Current Academic Projects

Ph.D. Thesis (Overview):

Greening the Dragon: Information Systems in the Eco-Environmental Governance of China

Over the past two decades, funding research into plausible solutions to eco-environmental problems in China has become a scientific and political imperative of global organizations, transnational enterprises, national bureaus, and local administrations. Central to the decision making process, at all scales of institutional governance, is the production of knowledge about the current status of eco-environmental conditions (monitoring and describing the eco-environmental present) and the development of various possible remediation strategies (modeling and predicting the eco-environmental future). However, amongst the rich scientific and political-economic work on eco-environmental governance in China (mostly focused on pollution and preservation), there is little in the way of a detailed historical accounting as to how China has built its national (State-China) and local (Urban-Beijing) capacity to monitor and model its eco-environmental status, specifically, through the use of Environmental Monitoring (EM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Remote Sensing (RS). The production of such a history and of currently emerging developments in national and local Environmental Information Systems (EIS) capacity will provide a foundation for comparison and critique as to how: 1) researchers in China have had their work link up in the development of "new transnational scientific and political communities"; 2) various strands of their work have been brought together into a viable local epistemic framework; and 3) particular eco-environmental representations have brought together "multiple communities of researchers, government officials, and citizens.

Through ethnographic interviews, participant observations, and archival research this study will work to answer one main question: Since 1979, how has China's scientific and technological capacity to monitor and model its urban environment developed, and in turn shaped policy initiatives and directives? An answer will be derived from the following three sub-questions: 1) How have international agreements, pressures, and collaborations shaped and influenced China's capacity and expertise in EIS? 2) How have developments in EIS capabilities and project choices been shaped by plans for the sustainable urban development of Beijing? 3) How are EIS analyses informing and directing local urban policy developments in Beijing? To answer these three questions, a detailed description of China's capacity and expertise building efforts in EIS since 1979 will need to be gathered primarily across five State run institutions in Beijing, China. These are: under the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS)-- the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES), the State Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System (LREIS), the Institute for Remote Sensing Applications (IRSA); under State authority-- the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection (BEPB). Identification of these institutions as appropriate foci for this study occurred through preliminary research in China during Summer 2004.

As proposed, this historical and contemporary study of eco-environmental governance, in the unique case of Beijing, China, is an attempt to provide a thoroughly researched accounting of the epistemic community which eco-environmental scientists and policy-makers have co-developed since the initial wave of environmental reforms in 1979. This study is designed to be beneficial to both the research community working on eco-environmental reforms in China, and of relevance to a broader audience concerned with the effects of global environmental governance on local technological, scientific, and legal systems.

The intellectual merits of this study: 1) Contribute to the historical record of the technoscience of eco-environmental management, through publications of articles and a book. 2) Enhance general knowledge about the effects of scientific collaborations and the material culture of modeling. 3) Add to sparse STS literature focused on "non-Western" engagements with science and technology. 4) Contribute to ongoing conversations about the effects of globalization on local scientific and legal systems, particularly in relation to environmental concerns. The broader impacts resulting from this study: 1) In the tradition of "anthropology as cultural critique", produce useful data and analyses to be used in comparing and critiquing (towards strengthening) eco-environmentally situated epistemic communities in China, the U.S., and Europe. 2) Produce a better sense for where and how public understanding of science and public participation can be introduced into the eco-environmental governance of China, and other rapidly developing nations.

(For more information on the thesis and my plans for China, please drop an email to one of the addresses listed in the information bar at the botton of this page.)

Center for Ethics in Complex Systems:

"The Center for Ethics in Complex Systems (CECS) conducts interdisciplinary research to address the ethical implications of technologically, biologically, and socio-economically complex systems. Using diverse analytic approaches, fellows of the Center document and analyze the ethical dilemmas that emerge with the diffusion of new scientific knowledge and new technologies. Fellows also identify the kinds of ethical action that can be mobilized in response to such dilemmas: from legal challenges to the formation of new social alliances, from new ways of designing and using technologies to organizational and cultural change. The Center's broad objective is to encourage modes of ethical action appropriate for the knowledge-driven, technological worlds in which we now live - complex worlds in which conventional ethical codes provide inadequate guidance." Taken from the front page of http://cecs.sts.rpi.edu

Since 2001, I have been working as a Research Fellow with CECS. I have produced interviews and primary data questioning the production of environmental information systems. I have also designed, developed, coded, and maintained the website for a group of 15-20 scholars with similar research interests.

Current Personal Projects

Solidata! Films:

Solidata! Films represents my collective attempts to develop videographic content for undergraduate and graduate education. The concept is to extend teaching concepts of Science and Technology Studies and Ethnography into an interactive documentary form.

Thus far, Solidata! Films has produced a video on design practices in visual, architectural, and product design. S!F has also produced a documentary following Bill Brown, of the Surveillance Camera Players, on a surveillance camera tour of the Washington Sq. Park area of New York City.

Further information on this project can be found (in the future) at http://www.solidata.com

Ethnomedia and the Museum of Human Experience:

In its embryonic form, the Museum of Human Experience (MHE) is a growing international collective of researchers and theorists developing state of the art technical and narrative strategies for the experience of ethnographically derived situations. The overarching concept behind MHE is to develop empathic interfaces for simulating and enhancing cross-cultural sensitivities. (Currently, there is no website or open forum for this group.)