Abstract
This chapter articulates a public engagement methodology that carefully navigates the middle ground between idealist and cynical purposes, combining Warner’s understanding of publics with vernacular rhetoric and ethnography, leading to a coherent set of principles for more ecologically valid research, which we call “organic public engagement.” Working from the conclusions of the previous four chapters and research in quasi-ethnography and ethnographic approaches to science and technology studies, we develop six principles that guide organic public engagement. The chapter concludes with a description of how the methodology was deployed in a specific case, offering a concrete example for future research and practice.
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Notes
- 1.
For instance, see Phil Macnaghten, Matthew Kearns, Brian Wynne, “Nanotechnology, governance and public deliberation: What role for the social sciences?” Science Communication 27, no. 2 (2005): 268–291.
- 2.
For details on the study discussed in this section see Pat J. Gehrke, Nano-Publics: Communicating Nanotechnology Applications, Risks, & Regulations, New York: Palgrave, forthcoming.
- 3.
For a current example of such research, see the Nanotechnology Project’s interactive map (http://www.nanotechproject.org/inventories/map/).
- 4.
NVivo is a product of QSR International. QSR was in no way affiliated with this study. Neither the researchers nor the authors have any financial interest in QSR International.
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Lerner, A.S., Gehrke, P.J. (2018). Organic Engagement of Public Ecologies. In: Organic Public Engagement. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64397-7_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64397-7_6
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