institutions and disciplines.

Gender(ed) science: How the institutionalization of gender continues to shape the conduct and content of women's health research

Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, and attributes that a particular society considers appropriate for men and women based on assumptions about biological sex. It also operates as a major social organizing principle that confers unequal power, status, and resources to men and women, with direct consequences for health. Historic patriarchal and misogynistic beliefs and values are reinforced through social institutions, including health science, which reify gender inequities. This commentary examines two key domains in which the social organization and institutionalization of gender in scientific research affect the conduct of women's health research and, by extension, women's health outcomes. These domains are: 1) decisions about which topics are prioritized, researched, and funded and 2) the dissemination of research findings. Using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a case study to illustrate broader patterns in scientific research, we present evidence of gender-based inequities in what is prioritized, deemed fundable, and disseminated, and how this affects knowledge production and attention to women's health. We highlight efforts and progress made by the NIH and call for additional attention to further address gender-based inequities and their impact on women's health research. We conclude with a call for critical social science analyses—ideally supported by the NIH—of the social organization of health science research to identify points of intervention for redressing deep-seated obstacles to advancing research on women's health.

Walk With Me: reducing harm and confronting the toxic drug poisoning crisis in small British Columbia cities through community engaged research

In an era of escalating and intersectional crises, the toxic drug poisoning crisis stands out as a devastating and persistent phenomenon. Where we write from in British Columbia (BC), Canada, over 13,000 deaths have occurred in the eight years since the toxic drug poisoning crisis was declared a provincial health emergency. While many of these deaths have occurred in large urban centres, smaller rural communities in British Columbia are also grappling with the profound impacts of the toxic drug poisoning crisis and are struggling to provide adequate support for their vulnerable populations. In response to these challenges, the Walk With Me research project has emerged in the Comox Valley of Vancouver Island, BC, employing community-engaged methodologies grounded in pluralist knowledge production. Walk With Me seeks to understand the unique manifestations of the toxic drug poisoning crisis in small communities, identifying local harm reduction interventions that can foster community resilience, and aiming to catalyze sustainable change by amplifying the voices of those directly affected by the crisis to advocate for policy changes. This paper outlines the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of the Walk With Me project as a harm reduction initiative, which holds community partnerships and diverse ways of knowing at its heart. It presents the community-engaged research framework used by the project to address overlapping health and social crises, offering practical examples of its application in various research projects across sites and organizations. The paper concludes with a reflection on the impacts of Walk With Me to date, highlighting the lessons learned, challenges encountered, and opportunities for future research and action. Overall, this article captures the urgent need for community-engaged approaches to address the toxic drug poisoning crisis and other multidimensional crises facing society, particularly in smaller and rural communities, underscoring the potential for meaningful change through collaborative, grassroots efforts.

Dialogues between Past and Present? Modern Art, Contemporary Art Practice, and Ancient Egypt in the Museum

Whenever twentieth-century modern art or new contemporary artworks are included amongst displays of ancient Egypt, press statements often assert that such juxtapositions are ‘surprising’, ‘innovative’, and ‘fresh’, celebrating the external perspective they bring to such collections. But contemporary art’s relationship with museums and other disciplines needs to be understood in a longer-term perspective. Pairings of twentieth- and twenty-first-century artistic works with objects of antiquity is an activity that has been undertaken for more than a century in what has been a relatively long period of mutually reinforcing influences between modern/contemporary art, museum display, the art market, and Egyptian heritage. Together, they have decontextualised ancient Egyptian culture and shaped the language and perspectives of scholars, curators, and artists. In this paper, rather than considering how artists have been inspired by ancient Egypt, I will give a few examples of how more recent art practices from the late nineteenth century onwards have impacted the language and discourse of Egyptology and its museum representation. Then, using more recent artist engagements with the British Museum, I argue for greater interdisciplinary dialogues between artists and Egyptologists, as both take more critical stances towards research that recontextualises the power and agency of collections, representation, and knowledge production.

The University As Infrastructure of Becoming: Re-Activating Academic Freedom Through Humility in Times of Radical Uncertainty

ABSTRACT Traditionally, the field of science and technology studies (STS) considered the scientific laboratory as the central site of knowledge production and technological development. While providing rich analyses of the social construction of scientific knowledge and the role of non-human actors, STS scholars have often neglected the university – the very context in which laboratories themselves are embedded – as a relevant object of research. In this paper, we argue for re-introducing the university as a relevant category and object of analysis by using the notion of epistemic virtues to link epistemic culture – traditionally the focus of STS – and epistemic structure – traditionally the focus of higher education studies. Advancing this line of argumentation, we make three analytical moves. First, we explore academic freedom as a specific version of negative liberty that extends beyond disciplinary boundaries. We suggest that academics continuously negotiate academic freedom considering culturally and socially situated epistemic virtues such as objectivity and neutrality. Second, we introduce the notion of humility to revisit scientific knowledge production more generally and academic freedom in particular. Finally, we argue that practicing humility leads to enacting the university as an infrastructure of becoming otherwise, thereby enriching our understanding of universities as distinct and highly complex social spaces with a logic of their own.

