Article ID: CBB342850362

Knowing the Great Plains Weather: Field Life and Lay Participation on the American Frontier during the Railroad Era (June 2019)

unapi

Vetter, Jeremy (Author)


East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
Pages: 195-213


Publication Date: June 2019
Edition Details: Special Issue: Citizen Science: Practices and Problems. Guest Editor: Shun-Ling Chen; Collaborating Editor: Fa-ti Fan
Language: English

On the US Great Plains frontier in the late nineteenth century, perhaps no area of scientific knowledge was more contested than the weather, which connected with debates around the long-term climate of this semiarid region. Observation of the weather was shared across the divide between scientists and lay people, illustrating an early historical predecessor of enlisting citizen scientists to help in the production of knowledge. Situating this example of lay participation in the larger context of diverse modes of field practice during the railroad era, this article examines the production of weather knowledge on the Great Plains frontier, especially in Kansas, to explore some important stages in the process of coordinating lay observers, including the ground-level practices of organizing lay people into networks for producing knowledge, and marginalizing and discrediting folk knowledge about the weather that was autonomous from the authorized scientific community. The author argues for greater attention to the historical emergence of crucial hierarchical, structured aspects of lay participation in science, inflected by the Chinese concept of shi, in contrast to the recently common focus on flattened, collaborative networks.

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Includes Series Articles

Article Chen, Shun-Ling (June 2019) How Empowering Is Citizen Science? Access, Credits, and Governance for the Crowd. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 215-234). unapi

Article Tu, Wen-Ling (June 2019) Combating Air Pollution through Data Generation and Reinterpretation: Community Air Monitoring in Taiwan. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 235-255). unapi

Article Chiou, Wen-Tsong (June 2019) What Roles Can Lay Citizens Play in the Making of Public Knowledge?. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 257-277). unapi

Included in

Article Fan, Fa-ti; Chen, Shun-Ling; Kao, Chia-Liang; Murphy, Michelle; Price, Matt; Barry, Liz (June 2019) Citizens, Politics, and Civic Technology: A Conversation with g0v and EDGI. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 279-297). unapi

Article Fan, Fa-ti; Chen, Shun-Ling (June 2019) Citizen, Science, and Citizen Science. East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (pp. 181-193). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB342850362/

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Authors & Contributors
Naylor, Simon
Endfield, Georgina H.
Carson, Sarah
Baker, Zeke
Neil Macdonald
Munger, Michael Sean
Concepts
Meteorology
Weather
Science and war; science and the military
Climate and climatology
Science and culture
Observation
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
21st century
18th century
Places
United States
Great Britain
Indian Ocean
South Asia
Western states (U.S.)
Mauritius
Institutions
United States. Weather Bureau
British Admiralty
Great Britain. Royal Navy
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