Table Of ContentScientiStS, expertS, and civic engagement
How do scientists, scholars, and other experts engage with the general public
and with the communities affected by their work or residing in their sites of
study? Where are the fine lines between public scholarship, civic engagement,
and activism? Must academics “give back” once they collect data and publish
results? In this volume, authors from a wide range of disciplines examine these
relationships to assess how they can be fruitful or challenging. describing the
methodological and ethical issues that experts must consider when carrying out
public scholarship, this book includes a checklist for critical factors of success
in engagement and an examination of the role of digital social media in science
communication. Illustrated by a range of case studies addressing environmental
issues (climate change, resource use, post-disaster policy) and education, it offers
an investigation into the levels and ways in which scholars can engage, and how
and whether academics and experts who engage in community work and public
scholarship are acknowledged and rewarded for doing so by their institutions.
Also bringing into the debate the perspective of citizens who have collaborated
with academics, the book offers an exploration of the democratizing potential of
participatory action research.
Ashgate Studies in Environmental
policy and practice
Series Editor: Adrian McDonald, University of Leeds, UK
Based on the Avebury Studies in Green Research series, this wide-ranging series
still covers all aspects of research into environmental change and development. It
will now focus primarily on environmental policy, management and implications
(such as effects on agriculture, lifestyle, health etc.), and includes both innovative
theoretical research and international practical case studies.
Also in the series
communities in transition: protected nature and
Local People in Eastern and Central Europe
Saska Petrova
iSBn 978 1 4094 4850 1
Sustainability and Short-term policies
Improving Governance in Spatial Policy Interventions
Edited by Stefan Sjöblom, Kjell Andersson, Terry Marsden and Sarah Skerratt
iSBn 978 1 4094 4677 4
Energy Access, Poverty, and Development
The Governance of Small-Scale Renewable Energy in Developing Asia
Benjamin K. Sovacool and Ira Martina Drupady
iSBn 978 1 4094 4113 7
tropical Wetland management
the South-american pantanal and the international experience
Edited by Antonio Augusto Rossotto Ioris
iSBn 978 1 4094 1878 8
rethinking climate change research
clean technology, culture and communication
Edited by Pernille Almlund, Per Homann Jespersen and Søren Riis
iSBn 978 1 4094 2866 4
a new agenda for Sustainability
Edited by Kurt Aagaard Nielsen, Bo Elling, Maria Figueroa and Erling Jelsøe
iSBn 978 0 7546 7976 9
Scientists, experts,
and Civic Engagement
Walking a Fine Line
AMy E. LESEn
Tulane University, New Orleans, USA
For my mother, Ruth Weiser Lesen, 1940–1986,
my father, Edward J. Lesen,
and my stepmother, Clarice B. Pollock,
who taught me the importance of doing work that
improves the lives of my fellow citizens
© Amy E. Lesen 2015
All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Amy E. Lesen has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as the editor of this work.
published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Wey court east 110 cherry Street
Union road Suite 3–1
Farnham Burlington, vt 05401–3818
Surrey, gU9 7pt USa
england
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for
Scientists, experts, and civic engagement : walking a fine line / edited by Amy E. Lesen.
pages cm. – (Ashgate studies in environmental policy and practice)
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBn 978–1–4724–1524–0 (hardback : alk. paper) – iSBn 978–1–4724–1525–7
(ebook) – iSBn 978–1–4724–1526–4 (epub)
1. Community and college—United States. 2. Learning and scholarship—Social
aspects—United States. 3. communication in learning and scholarship—Social
aspects—United States. 4. education, Higher—Social aspects—United States.
5. Universities and colleges—United States—Public services.
I. Lesen, Amy E.
LC238.S45 2014
378.1’03—dc23 2014021466
iSBn 9781472415240 (hbk)
iSBn 9781472415257 (ebk – epdF)
iSBn 9781472415264 (ebk – epUB)
V
Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry Ling Limited,
at the dorset press, dorchester, dt1 1Hd
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Contents
List of Tables ix
Notes on Contributors xi
Preface by Amy E. Lesen xv
Acknowledgments xxiii
Part I: CIvICally EngagEd aCadEmICIans: thEorIEs,
ChallEngEs, and oPPortunItIEs 1
1 “When You Leave Town, I’ll Leave Town”: Insights from a
Civically Engaged Researcher in Postdiluvian New Orleans 3
Richard Campanella
2 Beyond Pasteur’s Quadrant: Science and the Liberal Arts in a
Democracy 13
Amy Koritz
3 Somewhere Between the Ideal and the Real, the Civic
Engagement “Expert” Learns and Lets Go 27
Margaret Molly Olsen
4 Community Enrollment: Colleges and the Fault Lines Between
Academic and Civic Engagement 43
Stephen Tremaine
Part II: how wE EngagE: modEs of PartICIPatIon,
from dIgItal soCIal mEdIa to radICal dEmoCraCy 55
5 Effective Engagement: Critical Factors of Success 57
Janice Cumberbatch
6 Participatory Action-Citizen Engagement: When Knowledge
Comes from the Academy and the Community 83
Kristina J. Peterson
viii Scientists, Experts, and Civic Engagement
7 “We Can’t Give Up”: A Conversation About Community
Engagement 101
Albert P. Naquin, Amy E. Lesen, and Kristina J. Peterson
8 A New Paradigm For Science Communication? Social Media,
Twitter, Science, and Public Engagement: A Literature Review 111
Amy E. Lesen
Index 137
List of Tables
5.1 Survey respondents’ areas of work 59
5.2 Checklist for defining participation 61
5.3 Checklist for potential participants 65
5.4 Respondents’ view on the characteristics of potential participants 67
5.5 Checklist on the implementers 69
5.6 Respondents’ views on the characteristics of the implementers 70
5.7 Checklist on the funders 72
5.8 Checklist on the type of project 72
5.9 Checklist on the social context 75
5.10 Checklist on the resources 76
5.11 Value underlying successful participatory efforts 78
