CSTMS and BIDS win France Berkeley Funds to Collaborate with the Science Po MediaLab on Controversies Mapping

September 6th, 2017  |  Published in Latest news

A new award from the France Berkeley Fund to PIs Saul Perlmutter (BIDS) and Bruno Latour (FORCCAST) will support an innovative pedagogical exchange between between the Berkeley Institute of Data Science (BIDS), the Center for Science Technology, Medicine and Society (CSTMS) at University of California Berkeley and the FORCCAST Center (FORmation par la Cartographie des Controverses à l’Analyse des Sciences et Techniques) at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

In the wake of the emergence of what has been described as “post-facts politics,” the need to conceptualize and implement a pedagogical platform able to provide students with the basic data and social science literacy necessary to understand issues crossing lines of sciences and politics (such as climate change of the proliferation of fake news) has become a pressing matter.

The project will utilize, translate and advance new methods and computational tools for educational purposes developed by BIDS in support of the innovative pedagogical approach developed by Bruno Latour and his team called FORCCAST. The project’s scientifical orientation derives from the field of Science and Technology Studies, a field marked by theory and methodological approaches that take the construction of knowledge, especially scientific and technical ways of knowing, as objects of study.

This project will develop curriculum at University of California Berkeley to: 1.  teach undergraduate students to interact critically with complex media and scientific discourse, 2.  to enrich public debate by generating and contributing new content to decision making forums. Beginning in June 2017 through spring 2018, PIs will organize two workshops to develop a teaching curriculum and a research program adapted to University of California Berkeley’s needs. The goal is to offer a course using this method in fall 2018.

At both institutions, the project is led by young researchers and scholars who will be in charge of the workshop organization, the definition of scientific orientations and the local implementation of innovative tools and methods. project leads include:

Institute of Sciences Politiques

  • Nicolas Benvegnu, Executive Director of the FORCCAST program, Sciences Po
  • Paul Girard, médialab CTO, Sciences Po
  • Thomas Tari, Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer, Sciences Po

University of California Berkeley

  • Charlotte Mazel-Cabasse, Assistant Researcher, BIDS
  • Nicholas (Nick) Adams, Research Fellow, BIDS
  • Stuart Geiger, Ethnographer, BIDS
  • Gretchen Gano, Associate Director of Research, CSTMS
  • Nasser Zakariya, Assistant Professor, Department of Rhetoric

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