Flow, form and feelings:
Investigating networks of data-exchange among scientists
Anne Beaulieu
Technology can be integrated into social relations (such as trust) and in turn can shape these relations into new patterns. In order to study how these relations are meaningful, ethnographic approaches are especially well suited and sensitive to what may be novel ways of building, expressing and maintaining these relations. The ethnographic component of this project is inspired by recent work in Internet studies, which aims to adapt the methods of ethnography to the context of electronic and digital resources. A "connective" (rather than location-bound) approach has been suggested, in order to free ethnographers from the time-space co-location of traditional ethnography (Hine 2000). The analyst therefore follows paths suggested by actors, as implemented in the media. The resulting depiction is that of a network (rather than of a location), shaped by different kinds of relations (collaboration, sponsorship, publication, friendship, etc). These depictions of networks may be used to develop a typology of data-sharing configurations, with the aim of comparing fields in this respect.
Dr Anne Beaulieu
Networked research and digital information
NIWI-KNAW
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The Netherlands
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