Possibilities of Enacting and Researching Epistemic Communities

This article explores what the concept of epistemic community can contribute to studies of science and technology and to existing analytical frames of epistemic cultures, technosocial network and community of practice. Reviewing conceptions of epistemic community in political science, organisational studies and feminist epistemologies I suggest that heuristic dimensions include a focus on historical contingencies and timings; on particular epistemic projects and technologies that work as boundary objects; and on epistemic responsibilities and stratifications. These dimensions are further explored in two research vignettes. The first vignette follows the mobilisation and expectations of the Czech synchrotron user community at a funding event as a focal point for examining epistemic responsibilities and the genderings of community. The second vignette follows a biographical narrative about being and becoming a member of an epistemic community and amplifies the importance of different configurations of community. I argue that the contours, distributions and textures of an epistemic community cannot be studied at a single analytical site such as the laboratory and conclude by outlining what can be gained by using a refined concept of epistemic communities and sketching some strategies for further research.Epistemic Community, Epistemic Responsibility, Epistemic Cultures, Community of Practice, Gendering of Community, Synchrotron User Community

Technoecologies of Solar Commoning: Activating the Immanent Potentials of Solar Infrastructure, Practices and Affect

In the context of accelerated climate crisis this article investigates the energetic-political possibilities of solar energy in the Czech Republic. In the absence of solar cooperatives, the article examines residential PV installations and a ground-mounted solar mono-plantation as a terrain for possible commoning. It proposes technoecologies as a framework and tool to not only focus on what solar infrastructure brings together, but also what is left out or disarticulated in specific arrangements but can be seen as infrastructure’s productive “limits” that entail possibilities for differential inclusion, regeneration, and care. Ethnographic technoecological analysis shows how unexpected plant growth within the plantation points to multispecies refuges transforming the electric monoculture, and how electrical rewiring could connect PV arrays to households in multiple occupancy buildings (paneláky) in ways that enable new forms of sharing and joyful squandering of electricity in times of energy abundance.In the context of accelerated climate crisis this article investigates the energetic-political possibilities of solar energy in the Czech Republic. In the absence of solar cooperatives, the article examines residential PV installations and a ground-mounted solar mono-plantation as a terrain for possible commoning. It proposes technoecologies as a framework and tool to not only focus on what solar infrastructure brings together, but also what is left out or disarticulated in specific arrangements but can be seen as infrastructure’s productive “limits” that entail possibilities for differential inclusion, regeneration, and care. Ethnographic technoecological analysis shows how unexpected plant growth within the plantation points to multispecies refuges transforming the electric monoculture, and how electrical rewiring could connect PV arrays to households in multiple occupancy buildings (paneláky) in ways that enable new forms of sharing and joyful squandering of electricity in times of energy abundance

Jak v praxi ovlivnit spory o hranice? Proč se nepodařilo přírodovědce přesvědčit o významnosti genderu

Feministické bádání jako analytická tradice a intervencionistický projekt již dlouho zkoumá hranice, jež jsou hluboce vepsány do západního myšlení a pojetí racionality. Tento článek vychází z myšlenky, že schopnost v praxi destabilizovat hranice pokulhává za důmyslností analýz opakovaného utváření hranic. Jádrem feministické praxe je zájem zpochybňovat nákresy hranic a měnit to, co je považováno za přirozené, normální či skutečné. Mimo svůj vlastní „okrsek“ však feministé a feministky mohou být při tvoření těchto interferencí do přijímaných způsobů myšlení a jednání méně úspěšní. Článek se hlásí k feministické výzvě přijmout „neúspěch“ výzkumné intervence a prozkoumat to, jak „se může stát zdrojem nebo příležitostí pro nové (ač ne nutně účinnější) strategie, modely, interpretace a způsoby bytí“. Na příkladu prezentace o příležitostech a nebezpečích vědecké excelence autorka přezkoumává své vlastní intervence a intervence svých diskusních partnerů. Analýza je vedena úvahami o tom, jak lépe hovořit o genderu a genderování, jak ho pojmenovat, aniž bychom ho zredukovali na něco pevného a jednotného a zkoumané znovu vepsali do dominantních reprezentací

The gendered politics of generational contracts. Changing discourses and practices of intergenerational commitments in West Germany.

