Collaborative Research: Epistemic Technologies, Crowdsourcing, and Molecular Biology

概述这是一个关于生物学中众包的合作STS研究项目；更具体地说，该项目研究了如何使用合作游戏和谜题来解决生物化学和分子遗传学中的问题，例如使用蛋白质折叠游戏(在这里是Foldit)来确定蛋白质分子结构。Foldit和EteRNA这两款这样的众包游戏将是这个项目的重点。这些游戏是利用大众知识的研究工具，包括那些没有接受过生物化学或遗传学专业培训的人，以及那些受过专业培训的人；为了确保尽可能广泛的用户基础，这些技术将基本的生物化学原理嵌入到它们的计算功能中，并将开玩笑地进行试验和错误过程的任务留给用户，而这些过程是破译蛋白质或核酸三维结构的本质。智力价值STS的主要研究目标是研究Foldit和EteRNA的社会技术架构，以获得关于联网计算机游戏平台中人群知识和科学发现的新兴过程的新知识。将信息通信技术、博弈论和科学实践/知识与专家和非专家诀窍结合在一起的系统为STS研究人员提供了一个独特的机会，来研究技术系统设计师如何为理解复杂的科学、交流知识以及激励参与和科学发现创造一个特殊的框架。该项目的经验部分是说明这些平台在配置科学知识、交流和参与/发挥其解决科学问题的努力时的社会技术因素。理论部分将从实证工作中发展理论，解释在这些类型的系统中构建的独特认识论实践如何转化为发现和知识。广泛影响这项研究的结果将有助于在实验室和更公开的场所(如在线协作游戏平台)询问科学实践的STS子领域。它还有可能对传播、信息研究和博弈学领域做出贡献，在其关于计算机中介传播、平台政治以及游戏系统和实践作为认识论努力的作用的理论化方面。这些发现可以转移到更广泛的受众，如游戏设计师和科学家，他们的社区将能够使用这些发现来为当前和未来的大众科学协作游戏平台的设计提供信息。

OverviewThis is a collaborative STS research project on crowd sourcing in biology; more specifically, the project examines the use of collaborative games and puzzles to solve problems in biochemistry and molecular genetics, such as determining the structure of a protein molecule using a protein-folding game (in this case, FoldIt). Two such crowd-sourcing games, FoldIt and EteRNA, will be the focus of this project. These games are research tools that harness the knowledge of crowds, including those who are not professionally trained in biochemistry or genetics as well as those who are; to ensure the widest possible user-base, these technologies embed basic biochemical principles into their computational function and leave to the users the task of playfully undertaking the trail and error processes that are the essence of deciphering the three-dimensional structure of a protein or a nucleic acid. Intellectual MeritThe primary STS research goal is to examine the socio-technical architecture of FoldIt and EteRNA to gain new knowledge about the emergent processes of crowd knowledge and scientific discovery in networked computer gaming platforms. Systems that bring together information communication technologies, game theory, and scientific practice/knowledge with expert and non-expert know-how give STS researchers a unique opportunity to study how technical systems designers create a particular framework for understanding complex science, for communicating that knowledge, and for incentivizing participation and scientific discovery. The empirical component of the project is to characterize the socio-technical elements of these platforms as they configure scientific knowledge, communication and participation/play in their attempts to solve scientific problems. The theoretical component will develop theories from the empirical work that explain how the unique epistemological practices framed in these types of systems translate into discovery and knowledge.Broader ImpactsThe results of this study will contribute to STS subfields that interrogate the practice of science both in the laboratory and in a more public venue, such as the online collaborative game platform. It also has the potential to contribute to fields of communication, information studies, and game studies in its theorizing about computer mediated communication, the politics of platforms, and the role of gaming systems and practice as epistemological endeavors. The findings are transferable to broader audiences such as game designers and scientists whose communities will be able to use the findings to inform the design of current and future crowd-science collaborative game platforms.