Nonscalability of “citizen science” in post-Fukushima Japan: Unpacking articulations of citizen radiation measuring organizations

This article explores and discusses understandings of citizen science with members of Japanese citizen radiation measuring organizations who began measuring radioactive contamination in food, soil, air, and human bodies after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. Building on in-depth interviews with organization members and extensive multi-site fieldwork (2018, 2020), the article takes shimin kagaku (citizen science in Japanese) to examine articulations of citizenship and science, while discussing citizen radiation measuring organization activities. Adopting Tsing’s notion of nonscalability, it draws attention to the manifold articulations of citizenship and science, unearthing frictions embedded in Japanese science–society relations. In this way, this article outlines the diversity of notions of citizenship and science, and of citizen participatory practices in science. By bringing nonscalability to bear on an analysis of different articulations of shimin kagaku, this article encourages scientists and public authorities to engage with citizen participatory practices reflexively and responsibly by considering local articulations and knowledges.

Moving Spaces Enacting Dance, Performance, and the Digital in the Museum

This collection of essays investigates some of the theories and concepts related to the burgeoning presence of dance and performance in the museum. This surge has led to significant revisions of the roles and functions that museums currently play in society. The authors provide key analyses on why and how museums are changing by looking into participatory practices and decolonisation processes, the shifting relationship with the visitor/spectator, the introduction of digital practices in collection making and museum curation, and the creation of increasingly complex documentation practices. The tasks designed by artists who are involved in the European project Dancing Museums. The Democracy of Beings (2018-21) respond to the essays by suggesting a series of body-mind practices that readers could perform between the various chapters to experience how theory may affect their bodies.

The Politics of Accountability and Participation: A Case study of Samoa's Land Reform

<p>The objective of this study is to advance understanding of the politics of accountability and participation in a development context. Both the accounting and development literature have highlighted the limitations of the ‘neoliberal development’ paradigm’s methods for accountability and participatory practices which often neglect and exclude less powerful voices. This study addresses this shortcoming by reconceptualising accountability and participatory initiatives through a critical dialogic accounting lens and providing a framework for evaluating these practices in the context of Samoa’s land reform. To achieve this, the study draws on the work of critical dialogic accounting scholars (Brown, 2009; Dillard & Vinnari, 2019) and of development scholars (Cornwall, 2008; Goetz & Jenkins, 2005; McGee & Gaventa, 2013; Newell & Wheeler, 2006) working within the ‘deepening democracy’ paradigm. In a case study of Samoa’s land reform project, the study employs both semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis of media reports and policy documents to critically examine accountability and participatory practices, examining the political contestation between dominant powerholders and marginalised voices. It also considers the potential of critical dialogic accounting to contribute to the ‘deepening democracy’ paradigm in fostering more democratic and participatory governance in the Pacific context. The findings indicate that current approaches to accountability and participation are shaped by the ‘neoliberal development’ paradigm, favouring more powerful actors over other interested groups and consensus-based methods that stifle debate. These findings extend current accounting research that highlights the possibilities of critical dialogic accounting to critique neoliberal approaches and to facilitate democratic participation within the context of developing countries (Alawattage & Azure, 2019; Tanima, Brown & Dillard, 2020). In surfacing the political contestations surrounding Samoa’s land reform and drawing on Dillard and Vinnari’s (2019) proposals for responsibility networks, the study also provides a basis for developing more effective ways of ensuring accountability to, and participation of, less powerful groups.</p>

The Politics of Accountability and Participation: A Case study of Samoa's Land Reform

<p>The objective of this study is to advance understanding of the politics of accountability and participation in a development context. Both the accounting and development literature have highlighted the limitations of the ‘neoliberal development’ paradigm’s methods for accountability and participatory practices which often neglect and exclude less powerful voices. This study addresses this shortcoming by reconceptualising accountability and participatory initiatives through a critical dialogic accounting lens and providing a framework for evaluating these practices in the context of Samoa’s land reform. To achieve this, the study draws on the work of critical dialogic accounting scholars (Brown, 2009; Dillard & Vinnari, 2019) and of development scholars (Cornwall, 2008; Goetz & Jenkins, 2005; McGee & Gaventa, 2013; Newell & Wheeler, 2006) working within the ‘deepening democracy’ paradigm. In a case study of Samoa’s land reform project, the study employs both semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis of media reports and policy documents to critically examine accountability and participatory practices, examining the political contestation between dominant powerholders and marginalised voices. It also considers the potential of critical dialogic accounting to contribute to the ‘deepening democracy’ paradigm in fostering more democratic and participatory governance in the Pacific context. The findings indicate that current approaches to accountability and participation are shaped by the ‘neoliberal development’ paradigm, favouring more powerful actors over other interested groups and consensus-based methods that stifle debate. These findings extend current accounting research that highlights the possibilities of critical dialogic accounting to critique neoliberal approaches and to facilitate democratic participation within the context of developing countries (Alawattage & Azure, 2019; Tanima, Brown & Dillard, 2020). In surfacing the political contestations surrounding Samoa’s land reform and drawing on Dillard and Vinnari’s (2019) proposals for responsibility networks, the study also provides a basis for developing more effective ways of ensuring accountability to, and participation of, less powerful groups.</p>

RE-DEFINING THE SYSTEM BOUNDARIES OF HUMAN-CENTRED DESIGN

Most services and products are designed in response to the needs, desires or expectations of humans. A variety of methodologies grouped by the term Human-Centred Design (HCD) have been deployed to formalise and improve this process, ranging from user-centred to participatory practices. However, the approaches’ consideration is primarily limited to individuals in their respective space and time.To examine these system boundaries in detail and address potentials for adaptation, this paper reviews dominant HCD methodologies, categorises them and highlights their respective characteristics. Further, concepts and methodologies from related fields are studied for potential contributions to HCD. This results in a proposed re-definition of the system boundaries of HCD by integrating spatio-temporal impacts on humans through an extended social, environmental and economic scope.The different studied approaches and varying impact assessments are exemplarily applied to the case study of urban mobility, in particular human-centred, scenario-based design approaches. However, the described methods and concepts are kept generic to ensure the applicability across various domains of design practice.

Independent podcasts on the Apple Podcast platform in the streaming era

This article investigates independent podcasts created outside traditional institutions (Markman, 2012) on the world’s largest podcast platform, Apple Podcasts, in the context of streaming media. Through a quantitative content analysis of 552 Danish podcasts, the study off ers insights into independent podcasting, its medium grammar and content (Meyrowitz, 1998), and the conditions by which independent podcasters navigate in a liminal space between traditional radio and online participatory practices (Berry, 2016; Markman, 2012). The analysis shows that the predominant parts of independent podcasts are conversations and interviews about personal, self-reflective stories and mainstream hobbies such as football, films, and television. Th ese podcasts are less time-consuming to produce than crafted audio (McHugh, 2016) about research-heavy topics. The oversupply of conversations and interviews about personal stories and mainstream hobbies further suggests that independent podcasters are infl uenced by the mainstreaming and commercialisation of podcasting, including streaming platforms such as Spotify and Amazon adding podcasts to their services, and podcast platforms such as the Danish paid subscription podcast platform Podimo, adopting the curated content distribution model known from Netflix.