Public engagement in networked virtual organizations and its effects on discovery and innovation

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This research project asks: How does public engagement in collaborative science and engineering projects affect the process of discovery and innovation? Combining approaches and tools from sociology, information studies, anthropology and public policy, we will provide both concrete models and detailed case studies that analyze the effects of organizations' involvement with members of the organized public on the nature of new networked virtual organizations with respect to three domains of variation: structure, outcomes and governance. The models, concepts and modes of analysis will be constructed to be understandable across disciplines, as well as in the scientific and engineering domains under study.To build these models and concepts, we will analyze existing cases in the scholarly and popular literature and create in-depth studies of exemplary cases showing how they work and the struggles they face. Our results will have implications for how we measure, report and reward innovation; how we design policy and distribute resources that encourage public participation; and how we build infrastructures that integrate the work of professional scientists with that of other individuals who have a stake in science and engineering.