Theorien und Modelle zur Entstehung von Aufmerksamkeit in der Wissenschaft

ZusammenfassungDieses Kapitel folgt der Frage, welche Ansätze zur Erklärung der Entstehung von Aufmerksamkeit in der Wissenschaft bereits existieren. In den Blick geraten dabei insbesondere Makro-Beschreibungen und -Erklärungen für das Aufkommen und Abklingen der fachgemeinschaftlichen Beschäftigung mit bestimmten Theorien, Methoden, Schulen oder wissenschaftlichen Modeerscheinungen. Hierfür werden vier Theoriestränge voneinander abgegrenzt, erläutert und auf Schnittmengen mit der Fragestellung dieser Arbeit geprüft: Zunächst wird mit dem „Paradigmenwechsel“ nach Kuhn eine der bis heute einflussreichsten wissenschaftssoziologischen Theorien zur Erklärung wissenschaftlicher Transformationen dargelegt. Eine wesentliche Grundlage Kuhns stellen Flecks „Denkkollektive“ dar, in deren Tradition Theorien zur Entstehung „Epistemischer Gemeinschaften“ zu sehen sind. Mit „theory groups“ und „invisible colleges“ werden zwei auf den Lehrstuhl von De Solla Price zurückgehende Theorien zur Diffusion wissenschaftlicher Schulen vorgestellt. Schließlich werden die normativen Diskussionen unterschiedlichster Fachrichtungen zu „Modeerscheinungen“ oder „fashions“ in der Wissenschaft gesammelt und in einen Zusammenhang gebracht.

Blogging astrophysics, shaping the self. Content-mediated identity negotiation and peer group adjustment in a sample of astrophysicists’ blogs

Research blogging has received a rather good amount of attention from the scholarly literature, but not in the domain of astrophysics. In the present paper, three active astrophysicists’ blogs have been chosen from a previously retrieved much wider corpus and analyzed against the pivotal theory of identity shaping in an online setting. The study, which is essentially mixed-methods, has built on Susan Herring’s definition of computer-mediated conversation and focusses on content analysis as well as on content-based interaction (comments and replies per subject). Special care was taken on ensuring bloggers’ and commenters’ anonimity, in compliance with the British Psychological Society Ethics Guidelines. These blogs’ conversational capacity has emerged and the hypothesis of some degree of professional identity negotiation results to be confirmed, with implications on the invisible colleges. The context is that of an interdisciplinary, provisional junction between ground-based linguistic fieldwork in a 2.0 online setting and the search for appropriate theoretical frameworks about unconscious or semi-conscious aims of communication in a scholarly environment.

Scientific communication in library and information sphere

The recent transformations in scientific communication are reviewed. These changes are owing to information and communication technologies increasingly used by scientific community. The main trends in the “Big Science” scientific communication are specified. The developing system of book and periodical publishing, scientific events, scientific schools and invisible colleges is discussed. The institution of peer reviewing is described. Presentation of library and information scientific publications in international science citation databases is characterized. Main features of scientific schools and invisible colleges within library and information science under the circumstances of wide use of information and communication technologies are defined. The conclusions are made on the status of scientific communications and communications between researchers and practitioners. The modern digital communication channels enable to enhance the interaction and to apply research findings to the library and information sphere which, in its turn, will support greater transparency and visibility of scientific activities and research and their intensive use by professional community.

Making the invisible hyper-visible: Knowledge production and the gendered power nexus in critical urban studies

This paper employs the concept of “invisible colleges” to explore the processes through which spaces of critical urban theory are imbricated within a gendered power nexus. It assesses the degree of dominance in hegemonic knowledge production by clusters of scholars, their co-authors, and academic mentors and mentees. Using the example of critical urban theory, we use network graphs to map these concentrated hidden geographies understood collectively as “invisible colleges”. The resultant visualizations reflect the dominance of key scholars and their similarities (e.g. doctoral education, academic mentors, current institutional affiliations, etc.). These heretofore unmapped networks of connectivity provide insight into the masculinized spaces of critical urban theory bringing to the fore important topics for consideration. These include the politics of citation and “double dipping”, or frequent publication in the same journal outlets. In bringing attention to invisible colleges, a concept that has largely escaped attention in urban studies and geography, we highlight the usefulness of visibility as a technology of equity. En route, the paper describes and visualizes some of the impacts of the proliferation of uneven knowledge production through the coalescing of factors such as path dependency, cumulative advantage, expected inequality and the Matthew and Matilda Effects.

Hidden participants and unheard voices? A systematic review of gender, age, and other influences on local and traditional knowledge research in the North

Local, lay, and traditional ecological knowledge (LTK) is widely discussed in academic studies of climatic and environmental change. Here, we report on a systematic literature review that examines the role of such factors as gender, age, and scholarly networks in shaping LTK research. We focused on research in the circumpolar North, where LTK research has been ongoing for at least four decades. We explored how recruitment approaches and research methods can circumscribe local expertise and found that much of the literature fails to adequately report sampling and participant demographics. There is an apparent bias towards male knowledge-holders, usually hunters and Elders, over women and youth. Studies were largely led by male authors, and male authors outnumbered female authors 2:1. We also identified two potential “invisible colleges” in the literature—communities of practice linked by one or a few authors. We discuss our findings through the lens of “intersectionality”, which captures how power differences at play within communities, whether around age or gender or some other social categorization, contribute to the creation of multiple kinds of knowledge. We conclude with a discussion of how we can improve this area of research by challenging assumptions and collaborating with a wider range of individuals.