Epistemic fencelines: Air monitoring instruments and expert-resident boundaries

TitleEpistemic fencelines: Air monitoring instruments and expert-resident boundaries
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2009
AuthorsOttinger, Gwen
JournalSpontaneous Generations: A Journal for the History and Philosophy of Science
Volume3
Issue1
Pagination55-67
Abstract

Scientific instruments can help to shape and re-shape epistemic
boundaries, especially those between communities of scientific
researchers. But how do they function at boundaries between
scientific communities and communities of non-experts? This
paper examines the use of air monitoring instruments at the
boundary between petrochemical facilities and nearby residential
communities, asking whether a new generation of fenceline
monitors shared by industry (and regulatory agency) experts and
community members alter the epistemic boundary between the
two groups. Arguing that epistemic communities organized around instruments are characterized, in part, by a common understanding
of the evidential contexts for instrumental data, the paper shows
how the evidential contexts in which experts and residents interpret monitoring data diverge. Instead of the new, shared fenceline monitors helping to reconcile differences over evidential contexts, those pre-existing contexts shape the interpretation of data from
the new instruments–perpetuating epistemic boundaries between
industry experts and community members.

DOI10.4245/sponge.v3i1.6115
Collection: