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- Convenors:
-
Fabien Medvecky
(Australian National University)
Michiel Van Oudheusden (VU Amsterdam)
Frank Kupper (VU University Amsterdam)
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- Discussant:
-
Marjoleine van der Meij
- Format:
- Combined Format Open Panel
- Location:
- HG-07A16
- Sessions:
- Thursday 18 July, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Amsterdam
Short Abstract:
Engaging actors across varying forms and levels of expertise comes with questions of power and possibilities. This combined panel considers how public engagement and science communication can be transformed by drawing on/using games, theatre and other creative modes.
Long Abstract:
Recent years have seen a surge of interest in theatre that engages with science topics, as well as science festivals and public dialogues that narrate stories with elements of play, emotion, drama, etc. This combined panel draws attention to the plurality of ways we can use games, theatres and other creative formats intentionally to transform engagement with science and technology and with science communication. We invite submissions that either a) showcase examples of how such methods have been intentionally used in engagement and communication activities, along with a reflection on the practice, or b) academic work that critically considers and theorizes the use of such methods in engagement and communication activities. We welcome submission of an academic paper presentation as well as in the creative format under consideration in the presentation.
In line with the conference theme, we invite explorations regarding the various roles and normative and practical commitments of those who participate in play and plays, thereby opening questions of power and possibilities: Who gets to play with science and technology, both in the sense of who is entitled or permitted to participate (whether the permissibility is self- or externally-imposed), and in the sense of who has the means or resources to participate? Part of the answer lies with the processes and methods that are used for engaging actors. Developing appropriate responses to these questions will require critical self-reflection in terms of how participants (scientists, experts, citizens, as well as technologies, storylines, props, etc.) participate in making and doing ‘play.’
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 18 July, 2024, -Paper short abstract:
We present a prototype ludic activity designed to stimulate conversation on genetic modification, supporting broader participation in debates on GM in Aotearoa New Zealand. The activity draws on our interviews with Indigenous Māori about new genetic technologies for pest management.
Paper long abstract:
Aotearoa New Zealand’s nationwide strategy to support native biodiversity by eradicating mammalian predators by 2050 has sparked new research into genetic technologies that would amplify current pest control efforts. Genetic modification is potentially transformational, but controversial, particularly for Māori, the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa. Māori share societal concerns about risks and unknowns, but raise other existential, socio-cultural and power-related questions about adoption and use of novel biotechnologies. Social research to guide scientific inquiries must also account for political authority in a Treaty-based nation, and relationships of Māori with the ecosystems we aim to repair through pest management.
Supported by National Science Challenge: Our Biological Heritage, the Tiaki: Invertebrates team have been in dialogue with Māori since 2016 about potential biotechnologies for insect control, including gene drive and gene silencing. A spin-off team, supported by Predator Free 2050, explores Māori approaches and responses to single-sex offspring selection for rat suppression. Responses to our explanations about GM applications have prompted us to adjust, refine and expand our communication strategies over time. This is culminating in an activity that draws on participant perspectives, enabling airing of opinions in collaborative, playful and productive ways. In an added ludic challenge participants 'takaro' (both 'play' and 'wrestle') with complex ideas and assume various positions on them. In this session we speculate on how our prototype ludic activity: responds to ideas about who is entitled or permitted to participate, facilitates science communication that shifts engagement with genetic technology, and thus enables and empowers participation in scientific debates.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, we consider how games can be purposefully designed to transform epistemic hierarchies in science and technology engagement activities. Specifically, we make a case for thinking carefully on actors are implicitly empowered and given permission to actors despite epistemic imbalances.
Paper long abstract:
The increasing call for ‘more public engagement’, ‘more dialogue’ often gives little consideration to what ‘engagement’ or ‘dialogue’ is possible in a given context. This is an especially vexing when there are significant epistemic imbalances, such as engagement with complex or novel technologies, where those engaged have little prior knowledge. One helpful way to think about this is in terms of epistemic anxiety—the anxiety arising from questioning how much knowledge one requires to hold before feeling confident to commit, comment or contribute. In the context of public and stakeholder engagement with science, technology or innovation, such epistemic anxiety can (and often does) limit the capacity for meaningful engagement.
In this paper, we consider what mechanisms are available to transform engagement activities in order overcome or minimize such epistemic anxiety. In particular, we consider the possibilities offered by purposeful games—a blend between ludic and serious games, where the both the entertaining and the purposeful aspect are integral. To flesh this out, we present a case study of the use of such games in a national dialogue on the use of genetic technologies for environmental and conservation purposes in New Zealand.
Engaging people in dialogue about genetic technologies is challenging, not simply because it is often contested, but also because of the epistemic anxiety faced by many in the engagement activity. We argue that purposeful games (and other mechanisms like it) are fundamental to meaningful engagement in terms of giving participants the permission to comment and contribute despite inherent epistemic imbalances.
Paper short abstract:
Integrating nature and agriculture is difficult because of stakeholder differences. To research and support an inclusive nature-agriculture transition aimed at sustainable land use, we are developing a serious game for stakeholders to explore and share new perspectives.
