Gwen Ottinger - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Gwen Ottinger
Engaging Science, Technology, and Society
Could crowdsourcing be a way to get undone science done? Could grassroots groups enlist voluntee... more Could crowdsourcing be a way to get undone science done? Could grassroots groups enlist volunteers to help make sense of large amounts of otherwise unanalyzed data—an approach that has been gaining popularity among natural scientists? This paper assesses the viability of this technique for creating new knowledge about the local effects of petrochemicals, by examining three recent experiments in crowdsourcing led by non-profits and grassroots groups. These case studies suggest that undertaking a crowdsourcing project requires significant resources, including technological infrastructures that smaller or more informal groups may find it difficult to provide. They also indicate that crowdsourcing will be most successful when the questions of grassroots groups line up fairly well with existing scientific frameworks. The paper concludes that further experimentation in crowdsourcing is warranted, at least in cases where adequate resources and interpretive frameworks are available, an...
Surveillance & Society
Environmental surveillance data—in particular, data from air monitoring conducted by grassroots c... more Environmental surveillance data—in particular, data from air monitoring conducted by grassroots community groups—is presumed to empower community members with respect to neighboring industrial facilities; further, extensions of data-collecting ability assumed to represent expansions of empowerment. This paper challenges the idea that empowerment follows from the collection of copious surveillance data, arguing instead that the degree and kind of empowerment environmental surveillance supports is determined by the manner in which surveillance data is made meaningful. Examining contrasting interpretations of environmental surveillance data, the paper shows how they variously construct empowerment in terms of the power to define issues, the power to enforce laws, and the power to choose. The three forms of empowerment vary in the level at which they enable community groups to act—suggesting that the empowering potential of surveillance rests in large part on strategic interpretive c...
Journal of Science Communication
The validity of citizen science conducted by community activists is often questioned because of t... more The validity of citizen science conducted by community activists is often questioned because of the overt values that activists bring to their investigations. But value judgments are a necessary part of even the best academic science, and scientists whose findings suggest the need for policy action can learn from the example of citizen scientists. Communicating clearly about value judgments in science would give the public a better basis for distinguishing between responsible and irresponsible research on controversial issues.
Energy Research & Social Science
Environmental Sociology, 2016
Ambient air monitoring is one way that community groups, environmental justice (EJ) activists, an... more Ambient air monitoring is one way that community groups, environmental justice (EJ) activists, and environmental agencies assess the health effects of exposures to toxic chemicals. However, monitoring does not measure human exposure directly, leading to the question, how are air quality measurements connected to claims about exposure and health? Since activists and regulatory experts often clash over assessments of environmental health effects, how might the approaches taken by the two differ? Comparing reports on ambient air monitoring from social movement groups and government experts, we show that both make connections between monitoring data and health using a well-developed infrastructure for health assessment. EJ activists rely on the infrastructure to a greater extent than previously acknowledged, although they do challenge fundamental categories, especially distinctions between short- and long-term exposures. Experts working within the infrastructure exercise considerable discretion in how they interpret and implement the standards and categories of health assessment, including by transgressing the short- and long-term distinction in some cases. Our findings call attention to similarities in lay and expert ways of knowing that enable the sharing of information infrastructures and show that information infrastructures are not determinative but potentially malleable, even in the context of expert practices.
Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, 2010
Expert Cultures in a Grassroots Movement, 2011
For nearly thirty years, the environmental justice (EJ) movement has been engaged in what Cole an... more For nearly thirty years, the environmental justice (EJ) movement has been engaged in what Cole and Foster (2001) describe as " transformative politics. " In the course of agitating to correct inequities in the distribution of environmental hazards, the movement has transformed the victims of environmental injustices, turning formerly quiescent minority and low-income neighborhoods into organized, politically engaged communities, and residents once intimidated by powerful corporations and state institutions into outspoken, politically savvy advocates for their communities. Environmental justice activism has also played a role in changing environmental policy, as U.S. agencies have been forced to consider the health and environmental consequences of their decisions for communities of color and low-income communities (see
Science, Technology & Human Values, 2013
Science, Technology & Human Values, 2010
In light of arguments that citizen science has the potential to make environmental knowledge and ... more In light of arguments that citizen science has the potential to make environmental knowledge and policy more robust and democratic, this article inquires into the factors that shape the ability of citizen science to actually influence scientists and decision makers. Using the case of communitybased air toxics monitoring with ''buckets,'' it argues that citizen science's effectiveness is significantly influenced by standards and standardized practices. It demonstrates that, on one hand, standards serve a boundarybridging function that affords bucket monitoring data a crucial measure of legitimacy among experts. On the other hand, standards simultaneously serve a boundary-policing function, allowing experts to dismiss bucket data as irrelevant to the central project of air quality assessment. The article thus calls attention to standard setting as an important site of intervention for citizen science-based efforts to democratize science and policy.
