SGER: Public Information, Development Scenarios, and Public Deliberation in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Policy

公众参与技术政策决策是有争议的，尤其是在纳米科学和技术(NS&amp；T)的情况下。生产性的公民参与可能会在纳米技术开发的技术规范早期纳入公众的关切，有助于较少争议、更容易被社会接受的技术部署和整合，但得到严格研究支持的参与方法最近才出现。如果我们要在技术充分发展之前，就NS&A；T实现合理的公开对话，我们需要尽快知道进行富有成效的对话的最佳实践。NS&T的科技进步日新月异，产品已经投放市场。热心人士积极宣传纳米增强人类生物学等情景，而反对者则假设最糟糕的情景。学习如何有效地纳入公众参与也是当务之急，因为NS&T政策是国家层面的政策，具有潜在的巨大公众影响。虽然数百万公民不能同时进行推理，但知情的、理性的共识建立需要一起进行推理。群体互动过程本质上是公民商议的中心。这些过程必须指向解决问题，而不仅仅是表达意见。这个SGER项目将建立在研究团队以前和现在的NSF资金的基础上，增加新的知识，从而立即改善涉及纳米技术的参与实践。拟议的研究将立即开始，建立两个试点的“最佳做法”公民技术论坛，并纳入该小组过去研究的新研究成果。该项目将利用试验性议题小组、一次全国调查和两个CTF，利用试验性议题小组(焦点小组变体)和全国性调查来发现公民对纳米技术的看法和内容；利用调查和对话数据，发现不同风险框架在不知情、适度知情和充分知情的情况下的影响；了解公民对基本信息材料的反应，并设计这些材料以最大限度地增加知识；对公民意外的信息需求或重点需求(即，可能鼓励最有成效的对话的特殊问题)作出回应，为关于纳米技术的材料设计和参与进程的进行提供信息，避免增加公民两极分化；与两个有代表性的公民群体一起，制定和开展最佳做法纳米技术协商一致会议进程设计；并确定未来技术合作框架需要的其他进程设计变化。拟议的项目将产生关于公民对纳米技术的看法和政策偏好的第一次全国随机抽样调查，并测试进行国家规模技术政策参与进程的创新手段。国家调查、实验问题小组和公民技术论坛将确保按性别、年龄、社会经济地位、种族群体和教育状况进行代表性参与。该项目将让研究生和本科生参与收集和分析数据以及编写简报材料。学生们也可能被要求撰写文献评论。

Public participation in technology policy decision-making is controversial, and that is especially true in the case of nanoscience and technology (NS&T). Productive citizen participation may integrate public concerns early in the technical specifications of nanotechnology development, contributing to a less contentious, more socially acceptable deployment and integration of the technology, but participation methods supported by rigorous research have only recently emerged. If we are to achieve a reasoned public dialogue on NS&T before the technologies are well developed, we need to know soon the best practices for a productive dialogue. Scientific advances in NS&T are made every day and products are already on the market. Enthusiasts are actively promoting scenarios such as nano-enhanced human biology while opponents hypothesize the worst-case scenarios. Learning how to effectively incorporate public participation is also urgent because NS&T policy is national-level policy with potentially enormous public impacts. While millions of citizens cannot reason together simultaneously, informed, reasoned consensus building requires reasoning together. Group interaction processes are inherently at the center of citizen deliberation. These processes must point toward problem solving rather than only expressing opinion. This SGER project would build on the research team's former and current NSF funding, adding new knowledge that would lead to immediate improvements in participation practices involving nanotechnology. The proposed research will begin immediately, building towards two pilot "best practices" Citizens Technology Forums, and incorporating new research outcomes of the team's past research. The project will use experimental issue groups, a national survey, and two CTFs to discover citizen perceptions of and content knowledge of nanotechnology using experimental issue groups (a focus group variant) and a national survey; discover effects of different risk frames in uninformed, moderately informed, and fully informed conditions, using both survey and dialogue data; learn citizen reactions to basic informational materials, and design those to maximize knowledge; respond to unanticipated citizen informational or focus needs (i.e., particular questions that might encourage the most productive dialogue) that can inform material design and conduct of participation processes on nanotechnology and avoid increasing citizen polarization; develop and carry out a best-practices nanotechnology consensus conference process design, with two representative groups of citizens; and identify additional process design changes needed in the future CTFs.The proposed project will produce the first random sample national survey of citizen perceptions and policy preferences on nanotechnology, and test an innovative means to conduct national-scale technology policy participation processes. The national survey, Experimental Issue Groups, and Citizens' Technology Forums will ensure representative participation by gender, age, SES, racial group, and educational status. The project will involve graduate and undergraduate students in collecting and analyzing data and in developing the briefing materials. The students may also be asked to contribute literature reviews.