Paper long abstract:
To improve sustainable land use in the Netherlands, multiple stakeholders (e.g. farmers, municipalities, nature conservation organizations) need to cooperate. Due to diverging interests and ideas of these stakeholders, nature-agriculture transition is difficult. We want to explore to what extent a serious game can contribute to navigating these stakeholder differences and what criteria and settings are needed for this. We are developing a serious game in which we use different options for sustainable land use and integrate different stakeholder roles. We hypothesize that the balance between fictional and real game elements invites stakeholders to explore other perspectives, while ensuring applicability of the game in reality. With our game we aim to contribute to the development of a shared responsibility for sustainable land use. In our contribution we would like to explain the development of the game and reflect on the question to what extent researchers and stakeholders can and should contribute to the process of making a transformation (possible) and doing the actual transformation, and what the potential role of serious games is herein. We anticipate that a workshop format, in which the conference attendants can explore the game themselves, would be most suitable for our contribution, but we could also explain our game in an interactive presentation format.
Paper short abstract:
We discuss our experimental walk-through article “In Depth: Roaming around the conceptual space of JODI’s .com browser”, 2024. This study takes the form of a digital multimedia game that hybridizes docu- and argumentation, and helps situating information and remembering it through embodied movement.
Paper long abstract:
This presentation critically discusses the intended epistemic-communicative scope of a multi-authored academic study about the seminal netart piece .com (2001) by the artist duo JODI. It intentionally took an experimental and a traditional form: a) In Depth: Roaming around the conceptual space of JODI’s .com browser, 2024 is an interactive walk-through article. This interactive Unity-based environment is a digital game version of b) an academic text. The reason for the two versions is given with the object of study, which is exposed to the threat of software obsolescence. To provide the first in-depth interpretation of this iconic early netart piece we needed to secure it by documenting it thoroughly. This produces lots of detailed information. Given the complexity of the artwork, this is a tough read, but possibly the only in-depth trace to survive. To make that digestible for scholars of the future, we opted to switch to play mode. Piling up information merely as text seemed too abstract for outsiders to keep track of. Thus, we invite the reader-player into the guts of the artwork, or more precisely, into our interpretation of it. We condensed knowledge into image clusters in which textual narration is anchored. We seek to activate memory and support understanding with explorable components and localized information parcels. What role do embodiment and situated knowledge play? How is it providing insight? Is our approach suitable to reach a wider audience? Could it serve as a model for programmed pieces with which humanists fill databases of the future?
Paper short abstract:
This study addresses the overlooked intersection of digital and ecological transitions in multiple arenas. Using controversy mapping and science-art mediation, it aims to foster a critical analysis of the issue and engage audiences through a unique scientific-musical event.
Paper long abstract:
The question of the compatibility of the current digital transition with the objectives of ecological transition is increasingly present, both in European institutional arenas, and in the press, as well as, most importantly, in civil society. However, a quick review of the academic literature shows that few studies explore the difficulties of making the digital transition via AI compatible with the ecological transition.
We propose here a preliminary exploration of this surprisingly little addressed issue. Over and above a literature review, our aim will be to understand why there is such a wide gap between the 'perception' of European institutions, of the Press, and of the majority of publishing researchers on the one hand, and part of civil society on the other (particularly leading engineering schools in France). The main methodology used in this exploratory phase will be that of controversy mapping (or 'issue studies') (Bruno Latour, 2010; Ghitalla, 2021; Lemos & Latour, 2012).
In a second stage, the map will act as a mediation device with a non-professional audience, using a science-art mediation perspective (Carless & Douglas, 2011; Crowther, 2012; Yee Pinn Tsin, 2015). Our aim is to create a scientific-musical event in which the results of the research will be shared and discussed through a musical performance, thus creating a sensorial translation of a techno-scientific and societal issue.
Paper short abstract:
Drag performers demonstrate playful approaches to countering disinformation and online harassment, including creative strategies for ensuring personal privacy and safety while maintaining highly-visible public personas and artistic expression.
Paper long abstract:
In recent years, drag performance has become a key target in political and cultural debates in the US and globally, with drag performers increasingly facing harassment, threats, libel, violence, and legislation that would criminalize this traditional art form. This culture-war-style backlash has been largely fueled by disinformation on social media via digital provocateurs like Libs of TikTok, which have spread use of the slur “groomer.”
However, drawing on aesthetic and political traditions within drag, performers demonstrate novel approaches to countering harassment, including creative strategies for ensuring personal privacy and safety while maintaining highly-visible public personas and artistic expression. In particular, drag performers often utilize culturally-specific brands of humor—including camp, reading, and shade—to playfully contest or dismiss their detractors. For example: drag performers have hosted fundraisers to discourage harassment by asking supporters to pledge one dollar for every hateful comment on a social media post.
This community-engaged research project draws on interviews with more than a dozen performers affiliated with the nonprofit Drag Story Hour to explore their use of playful approaches to challenging disinformation and hate speech. In so doing, the paper especially theorizes “queer play” as a cultural framework for communicating about, and challenging, the harms of contemporary digital technologies—especially for queer/trans and other marginalized communities. In so doing, it suggests opportunities for moving beyond typical discourses of inclusion, transparency, and privacy, instead drawing on vernacular queer/trans forms of communication grounded in exaggerated aesthetics, word play, and mischief.