Workshop: Theoretical and Methodological Innovations in Science and Technology Studies

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The proposed workshop brings together graduate students, junior faculty, and senior faculty to explore and transform theoretical concepts and research methodologies central to the field of Science and Technology Studies. The late Dr. Leigh Star's theoretical and empirical work will provide the workshop's central focus. Drawing from pragmatism and the Chicago school's sociology of work, Star's scholarship highlighted the social dimensions of scientific practice and innovation. Where others conducted ethnographies of the work of laboratory scientists' manipulating tools and data to construct epistemic insights, Star focused upon the countless, taken-for-granted and often dismissed practices of assistants, technicians, and students that make scientific breakthroughs possible. Digging even deeper into the conditions that make science possible, Star foregrounded the infrastructure of classifications, computer technologies, paperwork, and regulations that constrained and constituted scientific work. Her work has impacted numerous fields including but not limited to Science and Technology Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, and Computer Science. The workshop, co-funded by the Science and Technology Studies program and the Information and Intelligent Systems Division, provides an in-depth examination and transformation of Star's conceptual, empirical, and methodological contributions. Drawing from a broad set of theoretical concepts, Star examined themes of ecology, infrastructures, invisible work, articulation work, boundary objects, and classifications. Star's intellectual innovations opened up new areas of inquiry, brought social and behavioral scientists to Science and Technology Studies [STS], strengthened methodology in STS, and emphasized an unwavering focus on scientific work often rendered invisible in publication, award, and promotion practices. Scholars in North America, Europe, and Japan have further expanded upon and transformed Dr. Star's approaches and methodologies. The workshop aims to situate Star's ideas in the formation of Science and Technology Studies as well as move these theoretical frameworks into new scientific terrain.