scholarly journals Turning crowds into communities: The collectives of online citizen science

2021 ◽  
pp. 030631272110587
Author(s):  
Jérôme Baudry ◽  
Élise Tancoigne ◽  
Bruno J Strasser
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Self ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Natural Community ◽  
Defining Moment ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Ideal Types ◽  
The Past ◽  
Self Interest

Over the past two decades, a number of digital platforms have been developed with the aim of engaging citizens in scientific research projects. The success of these platforms depends in no small part on their ability to attract and retain participants, turning diffuse crowds of users into active and productive communities. This article investigates how the collectives of online citizen science are formed and governed, and identifies two ideal-types of government, either based on self-interest or on universal norms of science. Based on an ethnography of three citizen science platforms and a series of interviews with their managers, we show how different technologies – rhetorical, of the self, social, and ontological – can be diversely combined to configure these collectives. We suggest that the shift from individual projects to platforms is a defining moment for online citizen science, during which the technologies that sustain the collectives are standardized and automatized in ways that make the crowd appear to be a natural community.

scholarly journals Exploring serendipitous dialogue

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. E ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Weitkamp
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Science ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Research Areas

Over the past decades there has been an increasing recognition of the need to promote dialogue between science and society. Often this takes the form of formal processes, such as citizen’s juries, that are designed to allow the public to contribute their views on particular scientific research areas. But there are also many less formal mechanisms that promote a dialogue between science and society. This editorial considers science festivals and citizen science in this context and argues that we need a greater understanding of the potential impacts of these projects on the individuals involved, both scientists and the public.

Collective Action by Physicians: Beyond Strikes

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 498-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
SUSAN DORR GOOLD
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
House Officer ◽  
The Self ◽  
Middle Classes ◽  
Airline Pilots ◽  
The Past ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Common Goals

“Collective action” usually brings to mind images of picket signs held by laborers striking for better wages and benefits. Collective action, however, need not be limited to the withholding of labor. Nor need it involve only the working or middle classes, as airline pilots have recently demonstrated. Finally, collective action need not have as its only purpose the self-interest of the group. Collective action does, however, always involve a joining together of individuals united by common goals or interests in order to consolidate power for the purpose of negotiating with another group or entity. Examples of collective action obviously include striking, other withholding labor actions, and slowdowns, but can also include many other activities. “Paper strikes,” for example, have been threatened or used by house officer organizations in the past. In a paper strike, patient care continues but without documentation, and thus, the institution suffers from absent or delayed financial remuneration.

Empathy and Altruism

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Daniel Batson
Keyword(s):  
Empathic Concern ◽  
The Self ◽  
Altruistic Motivation ◽  
Tentative Conclusion ◽  
The Past ◽  
Self Interest

Do we humans ever, in any degree, care about others for their sakes and not simply for our own? Psychology has long assumed that everything humans do, no matter how nice and noble, is motivated by self-interest. Research over the past four decades suggests this assumption is wrong. The empathy-altruism hypothesis claims that empathic concern produces altruistic motivation. Results of the over 35 experiments designed to test this hypothesis against various egoistic alternatives have proved remarkably supportive, leading to the tentative conclusion that feeling empathic concern for a person in need does indeed evoke altruistic motivation to see that need relieved. This chapter attempts to clarify what role the self plays in empathy-induced altruism.

Don’t rage against the machine: why AI may be the cure for the ‘moral hazard’ of party appointments

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-507
Author(s):  
Mel Andrew Schwing
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Moral Hazard ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
The Self ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
International Arbitration ◽  
The Past ◽  
Self Interest

Abstract In 2010, Jan Paulsson decried the use of party-appointed arbitrators in international arbitration as a ‘moral hazard' that threatened the legitimacy of arbitration as an impartial method of dispute resolution. He suggested a series of reforms, most notably allowing arbitral institutions to make all arbitrator appointments. Over the past decade, commentators have debated Paulsson's arguments and whether arbitrators should be chosen by parties or arbitral institutions, relying on an assumption that those two methods are the only ways by which arbitrators can be selected. This essay demonstrates that both approaches are fundamentally flawed, because they are subject to the self-interest and biases of human beings. Moreover, it explains how modern technology has produced a new way by which arbitrators can be selected--specifically, via artificial intelligence (AI)--that allows for parties to have input into the selection process but removes the issues that arise when parties select arbitrators directly. As this essay illustrates, using an AI to select arbitrators will allow arbitrators to truly be independent, ensure that arbitrators are selected for their merit and not for their connections, eliminate incentives for compromise awards and the use of dissents to communicate leanings to future appointing parties, and increase diversity in arbitrator appointments.

scholarly journals Self-exciting multifractional processes

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-41
Author(s):  
Fabian A. Harang ◽  
Marc Lagunas-Merino ◽  
Salvador Ortiz-Latorre
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic Process ◽  
Brownian Motion ◽  
Rate Of Convergence ◽  
Existence And Uniqueness ◽  
Volterra Equation ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Past ◽  
Stochastic Volterra Equation ◽  
Multifractional Brownian Motion ◽  
Self Organizing

AbstractWe propose a new multifractional stochastic process which allows for self-exciting behavior, similar to what can be seen for example in earthquakes and other self-organizing phenomena. The process can be seen as an extension of a multifractional Brownian motion, where the Hurst function is dependent on the past of the process. We define this by means of a stochastic Volterra equation, and we prove existence and uniqueness of this equation, as well as giving bounds on the p-order moments, for all $p\geq1$. We show convergence of an Euler–Maruyama scheme for the process, and also give the rate of convergence, which is dependent on the self-exciting dynamics of the process. Moreover, we discuss various applications of this process, and give examples of different functions to model self-exciting behavior.

scholarly journals Legacies of Racial Violence: Clarifying and Addressing the Presence of the Past

2021 ◽  
Vol 694 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-20
Author(s):  
David Cunningham ◽  
Hedwig Lee ◽  
Geoff Ward
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Research ◽  
Racial Violence ◽  
Civic Leaders ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
The Past

Scholars increasingly agree that histories of racial violence relate to contemporary patterns of conflict and inequality, and growing interest exists among civic leaders in reckoning with these legacies today. This volume examines the contributions and limitations of scientific research on legacies of racial violence and suggests implications for policy, practice, and other forms of intervention aimed at redress.

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