Knowing the Great Plains Weather: Field Life and Lay Participation on the American Frontier during the Railroad Era (June 2019)
Vetter, Jeremy (Author)
East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
Pages: 195-213
Publication date: June 2019
Language: English
Edition Details: Special Issue: Citizen Science: Practices and Problems. Guest Editor: Shun-Ling Chen; Collaborating Editor: Fa-ti Fan
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.
...MoreArticle 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).
Article Wen-Ling Tu (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).
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).
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).
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).
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