Wesley Shrum

Collaboration Paradox Scientific Productivity, the Internet, and Problems of Research in Developing Areas

We examine the ways in which the research process differs in developed and developing areas by focusing on two questions. First, is collaboration associated with productivity? Second, is access to the Internet (specifically use of email) associated with reduced problems of collaboration? Recent analyses by Lee & Bozeman (2005) and Walsh & Maloney (2003) suggest affirmative answers to these questions for US scientists. Based on a comparative analysis of scientists in Ghana, Kenya, and the State of Kerala in south-western India (N 918), we find that: (1) collaboration is not associated with any general increment in productivity; and (2) while access to email does attenuate research problems, such difficulties are structured more by national and regional context than by the collaborative process itself. The interpretation of these results suggests a paradox that raises issues for future studies: those conditions that unsettle the relationship between collaboration and productivity in developing areas may undermine the collaborative benefits of new information and communication technologies.

The organization of scientific collaborations

Abstract Based on empirical analysis of 53 multi-institutional collaborations in physics and allied sciences, we find that generalizations about the essentially informal and collective social organization of collaborative projects in science stem largely from a narrow analysis of high-energy particle physics experiments. Cluster analysis reveals that the variety of organizational formats of collaborative projects can be grouped into four types, ranging from bureaucratic to participatory. Except for particle physics, which is overwhelmingly participatory and non-bureaucratic, the membership of the other three types is mostly cross-disciplinary. The four-fold typology discriminates collaborative projects with respect to their technological practices. The structure of leadership is related to the character of interdependence in data acquisition, analysis, and communication of results: greater interdependence leads to decentralization of leadership and less formalization. We conclude that extrapolation of the organizational characteristics of particle physics to scientific collaborations in general is unjustified.

Trust, Conflict and Performance in Scientific Collaborations

Social studies of science have ascribed a central rôle to trust in the constitution of knowledge, yet there are few studies of its operation in the large, interorganizational structures increasingly required for scientific work. We begin an examination of 53 collaborations in physics and related sciences with two unexpected findings: (1) trust is no higher in projects formed through pre-existing relationships than those without such ties; and (2) there is no relationship between trust and performance. Why, then, is trust viewed as important? Because trust is inversely associated with conflict. In the second part of this paper, three axes of conflict are described, as well as their sources in the interdependencies of collaborative projects. More important than trust for an understanding of large scientific collaborations is the organization of interaction between structural components such as research teams. In the third part, we examine participant accounts of performance. Collaborations that experience uncertainties in resource acquisition are more likely to be viewed as successful than those formed under more routine conditions. In conclusion, we suggest that the segmentation of scientific collaborations through bureaucratic organization can impose a structure for interaction resembling work that is actually noncollaborative.

Fringe and fortune : the role of critics in high and popular art

List of IllustrationsList of TablesPrefaceIntroduction: A Critics New Clothes3Ch. 1Cultural Mediation and the Status Bargain25Ch. 2Critics in the Performing Arts42Ch. 3Development of the Festival Fringe63Ch. 4Festivals and the Modern Fringe83Ch. 5Myth of the Fringe109Ch. 6Do Critics Matter?125Ch. 7Critical Evaluation144Ch. 8Do Performers Listen?165Ch. 9Beyond Formal Evaluation181Ch. 10Discourse and Hierarchy193Epilogue213Appendix A: Review Genres215Appendix B: Methodological Note218Appendix C: Note on the Mediation and Reception221Appendix D: Tables223Notes229Bibliography265Index275

Social Structure during the School Years: Onset of the Degrouping Process.

Most studies of the development of peer relations focus on the distinction between group members and nonmembers, while theoretical accounts of social structure emphasize the importance of liaisons, the locus of weak ties. Liaisons, with less integrated friendship networks, are crucial to the permeability of social systems. Using data on 2,299 children, grades three through twelve, in a community school system, we show that the proportion of group members increases through grade six, then declines, while the proportion of liaisons increases continuously. This finding challenges traditional accounts of the development of cliques and suggests that the study of the degrouping process may provide an important link between adolescent and adult social networks.

Reagency of the Internet, or, How I Became a Guest for Science

This essay is a call for research on the role of information and communication technology in distant lands. I address the globalization of science as a process by replacing the concept of development with the idea of reagency, a process of redirection involving a contingent reaction between identities. I focus on the Guest, an identity that assumes particular importance in relation to Hosts in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Following recent work that stresses the dependence of knowledge production on places, the Guest House is introduced as an architectural structure that crystallizes and reinforces a Guest/Host relationship that has developed during the aid era. The advent of the Internet offers the possibility of a change in the structure of science, with the inclusion of researchers in distant lands as full participants in global scientific communities. The principal issue is whether the connectivity initiative centering on the Internet is just another development program, like so many others that have come and gone, or whether it is different in character. Three empirical research questions are posed to assist in examining this question. A minor thread throughout the essay explains the author’s romantic interest in the subject, and his transition from a phony donor to a real one.

Serious Crime in Urban Neighborhoods: Is There a Race Effect?

Most studies of the relationship between race and crime employ data aggregated at the city or SMSA level to show that high proportions of Blacks indicate high levels of crime. However, theoretical accounts of underlying criminogenic processes do not imply an effect for race, but rather involve explicit or implicit reference to the neighborhood as the unit of analysis. We combine 1990 census data with arrest records for 1989–1991 to generate complete block group information (n = 276) for a medium size southern city. Contrary to studies showing a relationship between racial composition and crime, we show that structural factors account for this effect completely. This finding challenges accounts of crime based on subculture and is consistent with accounts based on the social and economic structure of communities.

View from afar: ‘Visible’ productivity of scientists in the developing world

Much of what we know about science and technology in less developed countries comes from international databases such as bibliographies and citation, indices. However, it is not clear if researchers whose work appears in international databases are representative of scientists in the developing world as a whole, or whether they differ in terms of important social characteristics. A search of international databases on agriculture and natural resource management in Ghana, Kenya, and Kerala was used to compile a bibliography that could be compared with results from a face-to-face survey of researchers. Results indicate that, many of the characteristics of those who are internationally visible differ from the wider population of scientists. The implication is that the “view from afar” based exclusively on information drawn from international databases does not accurately reflect the population of researchers or domestic productivity in less developed countries.

Are mobile phones changing social networks? A longitudinal study of core networks in Kerala:

Mobile telephony has diffused more rapidly than any Indian technology in recent memory, yet systematic studies of its impact are rare, focusing on technological rather than social change. We employ network surveys of separate groups of Kerala residents in 2002 and again in 2007 to examine recent shifts in mobile usage patterns and social relationships. Results show (1) near saturation of mobiles among both the professionals and nonprofessionals sampled, (2) a decrease in the number of social linkages across tie types and physical locations, and (3) a shift towards friends and family but away from work relationships in the core networks of Malayalis. We interpret these findings as support for the bounded solidarity thesis of remote communication that emphasizes social insulation and network closure as mobiles shield individuals from their wider surroundings.

NETWORK ANALYSIS IN THE STUDY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Summary Studies of science and technology have used the social network concept beginning with the idea of a “scientific community.” An increase in the use of quantitative network analysis has characterized the past two decades, as techniques have diffused into the field from mainstream sociology and from communication research. Three main classes of studies are considered: (1) those which focus on intra-organizational ties; (2) those which focus on interorganizational relations (including quantitative studies of “specialties”); (3) bibliometric networks (linkages of technical products rather than personnel). Our review of network approaches illustrates their power and generality but reveals serious deficiencies at all levels of analysis.