TOWARDS THE MODEL OF CONTRIBUTORY EXPERT GENERALISTS

The study of expertise has focused on the concept of specialization and specialists, both from a sociological and a biological perspective. It has been taken for granted that expertise concerns only specialization; even an individual characterized as a “polymath” or homo universalis is considered to be an expert specialist in many fields. Can expert specialists in many fields exist today? This question is deceitful or irrelevant since it cannot accommodate the concept of individuals who are neither specialists nor “poly-specialists”, but have knowledge of a different level: not analytic, but, rather, synthetic and abstract stemming out from general surveillance, not from specific experience. Here, a new type of expert is proposed: a contributory expert generalist. Their necessity stems from the methodology of epistēmē proper. Their characteristics will be identified and discussed, some empirical examples will be given and their expert status is going to be discussed using various theoretical approaches on expertise, namely SEA, SEE and STS (Science of Exceptional Achievement, Study of Expertise and Experience, Science Technology and Society).

Emerging Stakeholder Relations in Participatory ICT Design: Renegotiating the Boundaries of Sociotechnical Innovation in Forest Biosecurity Surveillance

Research Highlights: This research advanced understanding of stakeholder relations within the context of innovation using citizen science in a biosecurity sociotechnical system (STS) in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Background and Objectives: It draws on recent experiences in the United Kingdom, where analysis of stakeholder engagement in the development of biosecurity surveillance technologies and citizen science initiatives have occurred to support understanding and development of forest and tree health biosecurity. Early detection technologies are essential as biosecurity risks to the primary sectors increase with the expansion of global trade and shifting pest dynamics that accompany a changing climate. Stakeholder engagement in technology development improves the chances of adoption but can also challenge the mental models of users in an existing STS. Materials and Methods: Two conceptual models that embed stakeholder relations in new information and communications technology (ICT) design and development were applied: (i) a future realist view of the general surveillance system incorporating citizen experts as species identifiers; (ii) a social construction of the ICT platform to surface mental models of the system in use creating the groundwork for evolution of stakeholder relations within STS innovation. A case study demonstrating how we addressed some of the practical limitations of a proposed systems change by applying sociotechnical innovation systems (STIS) theory to the development and adoption of new technologies for surveillance in the existing biosecurity system was presented. Results: Opportunities to enhance the capacity for early detection were considered, where the needs of diverse factors within a central government biosecurity authority and the wider citizenry are supported by the development of a general surveillance network (GSN).

Beyond data as representation: The performativity of Big Data in surveillance

The article discusses problems of representative views of data and elaborates a concept of the performativity of data. It shows how data used for surveillance contributes in creating suspect subjectivities. In particular, the article focuses on the inductive or explorative processing of data and on the decoupling of data generation and analysis that characterize current use of data for surveillance. It lines out several challenges this poses to established accounts of surveillance: David Lyon’s concept of surveillance as social sorting and Haggerty and Ericson’s “surveillant assemblage”. These problems are attributed to a representationalist view, which focuses on the veracity of data. This can lead to ignoring problematic consequences of surveillance procedures and the full scope of affected persons. Building on an idea by Rita Raley, an alternative account of data as performative is proposed. Using Judith Butler’s concept of “citationality,” this account shows how surveillance is entangled with the production of subjects through data in general. Surveillance is reformulated as a particular way in which subjects are produced that is parasitical to other forms of subjectivation.