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神秘，也可能看起来很复杂。但找到我们最早的人类祖先似乎也是一个幸运的问题。这个项目记录了一群古生物学家在世界上最令人兴奋的两个化石遗址。古生物学是一门经典的发现科学：游戏是在高风险/高回报的区域发现化石。团队合作、炎热和艰苦偶尔会成为有关人类祖先的全球头条新闻。这个实地考察团队是独一无二的：这是唯一一支由肯尼亚学者与美国女科学家合作组织的探险活动。“如何找到人类记录这项田野工作使用视频人种学来(A)收集大量的素材，(B)收集精选的素材供学术和公众使用，(C)编辑素材以制作视听输出用于教学，公众对发现过程的认识，以及促进STS对田野工作的理解。这些对教育、学术和公众参与的广泛影响包括制作教学视频和公共视听材料档案。正在制作一系列短片，作为理科和STS本科生和研究生教育的教具。学生、学者和公众将看到科学家和化石发现者研究和讨论岩石和化石，决定是否收集它们，并试图理解它们在人类时间线中的意义。与呈现科学事后版本的传统纪录片不同，该项目呈现的是正在形成的科学。田野调查本身主要发生在两个地点：一个是一个新地点，它已经为最早的解剖学上的现代人提供了一些证据，初步确定为生活在20万年前。另一个是首次发现，在大约350万年前，在我们祖先的起源附近，存在着不止一个物种的人类祖先。它产生了最早的石器，比我们人类的起源早了很久。这两个地点都处于进化论研究的前沿。该项目在两个主要方面对科学和技术研究领域做出了贡献。首先，通过系统地观察和记录古生物学家在这门在科学、教育和公众中一直存在争议的科学的前沿，将出现对科学田野工作的更深层次的理解。第二，该项目和录像人种学方法将为今后在实地科学领域开展协作工作提供一般方法的基础。在项目成果中，包括一部教育公众的纪录片，以及开发可转移到其他科学环境中研究田野工作的视频民族志方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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.