[open-science] call for submissions: user-led science

[Alessandro Delfanti]

Call for articles:
User-led Science - A special issue of JCOM, Journal of Science Communication

Deadline: May 15, 2009
http://jcom.sissa.it/call

Science is increasingly being produced, discussed and deliberated with  
cooperative tools by web users and without the istitutionalized  
presence of scientists. "Popular science" or "Citizen science" are two  
of the traditional ways of defining science grassroots produced  
outside the walls of laboratories. But the internet has changed the  
way of collecting and organising the knowledge produced by people -  
peers - who do not belong to the established scientific community. In  
this issue we want to discuss:

- How web tools are changing and widening this way of participating in  
the production of scientific knowledge. Do this increase in  
participation consist in a real shift towards democratizing science or  
on the contrary is merely a rhetoric which do not affect the  
asymmetrical relationships between citizens and institutions?

- The ways in which both academic and private scientific institutions  
are appropriating this knowledge and its value. Do we need a new model  
to understand these ways of production and appropriation? Are they  
part of a deeper change in productive paradigms?

We would like to collect both theoretical contributions and research  
articles which address for example case studies in social media and  
science, peer production, the role of private firms in exploiting web  
arenas to collect scientific/medical data from their costumers, online  
social movements challenging communication incumbents, web tools for  
development.

Interested authors should submit an extended abstract of no more than  
500 words (in English) to the issue editor by May 15, 2009. We will  
select three to five papers for inclusion in this special issue.  
Abstracts should be sent to the JCOM's editorial office  
(jcom-eo at jcom.sissa.it) by email.

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