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Long abstract:

In the age of Open Science, funders demand that research data is made Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). Yet, the standards inscribed into this policy are all but adopted by a research community committed to the diversity of their practices.

Following efforts at implementing FAIR in the European research landscape, I find that researchers, data stewards, and even policymakers refuse to accept the script of this science policy without adaption. Attempts at establishing FAIR as an infrastructure instead spurs negotiation of meaning, values and practices.

Drawing on empirical material from ethnographic work, I demonstrate how policymakers negotiate what FAIR means, assessors negotiate what FAIR values, and researchers negotiate how to practice FAIR science.

Through a process of mutual adaption and adoption that I call “infrastructural domestication”, the concept of FAIR and the scholarly community enact new epistemic practices that refuse standardization in favor of multiplicity.

This research thus contributes to a symmetrical study of science policy implementation. Promoting agential agnosticism, I hope to offer optimism both for those aiming to make change, and those who are critical of it.