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Moving Human-Machine Communication Forward Through the Study of Non-Use and Failure
Climate and disturbance regime effects on aspen (Populus tremuloidesMichx.) stand structure and composition along an east–west transect in Canada's boreal forest
Stand structure and composition play a key role in maintaining the ecological integrity of the boreal forest. However, future changes in climate and disturbance regime could affect these forest attributes. Using provincial forest inventory datasets, we analysed stands dominated by aspen (=75% of the plot total basal area) distributed along a wide longitudinal gradient of environmental conditions across Canada. Stands were classified into three diameter structure types (inverted J, intermediate and advanced). There was no major difference in the distribution pattern of structural types of aspen-dominated stands between the western and eastern Canadian boreal mixedwood forests, despite a marked contrast in climatic conditions and fire regime. These results suggest that the predominance of juvenile structures in the western aspen forests is mainly related to the frequent recurrence of fires, while within eastern aspen forests, the longer fire cycle was not the controlling factor of stand structure. Anthropogenic activities would have strongly shaped the structure of aspen forests in eastern Canada. White spruce in the west and balsam fir in the east are among the main shade-tolerant conifer companion species associated with these stands. Although stand structure and composition were highly related to stand age and site productivity, regional climate and human activities, through their influence on disturbance regime, might have impacted these forest attributes
Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from the Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada
Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly “interdisciplinarity”,
which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within
and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many
strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to
our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in a cohesive manner. As a team of 57 members from the Canadian College
of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (the College) who self-identify as being engaged or interested in interdisciplinarity, we provide diverse intellectual, cultural, and
social perspectives. The goal of this paper is to share our collective wisdom on this topic with the
broader community and to stimulate discourse and debate on the merits and challenges associated
with interdisciplinarity. Perhaps the clearest message emerging from this exercise is that working
across established boundaries of scholarly communities is rewarding, necessary, and is more likely
to result in impact. However, there are barriers that limit the ease with which this can occur (e.g., lack
of institutional structures and funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary exploration). Occasionally, there
can be significant risk associated with doing interdisciplinary work (e.g., lack of adequate measurement or recognition of work by disciplinary peers). Solving many of the world’s complex and pressing
problems (e.g., climate change, sustainable agriculture, the burden of chronic disease, and aging populations) demand thinking and working across long-standing, but in some ways restrictive, academic
boundaries. Academic institutions and key support structures, especially funding bodies, will play an
important role in helping to realize what is readily apparent to all who contributed to this paper—that
interdisciplinarity is essential for solving complex problems; it is the new norm. Failure to empower
and encourage those doing this research will serve as a great impediment to training, knowledge,
and addressing societal issues
Diverse perspectives on interdisciplinarity from Members of the College of the Royal Society of Canada
Various multiple-disciplinary terms and concepts (although most commonly interdisciplinarity, which is used herein) are used to frame education, scholarship, research, and interactions within and outside academia. In principle, the premise of interdisciplinarity may appear to have many strengths; yet, the extent to which interdisciplinarity is embraced by the current generation of academics, the benefits and risks for doing so, and the barriers and facilitators to achieving interdisciplinarity, represent inherent challenges. Much has been written on the topic of interdisciplinarity, but to our knowledge there have been few attempts to consider and present diverse perspectives from scholars, artists, and scientists in a cohesive manner. As a team of 57 members from the Canadian College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists of the Royal Society of Canada (the College) who self-identify as being engaged or interested in interdisciplinarity, we provide diverse intellectual, cultural, and social perspectives. The goal of this paper is to share our collective wisdom on this topic with the broader community and to stimulate discourse and debate on the merits and challenges associated with interdisciplinarity. Perhaps the clearest message emerging from this exercise is that working across established boundaries of scholarly communities is rewarding, necessary, and is more likely to result in impact. However, there are barriers that limit the ease with which this can occur (e.g., lack of institutional structures and funding to facilitate cross-disciplinary exploration). Occasionally, there can be significant risk associated with doing interdisciplinary work (e.g., lack of adequate measurement or recognition of work by disciplinary peers). Solving many of the world\u27s complex and pressing problems (e.g., climate change, sustainable agriculture, the burden of chronic disease, and aging populations) demands thinking and working across long-standing, but in some ways restrictive, academic boundaries. Academic institutions and key support structures, especially funding bodies, will play an important role in helping to realize what is readily apparent to all who contributed to this paper-that interdisciplinarity is essential for solving complex problems; it is the new norm. Failure to empower and encourage those doing this research will serve as a great impediment to training, knowledge, and addressing societal issues
"That's important, but...": How Computer Science Researchers Anticipate Unintended Consequences of Their Research Innovations
Computer science research has led to many breakthrough innovations but has
also been scrutinized for enabling technology that has negative, unintended
consequences for society. Given the increasing discussions of ethics in the
news and among researchers, we interviewed 20 researchers in various CS
sub-disciplines to identify whether and how they consider potential unintended
consequences of their research innovations. We show that considering unintended
consequences is generally seen as important but rarely practiced. Principal
barriers are a lack of formal process and strategy as well as the academic
practice that prioritizes fast progress and publications. Drawing on these
findings, we discuss approaches to support researchers in routinely considering
unintended consequences, from bringing diverse perspectives through community
participation to increasing incentives to investigate potential consequences.
We intend for our work to pave the way for routine explorations of the societal
implications of technological innovations before, during, and after the
research process.Comment: Corresponding author: Rock Yuren Pang, email provided below. Kimberly
Do and Rock Yuren Pang contributed equally to this research. The author order
is listed alphabetically. To appear in CHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI '23), April 23-April 28, 2023, Hamburg, Germany. ACM,
New York, NY, USA, 16 page
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