Stephanie B. Steinhardt

Why CSCW needs science policy (and vice versa)

This paper explores the relationship between CSCW studies of scientific collaboration and the larger worlds of science practice and policy they are embedded in. We argue that CSCW has much to learn from debates in science policy, including questions around the changing nature of science and science-society relations that are partly but obliquely referenced in technology- or data-centered accounts of scientific change. At the same time, science policy has much to learn from CSCW -- about design, infrastructure, and the organizational complexities of distributed collaborative practice. We conclude with recommendations for a better integration of the CSCW and science policy literatures around collaboration and new infrastructure development in the sciences, and speculation around what a post-normal cyberinfrastructure -- and post-normal CSCW -- might look like.

Write here, write now!: an experimental study of group maintenance in collaborative writing

Writing documents together using collaborative editing tools has become extremely common with the widespread availability of tools such as Google Docs. The design of such tools, rooted in early CSCW research, has historically been focused on providing awareness of the presence and activities of ones collaborators. Evidence from a recent qualitative study, however, suggests that people are also concerned about how their behaviors -- and they themselves -- will be perceived by others; and take steps to mitigate possible negative perceptions. We present an experimental study of dyads composing documents together, focusing in particular on group maintenance, impression management and relationship-focused behavior. Results suggest that communication is positively related to social relations, but only for synchronous writing in a shared space; the reverse can be true in asynchronous commenting and editing.

Imagining Intersectional Futures: Feminist approaches in CSCW

The aim of this one-day workshop is to explore theoretical and methodological approaches that help us consider issues of gender, sexual orientation, and power in the design of socio-technical systems. This program builds on two previous workshops on the topic of feminism and CSCW. With this instantiation, we are motivated by an explicit commitment to intersectionality--a recognition that the effects of various oppressions cannot be understood independently. Considerable time will be devoted to discussing work in post-colonial feminism, queer theory, Women of Color feminism, and feminist critical disability studies. Through generative conversation with participants, feedback on works-in-progress, and the initiation of outlets for new feminist CSCW work, we aim to 1) build on existing research and practice and 2) identify concerns and approaches for both designing and assessing research oriented toward intersectional and feminist futures in the context of CSCW and social computing.

Feminism and Feminist Approaches in Social Computing

Following on the successful CSCW 2014 workshop on Feminism and Social Media, this workshop will bring together a set of CSCW scholars to discuss feminist perspectives in social computing and technology. We will explore theoretical and methodological approaches to the topic and draw on literature and empirical studies to build a set of generative and creative dialogues around the topics of diversity, sexual orientation, cultural attitudes, sociopolitical affiliations, and other emergent themes. Conversations will be directed particularly toward the challenges of using a feminist approach in CSCW scholarship, identifying both productive and problematic research practices. This session promises to open new feminist dialogues about current issues in CSCW from sexuality and identity on social media, labor and technology development, and gender inequality within Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math + Arts and Design (STEAM) collaborative efforts, and other emergent areas of interest.

Sharing, re-use and circulation of resources in cooperative scientific work

This one-day workshop aims to stimulate research on the sharing and reuse of scientific resources in cooperative scientific work. As science trends toward increasing geographic and temporal scales, larger collaborations, and greater interdisciplinarity, scientific resources increasingly need to be more mobile and integrated with computer supported information and communication environments. Sharing, reuse and circulation of resources become a central challenge and critical component of cooperative scientific work. We interpret sharing broadly to include circulating scientific materials in any way that makes them available to other scientists. We include a variety of resources such as data, software, materials and specimens, workflows, technical know-how, clinical and laboratory protocols, and algorithms. We explore a range of sharing and reuse practices past and present, what motivates and limits them, how sharing can be done more effectively, what tools and techniques facilitate or constrain it, and how this relates to systems and science policy.

Following bibliometric footprints: the ACM digital library and the evolution of computer science

Using bibliometric methods, this exploratory work shows evidence of transitions in the field of computer science since the emergence of HCI as a distinct sub-discipline. We mined the ACM Digital Library in order to expose relationships between sub-disciplines in computer science, focusing in particular on the transformational nature of the SIG Computer-Human Interaction (CHI) in relation to other SIGs. Our results suggest shifts in the field due to broader social, economic and political changes in computing research and are intended as a prolegomena to further investigations.

On the production of the spirit of feminism

3 6 I N T E R A C T I O N S S E P T E M B E R – O C T O B E R 2 016 This piece is no exception. Yet the tale we tell here is not another report of inequalities uncovered. Instead, it is a story of an awakening, a story that takes place within an already feministidentified group about how we came to a different way of thinking. This transformation took place in a series of workshops on feminism and social media at the Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) conferences in 2014 and 2015. In putting ideals into practice in these events, we as organizers gained insight into what the word feminist means to us and what we think it can mean more globally within the tech communities of which we are a part. References to feminism in our community are usually triggered by the appearance of something controversial or seemingly atypical, like sexism in the comments section of a site. Feminism also gets invoked when recognizing the inequities between male and “Other-ed” developers, or when acknowledging the asymmetries intrinsic in modern realities such as algorithmic culture. Here, the moniker feminist is pointedly used to distinguish something from the mainstream, from the “normal” way of doing things. It also immediately charges what is to come with an alternative set of logics and values. On the Production of the Spirit of Feminism Ingrid Erickson, Rutgers University Libby Hemphill, Illinois Institute of Technology Amanda Menking, University of Washington Stephanie Steinhardt, Cornell University

Material Engagements: Putting Plans and Things Together in Collaborative Ocean Science

Programs of scientific research, like other formally organized collective practices, meet the materiality of the world in complex and dynamic ways. This intersection has important and under explored consequences for the planning and practice of distributed scientific collaboration, including programs of large-scale infrastructure development currently underway across a range of scientific fields and national contexts. Building on ethnographic fieldwork around the Ocean Observatories Initiative, this paper advances two basic arguments about the relation between formal planning efforts and the material worlds they are meant to engage. First, we argue for the mutual plasticity and co-evolution of plans and the material world. Second, the mutually constitutive character of plans and the material world provides a critical connection between top-down governance over scientific collaborations and the bottom-up emergence that emanates from the material world, blurring notions of control and agency and capturing the complex relationship between science policy and local culture.