Home Power: A Model for Democracy in Technology Decision Making

美国的家庭电力运动现在有超过10万户家庭的业主已经安装了自己的光伏(太阳能电池)、风能和微型水力发电系统。这项研究的目的是将这一运动作为技术设计和开发领域中罕见的直接民主决策的例子。将本土权力的经验与民主理论和科学技术研究文献相结合，调查者将开发一种公众参与科学技术决策的新模式，并将其与其他更熟悉的做出此类决策的制度结构和实践进行比较和对比。关于家庭权力运动的实证数据收集将包括对主要国家人物和其他活动人士的采访，以及对威斯康星州阿默斯特周围社区的参与者观察，该社区是一年一度的中西部可再生能源博览会的发起地。研究将审查大众互动在形成知识库方面的独特性质；参与运动的性质和参与对参与者本身的影响；对运动中专门知识的独特认识和处理；以及所涉技术的特定属性与个人参与的直接性之间可能存在的任何联系。为了帮助改进模型并衡量其适用性，调查者将考虑国内电力的发展与公民对有毒废物处理的担忧之间是否存在联系，或者美国和国外出现了“参与性研究”的努力。将开发的模型将回应最近对民主国家技术决策的关切，并有助于根据冷战后社会和经济环境的变化，不断重新审查政府与科学和技术之间的关系。在这种环境下，新的决策模式及其影响值得考虑。研究结果将在各种会议上发表，并以文章的形式面向学术和大众受众；还可能出版一本书。

The home power movement in the United States now counts over 100,000 homes whose owners have implemented their own photovoltaic (solar cell), wind and micro-hydroelectric power systems. The object of this research is to examine this movement as a rare instance of direct democratic decisionmaking in the area of technology design and development. Linking the home power experience with elements of democratic theory and the science and technology studies literature, the investigator will develop a new model of public participation in science and technology decisionmaking and compare and contrast it with other, more familiar institutional structures and practices in which such decisions get made. Empirical data gathering on the home power movement will involve interviews with major national figures and other activists, and participant observation in the community around Amherst, Wisconsin, that produces the annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. Research will examine the unique nature of popular interactions in shaping a knowledge base; the nature of participation in the movement and the effects of participation on the participants themselves; the distinctive perception and handling of expertise in the movement; and any links that may exist between particular attributes of the technologies involved and the directness of individual participation. To help to refine the model and gauge its applicability, the investigator will consider whether relationships exist between home power developments and citizens' concerns about toxic waste disposal, or the emergence of `participatory research` efforts in the U.S. and abroad. The model to be developed will be responsive to recently expressed concerns about technology decision making in a democracy and contribute to ongoing re-examinations of relationships between government and science and technology in light of post-Cold War changes in social and economic circumstances. In this climate, new patterns of decisionmaking and their impacts are worthy of consideration. Findings will be presented at conferences and meetings and in articles for both academic and popular audiences; a book may also result.