Doctoral Dissertation: Nano-Images on Display: Mediation for Public Consumption in the U.S.

本论文项目由科学、技术与社会计划资助，研究公共科学教育网络中的纳米级图像和图像工作。它侧重于多学科团体如何使用图像和其他可视化来代表不同公众的纳米技术。这项研究的一个关键方面是一个研究非正式纳米科学教育的国家科学家网络的案例研究，即纳米技术非正式科学教育（NISE）网络。视觉图像在公众理解纳米技术方面发挥了不可或缺的作用。因此，该项目将图像作为其主要焦点，重建图像从实验室和其他研究场所传播到公共展览和网站的途径，试图了解什么是NISE网络中的公众理解。特别感兴趣的是技术调解人的角色——科学家、前科学家和非科学家——他们为教育或公众参与的目的准备展览和图像画廊。本项目通过深入访谈、参与观察、现场文献和草案的审查，比较了图像调解的实践。这项研究的智力价值在于它对STS在实验室研究可视化、公众参与科学以及纳米技术的社会和文化方面的学术贡献。具体来说，它提供了纳米图像的文化概念（主要是在美国）的说明，绘制出图像，调解实践，研究和公共教育的社会背景之间的分析联系。纳米技术的更广泛的社会影响仍在确定之中，但是人们普遍认为，如果它们能更早地得到解决，那么经济和其他方面的好处将会实现，而负面后果会更少。如果图像确实在培养公众对这些含义的理解方面发挥了重要作用，那么研究图像调解者如何看待公众对纳米技术的参与，以及他们如何实现这种参与，将是很重要的。

This dissertation project funded by the Science, Technology & Society Program examines nanoscale-images and image-work in public science education networks. It focuses on how multidisciplinary groups use images and other visualizations to represent nanotechnology for different publics. A key aspect of the research is a case study of a national network of researchers who address informal nanoscience education, the Nanotechnology Informal Science Education (NISE) network. Visual images have played an integral part in public understanding of nanotechnology. Therefore, this project makes images its primary focus, reconstructing the pathways through which the images travel from laboratories and other research sites to public exhibitions and websites to try to understand what counts as public understanding in the NISE network. Of particular interest is the role of technological mediators -- scientists, former scientists, and non-scientists -- who prepare exhibitions and image galleries for educational or public engagement purposes. Through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and review of documents and drafts at the sites, this project compares practices of image mediation. This research's intellectual merit lies in its contribution to STS scholarship on visualization in laboratory research, public engagement with science, and social and cultural aspects of nanotechnology. Specifically, it provides an account of cultural conceptions (mostly in the United States) of nano-images, drawing out analytical connections between images, mediating practices, and the social contexts of research and public education. Nanotechnology's broader societal implications are still being determined, but it is widely believed that if they can be addressed earlier, the economic and other benefits will be realized with fewer negative consequences. If images do play a significant role in efforts to cultivate public understanding of those implications, it will be important to study what image-mediators consider public engagement of nanotechnology, and how they achieve that engagement.