Maria Powell

Meaningful Citizen Engagement in Science and Technology: What Would it Really Take?

Citizen engagement in scientific and technological issues is in vogue in recent years, and a variety of projects intended to engage citizens in science and technology is occurring worldwide. However, few academics and governments attempting to “engage in engagement” are clear about their goals and desired outcomes, and whether or not the processes they facilitate are likely to meet these ends. What are the goals—explicit and implicit—of institutionally sponsored projects that aim to engage lay citizens in science and technology? Are these exercises likely to meet these goals? and what kinds of processes could nurture more meaningful engagement, what are the barriers to this kind of engagement, and how might these barriers be overcome? Based on the experience of the authors, this article explores these questions and provides 10 recommendations for more meaningful engagement of citizens in science and technology.

Exploring lay uncertainty about an environmental health risk

How do laypeople perceive uncertainties about environmental health risks? How do risk-related cognitions and emotions influence these uncertainties, and what roles do sociodemographic and contextual factors, risk judgments, and information exposures play? This study explores these questions using secondary analyses of survey data. Results suggest that uncertainty reflects individual-level emotions and cognitions, but may also be shaped by a variety of social and contextual factors. Emotions (worry and anger) are strongly associated with perceived uncertainty, and perceived lack of knowledge and perceived likelihood of becoming ill are weakly associated with it. Several demographic variables, information exposures, and risk judgment variables affect perceived uncertainty indirectly, primarily through perceived knowledge and emotions. These findings raise a variety of questions about the complex and dynamic interactions among risk contexts, socioeconomic factors, communication processes, perceived knowledge, emotions, and perceived uncertainties about risks.

Virtual deliberation? Prospects and challenges for integrating the internet in consensus conferences

Consensus conferences have functioned well in small, relatively homogeneous countries such as Denmark. In the geographically sprawling and socially diverse United States, however, meaningful citizen deliberation and decision-making on science and technology depends upon the ability to bring more participants “into the room.” The National Citizens’ Technology Forum, held in March 2008, responded to this need by integrating panels of citizens from multiple US cities in structured face-to-face and online deliberation. We analyze the success of this experiment by focusing on the experience of participants during the online deliberation component. We conclude with recommendations for future organizers of online deliberation, focusing on the benefits of combining synchronous and asynchronous engagement and improving facilitation practice and software capabilities.

Characterization of Exposures to Airborne Nanoscale Particles During Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum

Friction stir welding (FSW) is considered one of the most significant developments in joining technology over the last half century. Its industrial applications are growing steadily and so are the number of workers using this technology. To date, there are no reports on airborne exposures during FSW. The objective of this study was to investigate possible emissions of nanoscale (<100 nm) and fine (<1 microm) aerosols during FSW of two aluminum alloys in a laboratory setting and characterize their physicochemical composition. Several instruments measured size distributions (5 nm to 20 microm) with 1-s resolution, lung deposited surface areas, and PM(2.5) concentrations at the source and at the breathing zone (BZ). A wide range aerosol sampling system positioned at the BZ collected integrated samples in 12 stages (2 nm to 20 microm) that were analyzed for several metals using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Airborne aerosol was directly collected onto several transmission electron microscope grids and the morphology and chemical composition of collected particles were characterized extensively. FSW generates high concentrations of ultrafine and submicrometer particles. The size distribution was bimodal, with maxima at approximately 30 and approximately 550 nm. The mean total particle number concentration at the 30 nm peak was relatively stable at approximately 4.0 x 10(5) particles cm(-3), whereas the arithmetic mean counts at the 550 nm peak varied between 1500 and 7200 particles cm(-3), depending on the test conditions. The BZ concentrations were lower than the source concentrations by 10-100 times at their respective peak maxima and showed higher variability. The daylong average metal-specific concentrations were 2.0 (Zn), 1.4 (Al), and 0.24 (Fe) microg m(-3); the estimated average peak concentrations were an order of magnitude higher. Potential for significant exposures to fine and ultrafine aerosols, particularly of Al, Fe, and Zn, during FSW may exist, especially in larger scale industrial operations.

Bottom-Up Risk Regulation? How Nanotechnology Risk Knowledge Gaps Challenge Federal and State Environmental Agencies

Nanotechnologies have been called the “Next Industrial Revolution.” At the same time, scientists are raising concerns about the potential health and environmental risks related to the nano-sized materials used in nanotechnologies. Analyses suggest that current U.S. federal regulatory structures are not likely to adequately address these risks in a proactive manner. Given these trends, the premise of this paper is that state and local-level agencies will likely deal with many “end-of-pipe” issues as nanomaterials enter environmental media without prior toxicity testing, federal standards, or emissions controls. In this paper we (1) briefly describe potential environmental risks and benefits related to emerging nanotechnologies; (2) outline the capacities of the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Resources Conservation and Recovery Act to address potential nanotechnology risks, and how risk data gaps challenge these regulations; (3) outline some of the key data gaps that challenge state-level regulatory capacities to address nanotechnologies’ potential risks, using Wisconsin as a case study; and (4) discuss advantages and disadvantages of state versus federal approaches to nanotechnology risk regulation. In summary, we suggest some ways government agencies can be better prepared to address nanotechnology risk knowledge gaps and risk management.

