SGER: Past Futures and Technoscientific Innovation: Science Fiction in the Lives of Scientists and Engineers

SGER：过去的未来和技术科学创新：科学家和工程师生活中的科幻小说

• 批准号: 0731819
• 负责人: Kenneth Fleischmann
• 金额: $ 0.6万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-02-19 至 2008-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0731819&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Past; Futures; Technoscientific; Innovation

Studying how past futures, or futures envisioned in the past through the visionary eyes of science fiction writers, have shaped the present can help us to improve the future. The goal of this pilot study is to explore the influence of science fiction in shaping the intellectual development of scientists and engineers, especially during their formative years. This project meets the requirements for a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) because it constitutes preliminary work on untested and novel ideas. Specifically, it proposes to explore the idea that science fiction influences the career choices and research trajectories of scientists and engineers, a notion for which anecdotal support can be mobilized yet which has never been substantiated through empirical research. This pilot study will serve as the foundation for a larger proposal for an NSF Scholars Award to conduct follow-up research on the relationship between technoscience and science fiction. This project emerges at the intersection of the fields of science and technology studies (STS) and library and information science (LIS), and seeks to explore how exposure to science fiction influences the career choices and research trajectories of scientists and engineers. In so doing, it merges the theoretical strand of the social shaping of technoscience from the STS literature with work on mass media in the life of the reader/listener/viewer/visitor/player from the field of LIS. The project is made possible by the hybrid expertise of the PI, whose Ph.D. is in STS and whose current faculty position is in LIS, and who has previously conducted NSF-funded research projects on the ethical implications of values embedded in information technologies such as dissection simulations and computational models. This project will allow the PI to further his research agenda at the intersection of the fields of STS and LIS, and to conduct research that will make significant contributions to both fields. The three primary objectives of this study are to develop a more robust understanding of the relationship between technoscience and society, mass media, and science fiction. This study hypothesizes that the career choices and research decisions of scientists and engineers are influenced by science fictionas well as other mass media and social factors as a whole. Data collection includes ten semi-structured, open-ended interviews with scientists and engineers. Interview data will be analyzed using grounded theory such that research findings will be continuously integrated to further refine the research design, leading to the construction of a theory that can provide a preliminary explanation how society, mass media, and science fiction influence scientists and engineers and which can be tested and refined through additional research. Results will be disseminated via academic conferences and peer-reviewed journals.Intellectual Merit: This study will contribute to the STS literature by exploring the social factors that influence the career decisions and research trajectories of scientists and engineers. The contribution to the LIS literature will be detailed exploration of the relationship between technoscience and mass media through an in-depth case study of mass media in the lives of scientists and engineers as readers/listeners/viewers/visitors/players. Finally, this study will also contribute to the literature on the relationship between technoscience and science fiction by exploring if and how science fiction might influence the career choices and research trajectories of scientists and engineers.Broader Impacts: This study also aims to produce broader impacts that focus on the recruitment and retention of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. First, by improving understanding of how science fiction shapes the career choices of scientists and engineers, educators will be able to determine when and how to use science fiction to promote student interest in STEM, potentially reinforcing and legitimating existing educational programs. In addition, this study may also be able to provide insights into how science fiction can promote diversity among STEM students, through emphasis on female and non-white authors and characters and feminist and multicultural themes. Finally, this study may discover ways that science fiction can help students majoring in STEM to become more conscious of the social and cultural dimensions of science and technology.

研究过去的未来，或通过科幻作家的远见卓识在过去设想的未来，如何塑造现在可以帮助我们改善未来。这项初步研究的目标是探索科幻小说在塑造科学家和工程师的智力发展方面的影响，特别是在他们的形成时期。该项目符合探索性研究小额赠款（SGER）的要求，因为它构成了未经测试和新颖想法的初步工作。具体而言，它建议探讨科幻小说影响科学家和工程师的职业选择和研究轨迹的想法，这一概念可以动员轶事支持，但从未通过实证研究得到证实。这项试点研究将作为一个更大的建议的基础，为NSF学者奖进行后续研究的技术科学和科幻小说之间的关系。该项目出现在科学和技术研究（STS）和图书馆和信息科学（LIS）领域的交叉点上，旨在探索接触科幻小说如何影响科学家和工程师的职业选择和研究轨迹。在这样做的时候，它合并了STS文献中的技术科学的社会塑造的理论链与LIS领域的读者/听众/观众/访问者/玩家生活中的大众媒体工作。该项目是可能的混合专业知识的PI，其博士学位。是在STS和其目前的教师职位是在LIS，谁曾进行NSF资助的研究项目的价值观嵌入在信息技术，如解剖模拟和计算模型的伦理影响。该项目将使PI能够在STS和LIS领域的交叉点进一步推进其研究议程，并进行将为这两个领域做出重大贡献的研究。本研究的三个主要目标是对技术科学与社会、大众媒体和科幻小说之间的关系有更深入的理解。本研究假设科学家和工程师的职业选择和研究决策受到科幻小说以及其他大众媒体和社会因素的整体影响。数据收集包括10个半结构化的，开放式的采访科学家和工程师。访谈数据将使用扎根理论进行分析，这样研究结果将不断整合，以进一步完善研究设计，从而构建一个理论，该理论可以提供社会，大众媒体和科幻小说如何影响科学家和工程师的初步解释，并可以通过额外的研究进行测试和完善。研究结果将通过学术会议和同行评审的期刊进行传播。学术价值：本研究将通过探索影响科学家和工程师职业决策和研究轨迹的社会因素，为STS文献做出贡献。对LIS文献的贡献将是通过对科学家和工程师作为读者/听众/观众/访问者/参与者生活中的大众媒体进行深入的案例研究，详细探讨技术科学与大众媒体之间的关系。最后，本研究还将通过探索科幻小说是否以及如何影响科学家和工程师的职业选择和研究轨迹，为技术科学和科幻小说之间的关系提供文献。更广泛的影响：本研究还旨在产生更广泛的影响，重点关注科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）学生的招聘和保留。首先，通过提高对科幻小说如何塑造科学家和工程师职业选择的理解，教育工作者将能够确定何时以及如何使用科幻小说来促进学生对STEM的兴趣，从而可能加强现有的教育计划并使其合法化。此外，这项研究还可以通过强调女性和非白人作者和人物以及女权主义和多元文化主题，深入了解科幻小说如何促进STEM学生的多样性。最后，这项研究可能会发现科幻小说可以帮助STEM专业的学生更加意识到科学和技术的社会和文化层面。