Reimagining Expertise, Reconfiguring the Disciplines

Abstract

The papers in this session each ask, in different ways, how expertise and the disciplines are shifting at a time when old standards no longer seem to apply but new ones have yet to solidify. Complicating any simple narrative of change, they describe not only the promise of citizen science to democratize science, but also the potential for transparency about the process of becoming expert to undermine the very authority of expertise itself. They show how the authority of scientific statements grows even as the authority of scientists weakens, as well as the impossibility of constructing an error-free expert system, and they explore practical strategies for promoting interdisciplinarity alongside disciplinary specialization.

Chair

• Stephen Turner, University of South Florida

Individual Presentations

• The Power of the Crowd and the Search for Theoretical Foundation - Lala Hajibayova, Kent State University

• Unpacking Black-Boxed Expertization: The Case of the Korean Astronaut Program - Seungmi Chung, Virginia Tech

• Organizing Expert Systems and Democracy: The IMF Case - Stephen Turner, University of South Florida

• Innovating and Educating: Vitalizing the Imaginary of Interdisciplinarity - Hendrik Woiwode, WZB Berlin Social Science Center; Anna Froese, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

• Approaching the Climate Change Crisis by Implementing Models of Community Action in Academic Institutions - Brandon Batzloff, University of California Merced; Michael Spivey, University of California Merced

Session Organizer

• Etienne Benson, University of Pennsylvania