How to Collect Humans: A Video Ethnographic Approach to Fieldwork in Paleontology

对许多人来说，科学发现的过程即使不是神秘的，也是复杂的。但找到我们最早的人类祖先似乎也是一种运气问题。这个项目记录了一群古生物学家在世界上两个最令人兴奋的化石遗址。古生物学是一门经典的发现科学：游戏是在高风险/高回报的区域找到化石。团队合作、高温和艰苦偶尔会成为有关人类祖先的全球头条新闻。这个实地考察小组是独一无二的：这是唯一一个由肯尼亚学者与美国女科学家合作进行的考察。“如何发现人类”使用视频人种学记录了这一田野调查(a)收集了大量的镜头，(b)汇集了这些镜头的精心挑选，供学术和公众访问，(c)编辑这些镜头以产生视听输出，用于教学，公众对发现过程的认识，并促进STS对田野调查的理解。这些对教育、学术和公众参与的广泛影响包括教学视频的制作和视听材料的公共档案。我们正在制作一系列短片，作为本科和研究生科学和STS教育的教学辅助工具。学生、学者和公众将看到科学家和化石发现者检查和讨论岩石和化石，决定是否收集它们，并试图理解它们在人类时间轴上的意义。与传统纪录片呈现事后版本的科学不同，该项目呈现的是正在形成的科学。田野调查本身主要在两个地点进行：一个是一个新的地点，在那里已经发现了一些关于最早的解剖学上的现代人的证据，暂定的日期是生活在20万年前。另一个是第一个揭示在近350万年前我们的血统起源附近存在不止一种人类祖先的地点。这里出土了最早的石器，远远早于人类的起源。这两个地点都处于进化研究的前沿。该项目对科学技术研究领域的贡献主要体现在两个方面。首先，通过对处于科学前沿的古生物学家进行系统的观察和记录，人们将对科学领域的实地考察有更深入的了解，而这门科学在科学界、教育界和公众中一直存在争议。其次，这个项目和视频人种学的方法将为未来领域科学合作工作的一般方法提供基础。该项目的成果包括一部教育公众的纪录片，以及可以转移到其他科学环境中研究实地工作的视频人种学方法的发展。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

To many, the process of scientific discovery can seem complex if not mysterious. But finding our earliest human ancestors can also seem like a matter of luck. This project documents a group of paleontologists at two of the most exciting fossil sites in the world. Paleontology is a classic discovery science: the game is to find fossils in a high risk/high payoff area. Teamwork, heat, and hardship occasionally produce global headlines on human ancestors. The fieldwork team is unique: the only such expedition run by a Kenyan scholar in collaboration with an American woman scientist. 'How to Find Humans' documents this fieldwork using video ethnography to (a) collect extensive footage, (b) assemble a curated selection of this footage for both scholarly and public access, (c) edit the footage to produce audiovisual outputs for use in teaching, public awareness of the discovery process, and advancing STS understanding of fieldwork. These broad impacts on education, scholarship, and public engagement include the production of teaching videos and a public archive of audiovisual materials. A series of short videos are being created as teaching aids for undergraduate and graduate education in both science and STS. Students, scholars, and the public will see scientists and fossil finders as they examine and discuss rocks and fossils, make decisions on whether to collect them, and try to understand their significance in the human timeline. Unlike traditional documentaries that present after-the-fact versions of science, the project presents science in the making. The fieldwork itself occurs at two main locations: one is a new site that has already produced some evidence on the earliest anatomically modern humans, tentatively dated as having lived 200,000 years ago. The other is the first site to reveal that more than one species of human ancestor was present near the origin of our lineage nearly 3.5 million years ago. It has yielded the earliest stone tools, long predating the origin of our species. Both sites are at the cutting edge of evolutionary studies. The project contributes to the field of science and technology studies in two major ways. First, a deeper understanding of fieldwork in science will emerge through systematic observation and recording of paleontologists at the cutting edge of a science that has always been controversial within science, education, and the public. Second, this project and the method of video ethnography will provide the basis for a general approach to collaborative work in the field sciences going forward. Among the project outcomes are a documentary to educate the public and the development of video ethnographic methods that can be transferred to study fieldwork in other scientific settings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.