Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

American Inequality, A Prose/Poem 3/2/2014, Charles Smith

Charles Kay Smith

Science has made possible an increased productivity that creates an economic surplus--science continually teaches us how to do more with less resources. Why should the fruits of science be enjoyed only by the rich, since most of the innovations of science and technology have been funded or subsidized by citizen taxes. If the added productivity of science were shared among all citizens instead of only the 1%, poverty and homelessness could be ended.

Participatory Visual & Digital Methods, Aline Gubrium, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Table of contents and introduction of Participatory Visual and Digital Methods by Aline Gubrium and Krista Harper. Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book editions from Left Coast Press .

Mapping Participation Gaps In Wikipedia, Laura Quilter

Laura Quilter

No abstract provided.

Cultural Discourse Of Dwelling: Environmental Comunication As A Place-Based Practice, Donal Carbaugh

Donal Carbaugh

In this essay we contribute a response to intellectual and practical problems by using and developing a perspective on environmental communication that is reflexively grounded in place and that explores human relations with nature, while embracing cultural and linguistic variability in these processes. Our goals are to introduce a way to think through communication to places, and further to link that understanding to issues of engaged environmental action, to deeply seated notions of identity, and to the affective dimension of belonging that place-based communication often brings with it. Our way of doing this is to theorize and study cultural discourses …

Systemic Bias In Wikipedia : What It Looks Like, And How To Deal With It, Laura Quilter

Laura Quilter

No abstract provided.

Nanotechnology And Society: Emerging Organizations, Oversight And Public Policy Systems, Sarah Keister, Goncalves Michelle, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

This report summarizes key points of a National Science Foundation supported national workshop, “Nanotechnology & Society: Emerging Organizations, Oversight, and Public Policy Systems,” that was held on September 23-24, 2010 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA). The central lessons drawn from three panels form the body of the report. The first panel focused on constructing policy frameworks for policymaking with presentations by Terry Medley, Global Director of Corporate Regulatory Affairs, DuPont; Timothy Malloy, Professor of Law, University of California Los Angeles; and Jordan Paradise, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University. The second panel, International and Federal Policy Emergence, …

Success And Abandonment In Open Source Commons: Selected Findings From An Empirical Study Of Sourceforge.Net Projects, Charles M. Schweik, Robert English, Qimti Paienjton, Sandy Haire

Charles M. Schweik

Some open source software collaborations are sustained over long periods of time and across several versions of a software product, while others become abandoned even before the first version of the product has been developed. In this study, we identify factors that might be responsible for one or the other of these collaborative trajectories. We examine 107,747 open source software projects hosted on Sourceforge.net in August 2006 using data available through the FLOSSmole Project. We employ Classification and Regression Tree modeling and Random Forests statistical approaches to begin to establish an understanding of how various project attributes, especially physical and …

Ethics In Science And Engineering: Redefining Tools And Resources, Goncalves Michelle, Jane E. Fountain, Adamick Jessica, Billings Marilyn

Jane E. Fountain

The leaders of the ESENCe beta site project organized

a national workshop, “Ethics in Science and Engineering:

Redefining Tools and Resources,” that was held on

October 22-23, 2009 at UMass Amherst. The workshop

objectives, broadly speaking, were twofold: first, to

explore the potential for leveraging the university’s role

as a locus of education and mentoring for ethics and

RCR in science and engineering and, second, to explore

the potential and limitations of digital tools, including

social media, for supporting such growth. The workshop

initiated a dialogue between university faculty involved in

ethics research and education and library and information

scientists. …

A Photovoice Participatory Evaluation Of A School Gardening Program Through The Eyes Of Fifth Graders, Catherine Sands, Krista Harper, Lee Ellen Reed, Maggie Shar

Krista M. Harper

In the springtime, fifth grade students at the Williamsburg Elementary School in rural Western Massachusetts ask to snack on sorrel and chives from the school garden, between planting potatoes and building a shade structure for their outdoor classroom. They are members of the first cohort of the curriculum-integrated program initiated by Fertile Ground, a grassroots organization in western Massachusetts. The children’s delight in the fresh greens they have grown marks a national phenomenon: the farm-to-school movement. With limited resources, parents, teachers, students, administrators, and community activists are developing inroads to better school food and food education, by constructing school teaching …

The Network Society From Knowledge To Policy

Jane E. Fountain

No abstract provided.

