Making Sense of Data through Collaborative Measuring of Air Pollution: Community Air Monitoring Negotiations in Taiwan

• In Event: Innovating Air Pollution Governance: Collaborations, Interruptions, and Regenerations

Abstract

Air pollution problems are extremely complex and controversial due to the different "scientific" rationales adopted by the various stakeholders to explain the causes. As the regulatory agencies pay much attention to whether the pollutant emission comply to environmental standards, the citizens are concerned about who is most exposed or whether the nearby source of pollution is responsible for their sickness. Many STS studies have illustrated the knowledge complexity of air pollution, and recognized the gap of data production and interpretation between regulatory and community needs. The STS scholars also seek participatory ways, such as creative engagement of citizen science or innovative data interpretation and analysis efforts, to recapture and reframe the air pollution problems. This paper presents the experimental efforts made by Taiwan STS scholars in working with the local communities in Changhua County and Kaohsiung City to think beyond the traditional methods and expand the modes of air monitoring in a series of community air monitoring negotiations. Addressing the inquiries raised by the community concerns, the STSers help create a platform that engage local residents, technical experts in different fields (environmental engineering, information technology, public health, etc.), regulators, and environmental NGOs in a co-learning process to identify the air monitoring research and data production that make sense to the community. By conducting the action research method, the research team has redefined the issues, reframed the questions, and transcribed the data to build the infrastructures that enable and expand the dialogues for different forms of knowledge. This presentation provides an exemplary case study how an embedded STS research would promote information co-production for environmental justice, social trust building as well as better air governance.

Author

• Wen-Ling Tu, National Chengchi University