The Labor Politics of Big Science:Infrastructure and Change in Ocean Science

Stephanie B. Steinhardtsbg94@cornell.edu

Image: Wikipedia

"As architectures change, definitions of who is 'disabled' change as well and the selections about code are therefore in part a selection about who, what, and, most important, what ways of life will be enabled and disabled.

(Lessig,Code, p. 66)

Methods• Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)• 47 in-person and 15 remote semi-structured interviews,

ranging from one-two hours in length• Scientists, engineers, NSF officers, PIs, program managers,

staff, crew• November 2012 – June 2014• Laboratories:

• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (OOI)• University of California San Diego, Scripps (OOI)• Rutgers University (OOI)• Oregon State University (OOI)• University of Washington (OOI)• Offices in New Jersey (external)• Cornell University (external)

• Grounded Theory approach [cf. Strauss, Corbin, Glaser]

Ocean Observatories Initiative. Image: Scientific American

“The Instrumented Ocean”

“It's not been a pretty process and it definitely hasn't been efficient. One thing is that oceanographers tend to be pretty individually-minded so the community doesn't have the discipline of the space sciences.” (p9_sbs_13Feb13)

“Ocean science has historically been a quite effective "cottage industry" of little operations in many locations - it hasn't had a NASA or an NCAR”

“$700 million dollars! Not like sending something to Saturn, but this is a massive-scale construction for the oceans”

(p5_sbs_27Jan13)

“There are going to be people who aren't interested in moving in this direction, but NSF is interested in this and 85% of ocean sciences funding comes from the NSF so... basic research is going to change form.”

(p2_sbs_18Jan13)

[Empirical story continues here]

Traditional Rhythms of Ocean Science

Time to build, position and deploy tools (biographical, infrastructural)

Navy ship availability (infrastructural) Crew availability (infrastructural, biographical) Fisherman and fishery involvement in the area (organizational) Events in nature (phenomenal) Time to process private data (biographical) Academic calendar (organizational) Tenure process (biographical, organizational) Publication deadlines (organizational) Soft money grant schedules (organizational)

• Unprecedented organizational structures● Larger collaborative networks (infrastructural)● Industry purchased instruments and procurement

process (infrastructural, organizational)

• New forms of governance and investment● Real-Time public open data (biographical,

infrastructural)● Long Term continuous data collection (infrastructural)

• New scientific roles● Maintenance cruises substitute research cruises

(infrastructural, biographical)

• Reorienting of labor politics

Consequences for Introducing Large-Scale Infrastructure

Researcher's End Game

When all is said and doneAnd we are long since gone

What will remain to be distributedAre the data we contributed

With digital identifiers assignedAnd our names clearly defined

Our work will be on-lineUntil the end-of-time.

Peter H Wiebe, 16 June 2008

What common (but maybe overlooked) human-centered narratives arise in the planning and construction of a large-scale scientific investment?

What is the meaning of big science for the ocean science community around the Ocean Observatories Initiative?

How can we develop forward-thinking theoretical frames that capture the social and cultural consequences of big data and big science?

What are the anticipations across scales (laboratories, OOI, Ocean Leadership, Congress)?

How do actors plan for long term sustainability of both technical and human resources around the Ocean Observatories Initiative?

Qs

Thank you!Stephanie B. Steinhardt

sbg94@cornell.edu

PIs Carl Lagoze, Theresa Velden and Steve Jackson, “Scientific Collaboration in Time,” National Science Foundation Science of Science and Innovation Policy Program, 2012-2014. NSF#1258297.

PI Steve Jackson, "Governing Collaborative Science: Cyberinfrastructure, Scale, and Governance in the Networked Ecological Sciences,” National Science Foundation CAREER award, 2009-2014. NSF#0847175.

Syed Haider Raza “Prakriti”