International Environmental Justice: Building The Natural Assets Of The World’S Poor, Krista Harper, S. Ravi Rajan

Krista M. Harper

In recent years, vibrant social movements have emerged across the world to fight for environmental justice –- for more equitable access to natural resources and environmental quality, including clean air and water. In seeking to build community rights to natural assets, these initiatives seek to advance simultaneously the goals of environmental protection and poverty reduction. This paper sketches the contours of struggles for environmental justice within and among countries, and illustrates with examples primarily drawn from countries of the global South and the former Soviet bloc. This working paper is also accessible at the folllowing URL: http://www.peri.umass.edu/236/hash/28d064d65f/publication/107/ A newer, revised …

Wild Capitalism: Environmental Activism And Postsocialist Political Ecology In Hungary, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

"Wild Capitalism" examines environmental issues in the "New Europe" of the twenty-first century. Specifically, it looks at how the meanings of "civil society" and "environment" have changed as environmentalists encounter the political and ecological realities of life after state socialism. Although environmentalism is a global social movement, environmental politics is a grassroots process in which activists creatively translate environmental issues into cultural idioms and political processes.

'Wild Capitalism’ And ‘Ecocolonialism’: A Tale Of Two Rivers, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

The development and pollution of two rivers, the Danube and Tisza, have been the site and subject of environmental protests and projects in Hungary since the late 1980s. Protests against the damming of the Danube rallied opposition to the state socialist government, drawing on discourses of national sovereignty and international environmentalism. The Tisza suffered a major environmental disaster in 2000, when a globally financed gold mine in Romania spilled thousands of tons of cyanide and other heavy metals into the river, sending a plume of pollution downriver into neighboring countries. In this article, I examine the symbolic ecologies that emerged …

The Genius Of The Nation Versus The Gene-Tech Of The Nation: Science, Identity, And Gmo Debates In Hungary, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

Introduction In the late 1990s, Hungarian politicians, environmentalists, and agricultural lobbyists weighed the pros and cons of allowing genetically modified (GM) food and seeds to enter the Hungarian market. Starting around 1994, a small group of Hungarian environmentalists began researching GM issues. Initially, they feared that as a post-socialist country seeking foreign investment, Hungary would become prey to multinational corporations seeking an ‘emerging market’ with a lax regulatory environment. The terms of the debate were reframed over time, notably following 1998, when a number of European Union member states banned the imports of GM foods and when Hungarian expatriate geneticist …

Information, Institutions And Governance: Advancing A Basic Social Science Research Program For Digital Government, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

Throughout the globe, the sweep of information and communication technologies offers unprecedented opportunities for the advancement of governance and society. But information and communication technologies alone are inadequate to foster such benefits. An important, time-sensitive opportunity exists to make a major difference in the development of digital governance and society globally. An applied, rigorous research agenda would clarify for policymakers and the research community the costs and benefits of alternative future visions and paths. A solid research agenda, built through a global network of researchers, possesses the potential to forecast likely positive results and negative outcomes before government actions are …

Toward A Theory Of Federal Bureaucracy For The Twenty-First Century, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

The Internet promises vast changes in American government that range from Internet voting to interactive online services for the public to virtual diplomacy. As a vehicle for disjunctive change in communication, coordination, and control, the Internet and related information technologies make possible new and exciting developments in operations, regulation, and enforcement. In spite of its revolutionary power, the potential benefits of the Internet, and its potential perils, will be strongly influenced by the current organizations and institutions of government, for it is within the constraints posed by these structural arrangements that government actors make decisions and information networks that connect …

Chernobyl Stories And Anthropological Shock In Hungary, Krista Harper

Krista M. Harper

The Budapest Chernobyl Day commemoration generated a creative outpouring of stories about parental responsibilities, scientific knowledge, environmental risks, and public participation. I examine the stories and performances elicited by the tenth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in April 1996. In these “Chernobyl stories,” activists criticized scientific and state paternalism while engaging in alternative practices of citizenship. The decade between the catastrophic explosion and its commemoration coincides with the development of the Hungarian environmental movement and the transformation from state socialism. Chernobyl Day 1996 consequently became an opportunity for activists to reflect upon how the meaning of citizenship and public …

Constructing The Information Society: Women, Information Technology, And Design, Jane E. Fountain

Jane E. Fountain

For the first time in history, women have the opportunity to play a major and visible role in a social transformation of potentially monumental proportions. The extensive reach and penetration of information technology into virtually every area of society creates enormous opportunities for women. But women’s lack of representation in IT design roles may prevent them from capitalizing on these opportunities. Most current discussion and analysis focuses on the increasing numbers of women as users of information technology with great emphasis on their use of the Internet and World Wide Web. Comparatively little attention has been given to the potential …