In the context of policy recommendations to re-establish intergenerational equity this thesis enquires into the ways in which intergenerational relations in Germany became framed by the metaphor of the generational contract. Taking gender as an analytical tool, the thesis explored the discursive repertoires of generation and contract in a historical perspective. On this basis social contract theories are analysed with respect to the conflicting justifications they establish for the regulation of intergenerational relations. The analysis then focuses on how generational politics in the German welfare state drew on these justifications and how the generational contract came to be associated with fraud. It is argued that the ruse of the metaphor of the generational contract was its claim to embody social solidarity 'for all' Germans, while constituting and maintaining divisions of gender and social class in and by a social insurance system tailored to the male life course. Women's positioning in the proposed measures to restructure the generational contract reveals its inherent multiplicity and contradictory structure. Arguing that intergenerational relationships in families have been mostly taken for granted, the thesis develops the heuristic framework of kinscripts in order to analyse the micro-politics of intergenerational commitments of members of two family generations that are cast as antagonists in the alleged resource competition: women of the welfare generation and their adult children. Deploying an innovative set of methods based on the problem-centred interview the empirical analysis produced rich evidence of the ambivalences of intergenerational commitments, their continuities and changes. The analysis uncovers the social logic of 'contracts of need' shaped by situational and contextual pressures and the constraints and possibilities that kin networks opened up for women in post-war Germany. In contrast the narratives of the adult children reveal as yet a more symbolic meaning of intergenerational relations although in the anticipation of parental care needs gendered and classed responsibilities reappeared. On the basis of the theoretical and empirical findings it is argued that the frame of generational accounting systems has to be broadened to include kin work. Implications for multigenerational social policies are outlined

Anthropocene Ecologies : Biogeotechnical Relationalities in Late Capitalism

This position paper outlines a multidirectional approach to what we call Anthropocene ecologies, its diverse genealogies, and methodological and conceptual foci. Under the heading of Anthropocene ecologies we seek to fertilize the sciences of ecology with approaches of queer and feminist new materialisms, and engage in multiple collaborations across the humanities, sciences, and everyday ecological practices. Specifically we draw on ecology as the object of analysis and the methodology, building on concepts and approaches from the sciences, material feminisms, science and technology studies, human/animal studies and material ecocriticism. Five modes of attention become particularly salient for our analysis of the Anthropocene ecologies of solar energy, humananimal relations, organic food production, wetlands, and human-robot relations. First we attend to how these ecologies are generated within and affect the webs of multispecies ecologies in late capitalism. Second we suggest the concept of biogeotechno-power to capture the entanglements of the biological, the geologic and the technological in new formations of power that invest, regulate, enhance, and dispose of (more-than-)human bodies in particular ecological relationalities. Third we examine the multiplicities of ecological temporalities, including the deep time of mineralisation, fossilisation and past and future species survival. Fourth we attend to affect as an entangling force in ecological relations. And fifth we investigate an affirmative posthuman ethics of concern and response-ability in relations with living and nonliving materialities that might not be close by (spatially and/or temporally). Anthropocene ecologies thereby include the technical, informational, temporal, affective, and ethical as integral parts of ecological intra-actions, and remain attuned to the differential, paradoxical and unexpected.Open access position paper. New Materialism Cost Actio

Mobile health interventions in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND Persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) might be particularly well suited to benefit from digital health applications because they are, on average, younger and less severely disabled than patients with many other chronic diseases. Many digital health applications for pwMS have been developed. OBJECTIVES Analysis of the evidence of digital health applications to improve health outcomes from a patient perspective. METHODS A systematic review was performed on all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that have studied mobile health interventions for pwMS, that is, which can be applied with a smartphone, tablet, or laptop to improve patient-reported outcomes. RESULTS Of the 1127 articles identified in the literature search, 13 RCTs fit the inclusion criteria. Two trials studied messaging systems, two depression interventions, one addressed MS fatigue, five cognition, and three mobility issues, of which two focused on spasticity management. One trial aimed to enhance physical activity. Most were pilot studies that cannot yield definitive conclusions regarding efficacy. One depression intervention and one fatigue intervention showed significant results across several outcomes. CONCLUSION Several mobile self-guided digital health applications for pwMS have been tested in RCTs, and two interventions targeting depression and fatigue have demonstrated significant effects. Challenges remain regarding implementation into routine care