A Study of Knowledge Flow and Recurring Costly Infrastructure Failures

该奖项为探索性研究早期概念资助（EAGER）。这是一个由于错误的设计决策而导致的结构工程失效的案例研究。PI将参与档案研究和该领域（以及包括建筑在内的相关领域）专家的访谈，以揭示结构工程实践中有关在设计决策中使用知识的文化和传统。具体而言，她将重点关注在设计决策中无意中忽视相关可用知识而无意中导致故障的情况，在某些情况下，在结构投入使用后不久。PI计划进行9个案例研究。这笔拨款将支持九项计划研究中的第一项研究，该研究涉及镀锌高强度钢的使用。私家侦探已经做了初步的历史分析和访谈，以证实对此案进行更深入的调查。这个项目的结果将为PI更大的努力提供基础，将科学、技术和社会（STS）社区介绍给一个被忽视的工程专业，并揭示几十年来反复出现的失败，许多没有得到充分宣传，在某些方面对社会的负面影响比一次性（单一）灾难性事件更广泛、更深。这个项目既具有创新性，又具有潜在的变革性。它将开发一个混合概念框架，将行动者网络理论（一种社会技术系统的STS方法）与知识管理系统方法结合起来，处理组织内部和组织之间的知识促进者（创造者、载体、传送带和用户）、障碍和反馈循环。PI将争辩说，所提到的两个框架都不足以捕捉她的案例研究的相关元素，最好是根据结合了这两个框架最相关特性的框架来理解。此外，PI将为STS期刊准备一篇同行评议论文，为工程研究期刊准备一篇同行评议论文，为专业结构工程杂志准备一篇技术文章，并在社会科学研究学会2017年会议上发表一篇会议论文。这个项目的结果将引起公众、结构工程师、建筑师和技术历史学家的兴趣。

This award is for Early Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER). It is a case study of structural engineering failures due to faulty design decisions. The PI will engage in archival research and interviews of experts in the field (and related fields including architecture) to bring to light the culture and traditions of structural engineering practice concerning the use of knowledge in design decision making. Specifically, she will focus on occurrences of inadvertent neglect of pertinent available knowledge in design decision-making that unintentionally caused failures, in some cases soon after the structures were placed into service. The PI has nine case studies planned. This grant will support research for the first of the nine planned studies, which concerns the use of galvanized high-strength steel. The PI has done preliminary historical analysis and interviews to substantiate pursuing this case in much greater depth. The results from this project will provide the foundation for the PI's larger effort, serve to introduce the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) community to an overlooked engineering profession, and bring to light decades of recurring failures, many not well publicized that, that in some respects have broader, deeper adverse effects on society than one-time (singular) catastrophic events. This project is both innovative and potentially transformative. It will develop a hybrid conceptual framework that combines Actor Network Theory (an STS approach to socio-technical systems) with a Knowledge Management Systems approach that deals with knowledge facilitators (creators, carriers, conveyors, and users), impeders, and feedback loops within and among organizations. The PI will argue that neither of the two frameworks mentioned is adequate for capturing pertinent elements of her case study, which is best understood in terms of a framework that combines the most relevant features of both frameworks. In addition, the PI will prepare/present a peer-reviewed paper for an STS journal, a peer-reviewed paper for an engineering studies journal, a technical article for a professional structural engineering magazine, and a conference paper at the 2017 meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science. The results of this project will be of interest to members of the public as well as structural engineers, architects, and historians of technology.