Dissertation Research: The Open World - The World of Open Systems

论文研究：开放世界 - 开放系统的世界

• 批准号: 0551426
• 负责人: Phoebe Sengers
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-02-01 至 2008-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0551426&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Open; World; Systems

This Science and Society Dissertation Improvement Grant in the Social Studies of Science, Engineering and Technology uses ethnographic and historical research methods to trace the emergence and characterization of what we call 'open' systems. These systems are driven by groups of diversely-motivated, self-organizing volunteers who forge large-scale collaborations and take up alternative approaches to the design, production, exchange, deployment and use of information technology. Examples of open systems from recent years include robust computer operating systems and infrastructure (e.g. Linux, Apache), sizeable scientific publication databases (e.g. arXiv, PubMedCentral), and safe systems and methods for genetic organism modification (e.g.TransBacter). The implications of open systems and their departures from closed systems are not yet well understood. This dissertation explores the contested promises and perils of such open systems. The research will investigate claims that open systems represent significant departures from nationalistic modes of social organization, a transformation of neo-liberal economic logic and a sustainable alternative to traditional models of technological innovation. Drawing from several methodological traditions (including science and technology studies, information science, innovation studies, and social history) and building on detailed field work, this dissertation aims to develop a comprehensive theory that can assess the potential long-term effects of open systems. The primary objective of this project is to understand the continuities and discontinuities between older systems and the world of open systems and to document transitions where they exist. The aim is to scrutinize, evaluate and explain potential transformations within larger historical contexts while considering their implications for the law and public policy. Fieldwork for this project will focus on three contemporary case studies in different domains: free and open source software, open scholarly publishing, and open information systems in the biotechnology arena. By selecting cases from different domains the researchers hope to establish a basis for comparison that would go beyond information technology per se, the area of most focus until now. In addition, a set of smaller, historical case studies will serve as a baseline for comparison. NSF funds will support fieldwork in the United States, Europe, India and Australia that includes interviews and participant observation within developer and user communities, participation in actors' conferences, and research in governmental and private archives. In these sites open systems are being designed, built, negotiated and contested. The researcher will observe and interview developers, users and public administrators in each of the sites and collect and analyze documents. The intellectual merit of this dissertation is primarily in its contribution to the area of social studies of technology. Through detailed case studies the work will explore the connection between technology and ideology, and scrutinize the idea of 'closure' in technological systems, closed or open. The broader implications and impact of this project derives from the timely contributions that it will offer to political and technical debates about openness and its role in the information society. This work offers a critical examination of a process by which values like participation, equality, access, freedom, and justice may be beginning to displace the predominant values of the military-industrial-complex across multiple domains. This work will explore the dynamics of these transitions to the extent that they exist, and their potential long-lasting effects, which are not yet well understood.

在科学、工程和技术的社会研究中，这篇科学和社会论文改进拨款使用了人种学和历史研究方法来追踪我们所说的“开放”系统的出现和特征。这些系统是由动机各异的自我组织的志愿人员团体推动的，他们建立大规模合作，并采取替代办法来设计、生产、交流、部署和使用信息技术。近年来开放系统的例子包括健壮的计算机操作系统和基础设施(例如Linux、ApacheTM)、相当大的科学出版物数据库(例如arxiv、PubMedCentral)以及用于遗传有机体修饰的安全系统和方法(例如TransBacter)。开放系统的含义及其与封闭系统的背离还没有得到很好的理解。本文探讨了这种开放系统的争议性承诺和风险。这项研究将调查开放系统代表着与民族主义社会组织模式的重大背离、新自由主义经济逻辑的转变以及传统技术创新模式的可持续替代的说法。借鉴几种方法论传统(包括科学技术研究、信息科学、创新研究和社会历史)，在详细的实地工作的基础上，本论文旨在发展一种能够评估开放系统潜在长期影响的综合理论。这个项目的主要目标是了解旧系统和开放系统世界之间的连续性和不连续性，并记录它们存在的过渡。其目的是在更大的历史背景下仔细审查、评估和解释潜在的变革，同时考虑它们对法律和公共政策的影响。该项目的实地工作将侧重于不同领域的三个当代案例研究：自由和开放源码软件、开放学术出版和生物技术领域的开放信息系统。通过从不同领域选择案例，研究人员希望建立一个超越信息技术本身的比较基础，而信息技术本身是迄今为止最受关注的领域。此外，一组规模较小的历史案例研究将作为比较的基准。NSF基金将支持在美国、欧洲、印度和澳大利亚的实地工作，包括在开发人员和用户社区内进行采访和参与者观察，参加演员会议，以及在政府和私人档案中进行研究。在这些地点，开放系统正在设计、建造、谈判和竞争。研究人员将观察和采访每个网站的开发人员、用户和公共管理员，并收集和分析文件。这篇论文的学术价值主要在于它对技术社会研究领域的贡献。通过详细的案例研究，这项工作将探索技术和意识形态之间的联系，并仔细审查技术系统中的“封闭”概念，无论是封闭的还是开放的。这一项目的更广泛影响和影响来自于它将及时为有关开放及其在信息社会中的作用的政治和技术辩论作出贡献。这项工作提供了一个过程的批判性检查，在这个过程中，参与、平等、获取、自由和正义等价值观可能开始取代军工复合体在多个领域的主导价值观。这项工作将探索这些转变的动态，如果它们存在的话，以及它们潜在的长期影响，这些影响还没有被很好地理解。