Science, Technology & Human Values, 2010
Affairs. His research focuses, in part, on the problematic role of experts and expert knowledge i... more Affairs. His research focuses, in part, on the problematic role of experts and expert knowledge in environmental decision making-an interest rooted in his experience as a Greenpeace staff member in the 1980s (prior to the case examined here).
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 2012
Environmental Justice, 2012
Arguing that science and technology are inherently dynamic and therefore transformable, we descri... more Arguing that science and technology are inherently dynamic and therefore transformable, we describe how the demands of the environmental justice (EJ) movement have changed, and are changing, technoscientific practices. In particular, we suggest that the EJ movement's insistence on recognition of racial and cultural diversity has resulted in new methods for risk assessment; that its focus on timely political action has pushed scientists to re-evaluate methods for reporting results and standards of proof; and that its emphasis on justice, sustainability, and health have encouraged technical practitioners to incorporate these fundamental values into their work. Understanding technoscience as dynamic, further, suggests strategies for EJ advocates to foster more just forms of science and technology.
Energy Policy, 2014
ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that state control of wind facility siting decisions fosters new proje... more ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that state control of wind facility siting decisions fosters new project development more effectively than local control, yet the literature suggests that affected citizens tend to be more fairly represented in local siting processes. We argue that successful renewable energy policy must satisfy both the need for new project development and the obligation to procedural justice. To suggest how it can do so, we analyze existing state- and county-level siting processes in Washington state, finding that both fall short on measures of procedural justice. To overcome this limitation and address the tension between procedural justice and project development, we then propose a collaborative governance approach to wind facility siting, in which state governments retain ultimate authority over permitting decisions but encourage and support local-level deliberations as the primary means of making those decisions. Such an approach, we argue, would be more just, facilitate wind development by addressing community concerns constructively and result in better projects through the input of diverse stakeholders.
Engaging Science, Technology, and Society
Could crowdsourcing be a way to get undone science done? Could grassroots groups enlist voluntee... more Could crowdsourcing be a way to get undone science done? Could grassroots groups enlist volunteers to help make sense of large amounts of otherwise unanalyzed data—an approach that has been gaining popularity among natural scientists? This paper assesses the viability of this technique for creating new knowledge about the local effects of petrochemicals, by examining three recent experiments in crowdsourcing led by non-profits and grassroots groups. These case studies suggest that undertaking a crowdsourcing project requires significant resources, including technological infrastructures that smaller or more informal groups may find it difficult to provide. They also indicate that crowdsourcing will be most successful when the questions of grassroots groups line up fairly well with existing scientific frameworks. The paper concludes that further experimentation in crowdsourcing is warranted, at least in cases where adequate resources and interpretive frameworks are available, an...
Surveillance & Society
Environmental surveillance data—in particular, data from air monitoring conducted by grassroots c... more Environmental surveillance data—in particular, data from air monitoring conducted by grassroots community groups—is presumed to empower community members with respect to neighboring industrial facilities; further, extensions of data-collecting ability assumed to represent expansions of empowerment. This paper challenges the idea that empowerment follows from the collection of copious surveillance data, arguing instead that the degree and kind of empowerment environmental surveillance supports is determined by the manner in which surveillance data is made meaningful. Examining contrasting interpretations of environmental surveillance data, the paper shows how they variously construct empowerment in terms of the power to define issues, the power to enforce laws, and the power to choose. The three forms of empowerment vary in the level at which they enable community groups to act—suggesting that the empowering potential of surveillance rests in large part on strategic interpretive c...
Journal of Science Communication
The validity of citizen science conducted by community activists is often questioned because of t... more The validity of citizen science conducted by community activists is often questioned because of the overt values that activists bring to their investigations. But value judgments are a necessary part of even the best academic science, and scientists whose findings suggest the need for policy action can learn from the example of citizen scientists. Communicating clearly about value judgments in science would give the public a better basis for distinguishing between responsible and irresponsible research on controversial issues.
