Designing Participatory Technology Assessments: A Reflexive Method for Advancing the Public Role in Science Policy Decision-making
Designing Participatory Technology Assessments: A Reflexive Method for Advancing the Public Role in Science Policy Decision-making
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DOI：
10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120974
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发表时间：
2021-07-02
影响因子：
12
通讯作者：
Tomblin, David
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kaplan, Leah R.;Farooque, Mahmud;Tomblin, David
几十年的社会科学研究记录和探索了科学，技术和社会的相互关联的性质。多个理论框架表明，通过更广泛地纳入新的声音和愿景，有可能将这种相互塑造的过程引向预期的结果，远离不受欢迎的结果。2010年，一组研究人员、教育工作者和政策执行者建立了专家和公民科学技术评估网络，以实施这些框架。在十年的过程中，ECAST开发了一种创新和反思性的参与式技术评估（pTA）方法，以支持不同技术，社会和政治背景下的民主科学政策决策。该方法的自反性导致了不断的创新和迭代改进。目前的ECAST pTA方法包括三个参与阶段：1）问题框架; 2）ECAST公民审议; 3）结果和整合。该方法证明具有适应性和可复制性，已为各种科学和技术问题的决策以及从地方到国家和国际的治理规模提供了产出。ECAST的分布式网络模式还通过不断变化的社会政治环境促进了独立性，连续性和可持续性。在本文中，我们详细介绍了ECAST pTA方法的现状;分享小型案例研究来说明促使新方法创新的情况;并为进一步开发和整合pTA到民主科学政策决策中提供了一个愿景。
Decades of social science scholarship have documented and explored the interconnected nature of science, technology, and society. Multiple theoretical frameworks suggest the potential to direct this process of mutual shaping toward desired outcomes and away from undesired ones through broader inclusion of new voices and visions. In 2010, a group of researchers, educators, and policy practitioners established the Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology (ECAST) network to operationalize these frameworks. Over the course of a decade, ECAST developed an innovative and reflexive participatory technology assessment (pTA) method to support democratic science policy decision-making in different technical, social, and political contexts. The method's reflexive nature gave rise to continuous innovations and iterative improvements. The current ECAST pTA method includes three participatory phases: 1) Problem Framing; 2) ECAST Citizen Deliberation; and 3) Results and Integration. Proving adaptable and replicable, the method has generated outputs for decision-making on a variety of science and technology issues and at governance scales ranging from the local to the national and international. ECAST's distributed network model has also promoted independence, continuity, and sustainability through changing sociopolitical contexts. In this paper, we detail the current state of the ECAST pTA method; share mini case studies to illustrate circumstances that prompted new method innovations; and offer a vision for further developing and integrating pTA into democratic science policy decision-making.