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SUMMARY:The case of social interaction in bioscience laboratories: a multi
 -site ethnographic study of design intent and user experience - Alison McD
 ougall-Weil (Engineering Design Centre)
DTSTART:20120131T130000Z
DTEND:20120131T140000Z
UID:TALK35080@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Leon Rocha
DESCRIPTION:The work done in science laboratories leads to significant sci
 entific discoveries. This work is often translated into applied forms\, im
 pacting technology\, medicine\, society and the economy. Because of this\,
  there is increasing pressure to make breakthroughs frequently\, and scien
 tific work is increasingly performed in multi-disciplinary teams. \nThese 
 pressures\, alongside recent insights into cultures of work and of science
  (for example in sociology and human geography)\, have led to a focus \non
  the design of laboratory architecture. As many labs built post-Second Wor
 ld War are renovated or replaced\, and new labs are planned\, the scientif
 ic committees managing existing buildings and commissioning new ones often
  seek to increase social interaction amongst laboratory groups and scienti
 sts: the Modern agenda for social engineering through design is resurging.
 \n \nThe overarching research question of this project is: are contemporar
 y science buildings having the social effects intended by their designers?
 \n \nThrough multi-month placements in several US and UK laboratories\, th
 is research project employs in-depth ethnographic methods to study scienti
 sts at work\, following in a long tradition of ethnographic work in labora
 tory contexts. These placements are complemented by the study of the desig
 n intent and process\, involving document analysis and interviews. Multi-m
 odal ethnography is undertaken in each lab\, documenting the daily social 
 practices of working scientists in order to understand their spatial \ncul
 ture. Spatial culture is here understood as the practical web of ways in w
 hich people use a place\, and the tacit or explicit learned rules or parad
 igms which shape those uses within a given group\, as they co-evolve (foll
 owing anthropologist Clifford Geertz).\n \nI will present a brief overview
  of the project and discuss selected themes from the analysis (currently o
 ngoing)\, and discuss the implications of empirical research in this spher
 e.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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