Paper short abstract:

Drawing on ethnographic observations of a lab intervention that uses Open Science Framework software to increase ethical scientific practices, we ask how Fortun’s concept, ‘care of the data’, can be used to describe the intervention’s impact on the socio-technical dimensions of Open Science.

Paper long abstract:

In 2013, the Center for Open Science (COS) brought its technological expertise to the Open Science (OS) movement with its software and its goal of increasing the "openness, integrity, and reproducibility of scientific research." COS's explicit inclusion of integrity has made this non-profit company of interest to universities as a method for enhancing ethnical lab practices. This paper introduces a study that has proposed a researcher and lab intervention that uses COS software to increase ethical scientific practices. Drawing on ethnographic observations of the labs and intervention, we ask how Fortun's concept, 'care of the data', can be used to describe the ethical intervention's impact on the socio-technical dimensions of OS and the elements of taken-for-granted scientific expertise such as excitement of data recombination and surprises at the complexity in the data. As a relational practice, "care of the data," communication and collaboration take us to the heart of innovation and the creative process in lab research. In sum, we consider how the intersection of OS, technology, and caring for the data creates a framework for ethical communication and collaboration in the research group.