Dissertation Research: Organizational Innovation in SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence: Ethnographic, Historical, and Policy Perspectives

本论文项目提出了对SETI起源和发展的研究，SETI是一个由几个高度创新的研究计划和组织组成的现代科学领域。SETI(地外智能搜索)是射电天文学的一个分支，研究人员利用大型射电望远镜、小型卫星天线或光学望远镜来搜索智能来源的电磁信号。对这一科学领域的研究有助于更好地理解科学组织、实践以及科学与公众之间的关系。具体地说，该项目认为SETI是一项独特的科学活动，研究人员正在发明：1)新的组织形式；2)受公众反馈影响的新科学实践；3)让公众参与和招募基础科学研究的新方法。SETI是一项明确解决具有深刻文化意义的问题的科学活动。SETI的研究人员经常指出，证明外星智慧生命的存在将对宇宙学、宗教和流行的关于我们在宇宙中的位置的概念产生深远的影响。部分由于这一原因，美国国家航空航天局(NASA)在1993年终止了对SETI项目的直接资助。因此，SETI的科学家和研究人员被迫直接呼吁公众获得开展搜索计划所需的资金、专业知识和其他资源。这导致了SETI研究界内创新组织形式的广泛扩散。该项目将探索：1)开展SETI研究的组织形式的多样性；2)这些组织环境如何影响科学实践；3)这些不同的组织结构如何培养/限制公众对SETI的参与。该项目计划进行为期11个月的实地研究：1)采访美国大陆SETI组织的研究人员并与之互动；2)在赞助SETI研究工作的组织进行档案研究；3)参加SETI科学家与普通公众互动的各种公开陈述、大会和会议；以及4)绘制SETI爱好者和流行文化了解SETI的方式。这项研究的主要数据将通过对SETI研究人员、志愿者和爱好者进行的40多次深入、有重点的采访来收集。为了在进行SETI研究的更大的历史和社会背景下框定举报人的观点，将用人种学数据和档案资料补充访谈数据。本研究设计建立在1999年3月至10月期间进行的实地考察和初步访谈的基础上。

This dissertation project proposes research on the origins and development of SETI, a modern scientific field comprised of several highly innovative research programs and organizations. SETI (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) is a branch of radio astronomy in which researchers utilize large radio telescopes, small satellite dishes, or optical telescopes to search for electromagnetic signals of intelligent origin. Study of this scientific field offers greater understanding of scientific organization, practice, and the relationship between science and the public. Specifically, this project posits that SETI is a unique scientific activity in which researchers are inventing: 1) new organizational forms; 2) new scientific practices infected by feedback from the public; and 3) new ways of engaging and enrolling the public in basic scientific research. SETI is a scientific activity that explicitly addresses issues of deep cultural significance. SETI researchers often point out that demonstrating the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life would have profound effects upon cosmological, religious, and popular conceptions of our place in the universe. In part because of this, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) terminated direct funding for SETI programs in 1993. SETI scientists and researchers have therefore been forced to appeal directly to the public to obtain the funds, expertise, and other resources necessary to carry out search programs. This has resulted in a wide proliferation of innovative organizational forms within the SETI research community. This project will explore: 1) the diversity of organizational forms through which SETI research is carried out; 2) how these organizational contexts affect scientific practice; and 3) how these different organizational structures have cultivated/limited public involvement in SETI. This project proposes 11 months of field research to: 1) interview and interact with researchers affiliated with SETI organizations throughout the continental United States; 2) conduct archival research at organizations that have sponsored SETI research work; 3) participate in various public presentations, conventions, and conferences at which SETI scientists interact with members of the general public; and 4) map the ways that SETI is understood by enthusiasts and in popular culture. Primary data for this study will be collected through more than 40 in-depth, focused interviews conducted with SETI researchers, volunteers, and enthusiasts. In order to frame informants' perspectives within the larger historical and social context in which SETI research is done, interview data will be supplemented with ethnographic data and archival sources. This research design is built upon site visits and preliminary interviews conducted between March and October of 1999.