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Modes of Social Science Engagement in Community Infrastructure Design

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Communities and Technologies 2007

Abstract

A new space for social science is opening within information infrastructure design projects. These are large-scale, distributed scientific collaborations with the dual goal of building community and technical resources for that community. These endeavors are complex and ambitious combinations of research, information technology deployment, and bringing together of heterogeneous communities (Finholt 2004). It is becoming increasingly common for such projects to seek out the ‘services’ of social scientists not only as researchers but also as project participants in building community, organizing collaboration or assisting in the implementation of novel technologies. These are opportunities for social science. In this paper we ask ‘how best to make use of these opportunities?’

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Ribes, D., Baker, K. (2007). Modes of Social Science Engagement in Community Infrastructure Design. In: Steinfield, C., Pentland, B.T., Ackerman, M., Contractor, N. (eds) Communities and Technologies 2007. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-905-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84628-905-7_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84628-904-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84628-905-7

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