Energy Research & Social Science
Environmental Sociology, 2016
Ambient air monitoring is one way that community groups, environmental justice (EJ) activists, an... more Ambient air monitoring is one way that community groups, environmental justice (EJ) activists, and environmental agencies assess the health effects of exposures to toxic chemicals. However, monitoring does not measure human exposure directly, leading to the question, how are air quality measurements connected to claims about exposure and health? Since activists and regulatory experts often clash over assessments of environmental health effects, how might the approaches taken by the two differ? Comparing reports on ambient air monitoring from social movement groups and government experts, we show that both make connections between monitoring data and health using a well-developed infrastructure for health assessment. EJ activists rely on the infrastructure to a greater extent than previously acknowledged, although they do challenge fundamental categories, especially distinctions between short- and long-term exposures. Experts working within the infrastructure exercise considerable discretion in how they interpret and implement the standards and categories of health assessment, including by transgressing the short- and long-term distinction in some cases. Our findings call attention to similarities in lay and expert ways of knowing that enable the sharing of information infrastructures and show that information infrastructures are not determinative but potentially malleable, even in the context of expert practices.
Spontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science, 2010
Expert Cultures in a Grassroots Movement, 2011
For nearly thirty years, the environmental justice (EJ) movement has been engaged in what Cole an... more For nearly thirty years, the environmental justice (EJ) movement has been engaged in what Cole and Foster (2001) describe as " transformative politics. " In the course of agitating to correct inequities in the distribution of environmental hazards, the movement has transformed the victims of environmental injustices, turning formerly quiescent minority and low-income neighborhoods into organized, politically engaged communities, and residents once intimidated by powerful corporations and state institutions into outspoken, politically savvy advocates for their communities. Environmental justice activism has also played a role in changing environmental policy, as U.S. agencies have been forced to consider the health and environmental consequences of their decisions for communities of color and low-income communities (see
Science, Technology & Human Values, 2013
Science, Technology & Human Values, 2010
In light of arguments that citizen science has the potential to make environmental knowledge and ... more In light of arguments that citizen science has the potential to make environmental knowledge and policy more robust and democratic, this article inquires into the factors that shape the ability of citizen science to actually influence scientists and decision makers. Using the case of communitybased air toxics monitoring with ''buckets,'' it argues that citizen science's effectiveness is significantly influenced by standards and standardized practices. It demonstrates that, on one hand, standards serve a boundarybridging function that affords bucket monitoring data a crucial measure of legitimacy among experts. On the other hand, standards simultaneously serve a boundary-policing function, allowing experts to dismiss bucket data as irrelevant to the central project of air quality assessment. The article thus calls attention to standard setting as an important site of intervention for citizen science-based efforts to democratize science and policy.
Science, Technology & Human Values, 2010
Affairs. His research focuses, in part, on the problematic role of experts and expert knowledge i... more Affairs. His research focuses, in part, on the problematic role of experts and expert knowledge in environmental decision making-an interest rooted in his experience as a Greenpeace staff member in the 1980s (prior to the case examined here).
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, 2012
Environmental Justice, 2012
Arguing that science and technology are inherently dynamic and therefore transformable, we descri... more Arguing that science and technology are inherently dynamic and therefore transformable, we describe how the demands of the environmental justice (EJ) movement have changed, and are changing, technoscientific practices. In particular, we suggest that the EJ movement's insistence on recognition of racial and cultural diversity has resulted in new methods for risk assessment; that its focus on timely political action has pushed scientists to re-evaluate methods for reporting results and standards of proof; and that its emphasis on justice, sustainability, and health have encouraged technical practitioners to incorporate these fundamental values into their work. Understanding technoscience as dynamic, further, suggests strategies for EJ advocates to foster more just forms of science and technology.
Energy Policy, 2014
ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that state control of wind facility siting decisions fosters new proje... more ABSTRACT Evidence suggests that state control of wind facility siting decisions fosters new project development more effectively than local control, yet the literature suggests that affected citizens tend to be more fairly represented in local siting processes. We argue that successful renewable energy policy must satisfy both the need for new project development and the obligation to procedural justice. To suggest how it can do so, we analyze existing state- and county-level siting processes in Washington state, finding that both fall short on measures of procedural justice. To overcome this limitation and address the tension between procedural justice and project development, we then propose a collaborative governance approach to wind facility siting, in which state governments retain ultimate authority over permitting decisions but encourage and support local-level deliberations as the primary means of making those decisions. Such an approach, we argue, would be more just, facilitate wind development by addressing community concerns constructively and result in better projects through the input of diverse stakeholders.