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Trust and Epistemic Communities in Biodiversity Data Sharing. Nancy Van House SIMS, UC Berkeley www.sims.berkeley.edu/~vanhouse. Argument. Networked info >> ready access to unpublished information Information from outside own epistemic community
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Trust and Epistemic Communities in Biodiversity Data Sharing Nancy Van House SIMS, UC Berkeley www.sims.berkeley.edu/~vanhouse
Argument • Networked info >> ready access to unpublished information • Information from outside own epistemic community • Accessed by people from outsideown epistemic community • Issues of trust and credibility • Of info • Of sources • Of users
Risks in Networked Data • Unreliable info • Erroneous info • Undetected duplication > belief that a species is prevalent >> not preserving a population of a rare species • Chasing after erroneous reported sighting of a rare species • Confusing naturally-occurring and cultivated populations • Accurate but not credible info • Discounting significant sighting as amateur’s error • Inappropriate use of info • Private landowners destroying specimens of a rare plant to avoid legal limits on land development • Collectors (over-)collecting specimens of rare or valuable species • Cacti, orchids, floristic materials, mushrooms
CalFlora Study • Empirical study of a partially user-designed, state-level biodiversity digital library consisting of occurrence data of varying quality from multiple sources: • What are the current practices around occurrence data? • How do various kinds of participants use occurrence data? • What are the concerns about networked data of: • information producers • Information users • What design alternatives have been considered? • How have various participants evaluated these alternatives? • A study of the practices of an epistemic community, the development of a knowledge space
Conclusions • Information systems as sociotechnical networks • Often invisible to the participants who see them as merely technical • Trust as always a critical issue in knowledge • DLs need to accommodate practices • Incl. practices of trust and credibility • Networking as • Foregrounding taken-for-granted practices • Making new practices possible • Creating new knowledge spaces • Making linkages and equivalences across different kinds of knowledge • Empowering users to make own linkages, assessments for different purposes • Using concepts of knowledge spaces, epistemic cultures to understand and contribute to system design to fit use