Biology, ecology, and taxonomy of the parasitoids of the families of Austroniidae, Peradeniidae, Proctorenyxidae, Roproniidae, and Vanhorniidae (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea)

Proctotrupoidae are koinobiont endoparasitoids of holometabolous insect larvae. Although Proctrotrupidae can be common and readily collected by sweep netting or Malaise traps, the superfamily is poorly known biologically. Proctotrupoidae are parasitoids of Coleoptera and, to a lesser extent, Diptera larvae, with one extraordinary host record from a centipede, whereas Heloridae has been reared from Neuroptera larvae. Extralimital families attacking Coleoptera and Neuroptera (Austroniidae, Peradeniidae, Proctorenyxidae) are biologically unknown. This work studies the biology, ecology, and taxonomy of the parasitoids of the Families of Roproniidae, Vanhorniidae, Austroniidae, Proctorenyxidae and Peradeniidae (Hymenoptera: Proctotrupoidea). In terms of the type of research source, we worked with scientific articles published in national and international journals. This modality of production, in addition to being commonly the most valued in the set of bibliographic production, is the most easily accessed. Access to articles was through virtual libraries such as Scielo, the University of São Paulo, Latin American Literature, and the University of Brasilia. This library has a specific section for Hymenoptera, with eight journals and texts of articles available in full. The journals included in this section are the following: Zootaxa, Canadian Journal of Zoology, Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, Florida Entomologist, Canadian Entomologist, Neotropical Entomology, Cladistics, Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, Insect Systematics & Evolution, Journal of Hymenoptera Research. Considering only this section constitutes a limitation of the study since articles belonging to journals that integrate other sections of the aforementioned electronic library could also contribute to the discussion of the production of knowledge about the relationship between hosts and parasitoids. However, in principle, within these articles, there could not necessarily be a discussion focused on biology, ecology, and taxonomy.

The Politics of Knowledge Production and Decolonisation: An Appraisal of Mahmood Mamdani’s Contributions

The Politics of Knowledge Production and Decolonisation: An Appraisal of Mahmood Mamdani’s Contributions

«Food and I» – experimenting with citizen science by using oral history in food studies

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to throw light on the use of oral history as a methodological approach in food studies. Oral history is a field of study and a method(odology) in historiographic research that organizes collections of living peoples’ statements about their own lives and experiences. In this paper we present a method to potentially democratize knowledge production, using food studies as an example. This includes an original way to recognize new data sources and collect them through the principles of oral history. We will involve two projects on food that will enable us to open toward a reflection about possibilities and limits linked to oral history in food studies. First, we will present oral history as a relevant method for food studies. We will then introduce the projects “Food and I” and “Food2gather” that constitute our empirical references. We will discuss the experimental way of democratizing knowledge production and reflect upon the legitimacy of actively engaging lay people as both interviewers and narrators. In a fourth part we will reflect on the researchers’ possibilities of using oral history to gain insight into how people relate to each other through food consumption, and sharing of skills and knowledge.

Digital tools and digital pedagogy for placemaking

PurposeThe surge of digital technologies and information communication technologies poses a challenge to traditional placemaking, influencing how people live, communicate and connect with their environments. In response, placemaking practices are integrating emerging digital technologies, giving rise to digital placemaking. This digital approach aims to present new opportunities for establishing a sense of place, encouraging unique interactions and adding value to communities in social, economic, cultural and environmental aspects.Design/methodology/approachThis paper aims to examine the current landscape of digital tools and apps that facilitate digital placemaking. Conducting an extensive literature review, the research evaluates these tools based on their positive contributions to placemaking, categorizing them according to the aspects they enhance in the placemaking process. These aspects include social dynamics, cultural influences, environmental considerations, artistic qualities, heritage preservation, support for human well-being, urban development and opportunities for digital collaboration among citizens. Additionally, the paper explores digital pedagogy for placemaking, analyzing various tools for their educational approach, knowledge production methods and learning outcomes.FindingsThe findings indicate a growing trend in utilizing digital tools for placemaking, driven by technological advancements like augmented and virtual reality, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. Similar to traditional placemaking, digital practices are collaborative and context-dependent, requiring engagement from multiple stakeholders for optimal success. Notably, successful digital placemaking apps often incorporate interactivity and multimodality. Digital collaborative platforms can significantly impact placemaking and sustainable urban design, serving as effective tools for both bottom-up and top-down knowledge production and learning related to placemaking.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study must be seen considering certain limitations. The scoping review utilized analysis of most relevant bibliometric databases, however, in the domain of digital placemaking there are undertakings by private companies, nongovernmental as well as governmental organizations which are not cited in the scientific databases. This limitation was tackled by using conventional search engines like Google and Bing to identify and study such projects. Also, it must be noted that the digital domain is rapidly developing and being integrated in digital placemaking. Even more, the artificial intelligence technology, which is being applied across all disciplines, with so far unforeseen possibilities, should be further examined how it is being adopted and implemented in the domain of digital placemaking and which are its impacts in the placemaking processes and outcomes.Originality/valueDespite these advancements, many digital tools lack a comprehensive approach to address the various aspects of sustainability in placemaking. Consequently, further research is needed to develop digital tools that adopt a holistic approach, ensuring justifiability and feasibility in social, environmental and economic terms. Furthermore, in alignment with the goals of the EU Green Deal, incorporating Circular Economy principles into the development of new digital placemaking methods and tools is crucial.