Pre-meeting to Plan the 2014 Joint 4S/ESOCITE Conference & Bilingual Edited Handbook of STS in Latin America

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1 Pre-meeting to Plan the 2014 Joint 4S/ESOCITE Conference & Bilingual Edited Handbook of STS in Latin America The Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) has committed to reducing the geographical and intellectual barriers that have divided and at times isolated global Science, Technology and Society (STS) Studies communities. To this end, the S annual conference is scheduled to take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in conjunction with the annual meeting of its Latin American counterpart ESOCITE. In anticipation of this joint conference, 4S has dedicated resources from its New Initiatives fund to support a gathering of representatives from 4S and ESOCITE during a pre-meeting in Buenos Aires, June In addition to discussing conference logistics, themes and protocols, as well as potential conference sites, this North-South gathering of STS scholars will also begin developing a bilingual edited Handbook of STS in Latin America. The publication of the handbook will be timed as best as possible with the opening of the 2014 joint conference. A written report and video documentary outlining the progress made on these two objectives will be presented to the 4S Council during the annual meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, November Comments and or suggestions can be directed to the principle co-organizer Rick B. Duque at rick.duque@univie.ac.at. You are welcome to join the dialogue on the STS in Latin America by sending a blank message to 4sla+subscribe@googlegroups.com or visiting The following is a list of participants representing 4S during this joint pre-meeting in Buenos Aires, June While their research focuses on the Latin American region, these scholars also proudly represent the transnational and multi-disciplinary nature of STS.

2 BUENOS AIRES 4S REPRESENTATIVES Ivan da Costa Marques Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Ivan is an Associate Professor of the Graduate Program of History of Sciences and Techniques and Epistemology of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is an electronic engineer who emigrated to the social sciences in the 1990s, after 20 years of activities in the computer sector in Brazil. His main research interest focuses on lines of flight, by which he means the study of partial solutions to local problems in the light of their controversies involving conflicts between (modern) Western scientific knowledge (received from the colonizers) and local practical knowledge. He is also dedicated to the formation of an activist STS (sciences-technologies-societies) community to explore possibilities of performing more explicit ontological politics, especially in Brazil and in Latin America. In Buenos Aires, Ivan has volunteered to assist with the edited Handbook. Donna DeGennaro University of Massachusetts, USA Donna is an Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research focuses on how technology-mediated activities in a cross-community partnership empowered youth to have a voice in the organization of their learning. Donna s current research interests center on youth technology practices and interactions in informal learning environments, comparing students located in the Dominican Republic and Dorchester, Massachusetts. The research draws on theories from cultural sociology to examine the interrelationship between culture, history, and social interactions and how they inform emergent learning designs. In Buenos Aires, Donna has volunteered to assist with logistics for the 2014 meeting. Rick B. Duque University of Vienna, Austria Rick is a professor of graduate studies in the Social Studies of Sciences at the University of Vienna, Austria. He has been studying how the global diffusion of the Internet is shaping scientific communities outside the North. His particular focus is on Chile. Most recently he is developing two additional research tracks, one to study the phenomena of brain drain in the digital age, and another to better understand the resilience of university communities and their ICT infrastructures after disaster. In Buenos Aires, Rick has volunteered to assist with logistics for the 2014 meeting.

3 Christina Holmes Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique, France Christina is a research fellow at the Laboratoire d anthropologie des institutions et organisations sociales (LAIOS), within the L École des hautes etudes en sciences sociales (EHESS) of the Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in Paris, France. She is continuing her ethnographic research in Canada and Colombia through an investigation of the tensions between continuity and innovation within scientific methods for plant breeding and agricultural biotechnology and the implications that this has for global food security. Her general interests include the anthropology of science and technology, medical anthropology, and biotechnology, with particular interest in topics relating to agriculture and food. In Buenos Aires, Christina has volunteered to assist with the edited Handbook Eden Medina Indiana University, Bloomington, USA Eden is Assistant Professor of Informatics and Computing and Adjunct Assistant Professor of History at Indiana University, Bloomington. Her research bridges the history of technology and the history of Latin America and asks how studies of technology can enrich our understanding of broader historical processes. Her forthcoming book Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende s Chile (MIT Press, 2011) uses computer history in Chile to study the connection between political innovation and technological innovation. In Buenos Aires, Eden has volunteered to assist with the edited Handbook. Sam Smiley Lesley University, USA Assistant Professor Smiley is a media artist and educator at Lesley University. She works with ideas of art, performance, and technoscience. She co-founded and contributes to a media arts collective called AstroDime Transit Authority, which produces a multi-media periodical video journal. Her interests include community media and technology, video, and electronic music. She teaches and advises in the Community Arts and Education program. One of her current projects is revisiting the history of science in the western hemisphere through a content analysis and reflection based upon the 18 th century periodical Scientific America. In Buenos Aires, Sam has volunteered to assist with the edited Handbook.

4 Maria Fernanda Olarte Sierra University of Manchester, UK Maria Fernanda studied social anthropology at the University of los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. Before graduating she joined the university's Medical Anthropology group. In 2003 she went to the Netherlands to undertake her master's studies in Medical Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. From January 2006 till December 2009 Maria Fernanda conducted her Doctoral studies at the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research of the University of Amsterdam. This research was funded by the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP).Currently, MF Olarte Sierra is part of the project called 'Race, genomics and mestizaje (mixture) in Latin America: A comparative approach. A research founded by the ESRC and the University of Manchester. Her research interests are Health and disease from a sociocultural perspective, Science and technology Studies, and Disability and Discrimination studies. In Buenos Aires, Maria has volunteered to assist with logistics for the 2014 meeting. Raoni Rajão Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil Raoni is a university professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He has been studying the role of geographic information systems in the formulation and enforcement of deforestation control policies in the Amazon rainforest. From that Raoni has commented on the relation between ICT and institutional change, ICT and sustainable development, and the role of social practices and technology in the enactment of deforestation. In Buenos Aires, Raoni has volunteered to assist with logistics for the 2014 meeting. Yuri Takhteyev University of Toronto, Canada Yuri is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. He does research on the social side of software work, with a particular attention to globalization and open source. He is currently working on a book, based on an ethnographic study of software developers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. One of the topics that he explore is the community formed around Lua a programming language developed in Rio de Janeiro that has been recently gaining in popularity. In Buenos Aires, Yuri has volunteered to assist with the edited Handbook.

5 Manuel Tironi Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile Manuel is assistant professor at the Sociology Department at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, and director of CMAS Controversias, MedioAmbiente y Sociedad ( He is interested on environmental controversies, disasters, public engagement and the production of expert knowledge. Manuel is currently working on a twoyear ethnographic research on the participatory technologies deployed in the rebuilding process after 2010 s earthquake/tsunami occurred in Chile. In Buenos Aires, Manuel has volunteered to assist with the edited Handbook.`