Artistic knowledge production for another planet? Participation as cultural practice and scientific approach for quality enhancement in citizen science
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1
ZSI GmbH, Cross-project activities including IT services, Austria
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2
University of Vienna, Fakultät für Informatik, CSLEARN - Educational Technologies, Austria
Position statement and introductional context
Discussions on quality in citizen science seem to be determined by a kind of “institutional corset” and by mechanisms of excellence in the scientific community (Finke: 2014 p. 46 et seq.; Biggs and Karlson: 2011 p. 405 et seq.) With the help of best practice guidelines citizen science experts try to enhance quality for a better “standing” within community and public (Heigl and Dörler: 2015, p.2). Corresponding to this discussion I want to contribute to the management and assessment of quality in citizen science (and participatory research in general). Citizen science is defined as a kind of “flexible concept that can be applied within diverse situations and disciplines” (European Citizen Science Association: 2016) also including participation as one of the key fundaments. According to this nature an effort is taken to unify definitions from the arts and research in order to make the ubiquitous term of participation more applicable for further discussion. Underlying assumptions are influenced by thesis of the ARIS project (Art, Research, Innovation and Society; Bast et al.: 2015), which highlights the impact of creativity, the arts and artistic knowledge production for science and society equally (also by considerations like “Mode 3”; ibid.: Carayannis and Campell: 2015, p. 38 et seq.). Output of this arrangement is an argument and model on quality in citizen science with focus on societal, communicative and relational dimensions. The selection of perspectives and examples is cursorily, the concept fragmented, but – so the hope of the author – inspiring.
Artistic knowledge production and citizen science
No doubt, our presence is very much characterized by different needs, interests and quirks of a diverse world as well as strong and ongoing transitions. Having in mind to develop a socially innovative and inclusive (knowledge) society it is a must to search for approaches which can match diversity as a fruitful resource. This fact is reflected by a slowly increasing number of projects encouraged to cross disciplines and formats on science by artistic strategies.
Attached.Figure 1: A thought on scientific and artistic knowledge production for citizen science, based on: Josef Beuys: Sprechen über Deutschland. Rede, gehalten am 20. November 1985 in den Münchner Kammerspielen.
„Jeder Mensch ist ein Künstler. Damit sage ich nichts über die Qualität. Ich sage nur etwas über die prinzipielle Möglichkeit, die in jedem Menschen vorliegt…” (Beuys: 1995)
Starting to disclose his artistic philosophy in the 1960s Josef Beuys insisted on the idea that all of us are creative and can form a “Social Sculpture” (“Soziale Skulptur”; Lange: 2002 p. 276) - his societal vision promoting democracy and participation by opening up the concept of art to an interdisciplinary practice and collective authorship of social innovations. With regard to citizen science context a handful of authors (e.g. Schäfer, Kieslinger: 2016) started to discuss the approach in the context of creativity, social innovation and society agenda. While citizen science as umbrella term puts the focus on collaboration of scientists and amateurs, creative experts like artists and artistic researchers are not included in most definitions.
Some authors suggest to use the term Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR) for the range of diverse projects categorizing them by the intensity and quality of participation (Shirk et al.: 2012, p. 3 et seq). Using this definition, projects including aspects of artistic knowledge production can be identified especially in the context of co-creation and collaboration, according to the preliminary results of a heuristic monitoring of following examples.
While collaborative projects are meant to be designed by researchers and refined by further participants from the public, co-creation means a high involvement of non-researcher from the start.
Attached.Figure 2: Artistic knowledge production & participation in citizen science based on: Types on citizen science projects integrating typologies from Boney et al. (2009), Shirk et al. (2012) and Wiggins and Crowston (2011) compiled by Schäfer and Kieslinger (2016).
In practice there are only a few projects so far which involve artists or artistic strategies of knowledge production profoundly into their research design. One of the exceptions was the Collective Music Experiment (CME), a musical project on collective problem solving implemented in the framework of the EU project Socientize. It was successfully presented at the international Sonar+D Festival in Barcelona in 2014 (Serrano: 2016). Another ongoing project is Eyewire, based on a game in neuroscience to map neurons in collaboration with the Seung Lab at Princeton. The project DIYSECT uses an artistic approach for a kind of critical mapping of DYIbio and Bioart in the U.S. by creating a documentary series in the internet. In next future further transdisciplinary projects can be expected by the initiative START, funded by the European Commission to boost synergies between artists, creative people and technologist.
Snapshot on a process orientated model on quality
What happens, if researchers, artists and other experts of daily life participate in a cs project? How can we define and assure quality in this context? How to manage many diverse talents and opinions and how to steer conflicts? Answers will be various and depend on different settings and proponents. In common is a focus on quality of participation as central approach in the design, implementation and assessment of projects. Further problems need to be managed on a regular basis for example in context of the creation of design, team and community building, the flow of creativity, science communication, efforts of transfer as well as education and learning. The graphic below conveys an overview on challenges and leverages within a cs project including strategies of creativity and, or artistic knowledge production.
Attached.Figure 3: Management of quality in citizen science projects
Preliminary conclusion
Co-creation and collective authorship versus the tradition of genius, disciplinary borders are catchwords in both worlds, science and the arts. At presence most of scientists, universities and research councils rely on bibliometric tools to measure, while innovative approaches like artistic knowledge production and quality concerns aligned by questions on participation and empowerment are marginal issues but could offer further input to the discourse and reputation of citizen science.
References
Bast, Gerald, Elias G. Carayannis, David F. J. Campbell (ed.) (2014). Arts, Research, Innovation and Society. New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, London
Beuys, Josef (1995). Sprechen über Deutschland: Rede, gehalten am 20. November 1985 in den Münchner Kammerspielen. Wangen im Allgäu
Biggs, Michael and Henrik Karlsson (2011). Evaluating Quality in Artistic Research. In Michael Biggs and Henrik Karlsson (ed.). The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts. London, New York
Carayannis, Elias G. and David F. J. Campbell (2014). Art and Artistic Research in Quadruple and Quintuple Helix Innovation Systems In: Gerald Bast, Elias G. Carayannis, David F. J. Campbell (ed.) (2014): Arts, Research, Innovation and Society. New York, Heidelberg, Dordrecht, London
European Citizen Science Association (2016). 10 principles on Citizen Science. Available on http://ecsa.citizen-science.net/documents
Finke, Peter (2014). Citizen Science. Das unterschätzte Wissen der Laien. München
Heigl, Florian and Daniel Dörler (2015). Qualitätskriterienkatalog für Citizen Science Projekte in den Naturwissenschaften. Im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Wirtschaft. Wien
Lange, Barbara (2002). Soziale Plastik, In: Hubertus Butin: DuMonts Begriffslexikon zur zeitgenössischen Kunst. Köln
Shirk, Jennifer L. et al. (2012). Public Participation in Scientific Research: a Framework for Deliberate Design. Ecology and Society 17(2):29.
available on http://dx.doi.org/10.575/ES-04705-170229
Schäfer, Teresa and Barbara Kieslinger (2016). Supporting emerging forms of citizen science: How to cite a plea for diversity, creativity and social innovation. In: JCOM 15(02), Y02.
Serrano Sanz, Fermín (19.01.2016) Entrelazando la ciencia ciudadana y el arte. Available on http://blogthinkbig.com/entrelazando-la-ciencia-ciudadana-y-el-arte/
Projects
http://collectivemusicexperiment.eu
http://www.socientize.eu/
http://eyewire.org
http://www.diysect.com
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/ict-art-starts-platform
Further sources
Glauner, Max (2016). Get Involved! Partizipation als künstlerische Strategie, deren Modi Interaktion, Kooperation und Kollaboration und die Erfahrung eines „Mittendrin-und-draußen“ In: Kunstforum international Bd. 240
Löbach-Hinweiser, Bernd (2014). Kunst und Wissenschaft. Band 1 – Zum Verhältnis zwischen den Disziplinen. Cremlingen
Löbach-Hinweiser, Bernd (2014). Kunst und Wissenschaft. Band 3 – Experimente in den verschiedenen Gesellschaftsfeldern. Cremlingen
Miessen, Markus (2012). Albtraum Partizipation. Berlin
Spohn, Anna (2015). Handlung, Teilnahme Beteiligung. Partizipation zwischen Politik und Kunst. In: Kunstforum international Bd. 231
Serrano Sanz, Fermín, Teresa Holocher-Ertl, Barbara Kieslinger, Francisco Sanz Garcia and Cândida G. Silva (2014). White Paper on Citizen Science in Europe. The Socientize Consortium (ed.)
http://www.citizen-science.at
Keywords:
citizen science,
Participation,
PPSR (public participation in scientific research),
excellence,
quality,
artistic knowledge production,
ARIS (Art Research Innovation and Society)
Conference:
Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2016, Lunz am See, Austria, 18 Feb - 19 Feb, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Citizen Science - Quo vadis?
Citation:
Bartar
P
(2016). Artistic knowledge production for another planet? Participation as cultural practice and scientific approach for quality enhancement in citizen science.
Front. Environ. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2016.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FENVS.2016.01.00006
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Received:
04 Jul 2016;
Published Online:
06 Sep 2016.
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Correspondence:
Mrs. Pamela Bartar, ZSI GmbH, Cross-project activities including IT services, Vienna, 1150, Austria, bartar@connectingculture.at