New risk or old risk, high risk or no risk? How scientists' standpoints shape their nanotechnology risk frames

Abstract This exploratory case study compares risk frames of scientists who are developing new nanotechnologies (upstream scientists) with those of scientists who might later study the health effects of these technologies (downstream scientists). It is based on a series of in-depth interviews with scientists at a major research university in the United States. Interviews reveal some substantial differences in risk frames among upstream and downstream scientists – many of which center on whether or not nanotechnologies and nanomaterials are perceived as ‘new’. Most upstream scientists said they do not think nanotechnologies pose new or substantial risks, while most downstream scientists said they are worried that they may pose new, unforeseen, and possibly substantial risks. Upstream scientists are less likely than downstream scientists to think that concerns about potential nanotechnology risks are based on valid science and tend to consider a narrower range of uncertainties. Interviews suggest that these risk and uncertainty frames are influenced by contrasting disciplinary backgrounds, information exposures, and interdisciplinary interactions. Findings suggest that more comprehensive nanotechnology risk policies might be developed if a wider variety of different kinds of scientists – including downstream scientists – are involved in upstream nanotechnology development and policymaking.

A Toolkit for Democratizing Science and Technology Policy: The Practical Mechanics of Organizing a Consensus Conference

A widely touted approach to involving laypeople in science and technology policy-related decisions is the consensus conference. Virtually nothing written on the topic provides detailed discussion of the many steps from citizen recruitment to citizen report. Little attention is paid to how and why the mechanics of the consensus conference process might influence the diversity of the participants in theses fora, the quality of the deliberation in the citizen sessions, the experiences of the participants and organizers, and other outcomes that affect democratic decision making within the conference and more broadly over the long term. As an aid to those interested in utilizing the consensus conference format, the authors outline in detail how they set about organizing their consensus conference on nanotechnology in the spring of 2005. They discuss what specific aspects of their consensus conference worked, and why, and also consider what they learned of relevance to future application.

Imagining Ordinary Citizens? Conceptualized and Actual Participants for Deliberations on Emerging Technologies

In this paper, we explore conceptualizations of ‘ordinary’ citizens common in public engagement forums on emerging technologies and assumptions from deliberative theory that ordinary people are more likely to be appropriately ‘changed’ through deliberative processes facilitated by experts. Looking at a large US public forum event [the National Citizens Technology Forum (NCTF)], we asked: What were the goals for this exercise and how did they shape conceptualizations of ordinariness and representativeness? Whose goals and conceptualizations were they? Were the engaged citizens ordinary and representative—and were they changed by the exercise? Our exploration revealed that exercise organizers conceived of ordinary citizens as people lacking science and technology backgrounds, without advocacy or business connections to the technologies at hand, and demographically reflecting the US population. Exercise materials also implied that ideal ordinary participants would lack strong opinions and emotions about these technologies. Actual NCTF participants, however, tended to be more educated, have higher incomes, and to be more liberal than the US public, and participants from all backgrounds had a range of relevant knowledge, experiences and opinions about science and technology. They were changed by the exercise in complex and conflicting ways—based as much on their own knowledge and reflections on relational dynamics as on exercise processes, interactions with experts, and information provided in the exercise. We argue that inadequately explored ideas about ordinary citizens are highly problematic. Further, invisible assumptions about what is ‘normal’ among experts and status quo institutions serve to reify the lay–expert divide that engagement exercises are intended to counteract.

Perceived environmental quality and place attachment in North American and European temperate lake districts

Abstract Sense of place, or the meanings and attachments held for settings, continues to emerge as an important factor in environmental management. Previous research in a lake-rich setting in northern Wisconsin, USA, demonstrated that attachment to lakes is based in part on the perceived water quality and perceptions of social conflict. This research explores how these findings are similar or different across sites with very different ecological and social characteristics. To explore these cross-site similarities and differences, a social science survey was implemented in 10 lake districts (total n = 2,278 respondents), including 5 sites in North America and 5 in Europe. These sites share several commonalities: they all lie at fairly similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, and they are all regions relatively rich in lake resources. The results demonstrate the myriad commonalities and contrasts in behaviors, environmental perceptions, and place attachment across sites.