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In: Lara Putnam
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What does it really mean to do research in the digital age? We might have what seem like an easy set of answers: doing research means using Google, managing citations using organizational software like Zotero or Easy Bib, collecting and integrating quotations (we might use Endnote or Scrivener for this), accessing archives (some of which are physical, but most of which are not), and then presenting that research using a word processor. But again, what does this really mean, especially when we consider that for most of human history, research looked nothing like what I’ve just described? If a search engine does not exist, nor the Internet, neither do any of the ways we access information as it exists separately from geographic space and necessarily longer durations of time. Before such massive accumulations of digitized texts, a researcher would likely have to travel to a specific archival or fieldwork site to accrue knowledge that could only be gained in that specific way: driving to the airport, stepping on a plane, travelling to that location, and spending a significant amount of time there. But today, all of that time, money, and attention can be saved and spent on engaging with the text itself; fieldwork can be supplemented increasingly efficiently with Zoom, Skype, text and email. Our podcast guest on April 2, 2021, Dr. Lara Putnam, chatted with me about exactly how these profound and rapid changes in research methods impact our daily lives, and how we think about the world around us. Dr. Puntam is UCIS Research Read More

A 19th Century Doctor's Visit

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In: Christopher Phillips
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Dr. Christopher Phillips on the Histories of Statistics & Data in Medicine On March 17, our podcast hosted Dr. Christopher Phillips, a Professor and Historian of science, medicine, and statistics Carnegie Mellon University—and also a member of our Seminar! Beginning in the Fall of 2019, Dr. Phillips joined in on our public events and Friday lunchtime sessions. On our podcast interview, he shared how joining the Seminar’s interdisciplinary conversations about data and (reference intended!) information ecosystems has revealed the need for and rewards of approaching the same topics from distinct disciplinary and methodological viewpoints. And during our chat, I was alerted over and over to how valuable a historic approach to understanding science is. So often, we view STEM fields and workplaces as intrinsically separate from, and thus competing against, the humanities. This perceived divide has real-world consequences, among them the myths of STEM disciplines as ahistorical or apolitical, and the ultimately dangerous devaluing and underfunding of humanities programs. But Dr. Phillips’ work stands as a testament to the very real insights to be gained from a historical approach to math, science, statistics, and medicine. His current research focuses on the long histories of precision medicine and statistical approaches within. In the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of precision medicine has come under renewed scrutiny. Precision medicine proposes that medical practices ranging from decisions, diagnoses, treatments, and products can be tailored to precise subgroups of patients—taking into account their genetics, environment, and lifestyle, rather than a “one size fits all” approach. For many Read More

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In: Sabina Leonelli
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On November 15th, Dr. Sabina Leonelli spoke to the participants of the Sawyer Seminar. As a historian and philosopher of science, she is currently the Co-Director of the Exeter Centre for the Study of the Life Sciences and has recently worked on a five-year grant about data access, openness, and infrastructure entitled The Epistemology of Data-Intensive Science. In her conversations at the Friday seminar, Dr. Leonelli focused on practices surrounding data collection and reuse, aiming to move towards a future of Open Data as the standard. One of her recent publications, an op-ed entitled “Data Shadows: Knowledge, Openness, and Absence,” spoke directly to many of the themes central to the Sawyer Seminar. She defines shadows, beyond being mere absences in data, as “the multiplicity of motives, goals, and conditions through which data may be construed as (in)significant, partial or complete, (un)intelligible, or (in)accessible.” Consequently, the degree to which these shadows exist depends on the context in which the data is considered, especially when data is being reused by parties other than the original creators. In her conversation with seminar participants, Dr. Leonelli discussed her vision for data use and distribution today, which involves most data being open-access, rather than owned by companies or individuals, as well as having the necessary metadata and methodological descriptions to make it valuable to others. This allows data to be reused, recontextualized, and further studied as more information becomes available, potentially allowing for discoveries in numerous fields. Dr. Leonelli identified several challenges in creating and maintaining open data, as well as some Read More