233042 SE Engaging with diverse forms of publics in STS (2022S)

Class participation: This is a fun and challenging postgraduate seminar with a significant reading load.
Weekly reading responses: You will be expected to produce 3-4 paragraphs (1-2 pages) of reading notes that engage key arguments, insights, and findings of the weekly readings. Reading notes are due at 9pm the day before class. Please post them to the Reading Response section on Moodle. You are encouraged to review the notes of other students before the seminar. Reading responses are not graded individually, but I will give feedback and advice whenever useful.
Seminar leadership: Once during the semester, you will be responsible for introducing and leading the discussion of the weekly reading sets. You will sign up for one or two sessions using a Google Doc link. Discussion leads will have two primary responsibilities:

Produce a 2-3 page thought piece that pulls out what you find most interesting, useful, or provocative about the readings. The piece shouldn’t be a mere summary; rather, there should be some organizing principle(s) or question(s) that can ground, guide, and provoke our group discussions. The thought piece should be posted to Moodle no later than 6 pm the day before class. 

Introduce the readings and propose questions for discussion, drawing on the thought piece.You will have 15 minutes for this and are welcome to find original and creative ways to engage and entertain the rest of us.

Field excursions: during the class we have two fieldwork activities planned. On excursion will be a guided urban walk tour conducted by Whoosh.wien where we will explore space and place making in Vienna. During the walk we will critically interact with the urban space and place making practices in Vienna. The walk will take 3 hours. Further detail of the plan will be communicated early on in the class.

We will have another field excursion which will only take place online. During a series of online discussions three representatives of the Austrian Citizen Science Association will present their work and projects. The guest speakers will share with us their insight and the challenges they face and have to deal with in their work concerning Citizen Science. We will have both academic presenters and people in charge of the national level organization of budgeting CS in Austria. During this virtual excursion, students are expected to engage with the invitees via initiating discussions for further learning and reflection about CS in the Austrian context. This session will also be a great help for your group case study.
Case study: Starting in week 1, you (in a group of 2-3 students) will identify and study a case involving a practice and/or technology of participation. Over the course of the semester, you will be expected to research your case and keep a document of field notes.
At one point in the semester, you will be expected to share your field observations about the case study to the class. The Group Presentation is a space to introduce the case and report on where you stand in regard to conducting your preliminary research work. Each presentation is 10-12 minutes followed by a 10 mins discussion. Groups will choose about the format of the presentation and what they prefer to gain from the time.
In the end, groups will produce a 18-20 page (double-spaced) final report on their case that engages with the literature provided in the course and/or extra texts that help to frame theoretical and/or methodological themes from the case study. Before the group presentation I’d like to see a brainstorming proposal, consisting of a 2-3 page description of the main argument or question; an outline of the anticipated structure of the report; a description of the empirical evidence you plan to use; and a list of 5-10 published sources you plan to cite or draw on in making your argument.