The fixation of (visual) evidence

Abstract

We are grateful to Michael Lynch for his very helpful comments and suggestions.

Ethnomethodological Studies of Visuality

“…Линч начал заниматься темой научных репрезентаций во время исследования лаборатории, в которое он был вовлечен параллельно с Бруно Латуром, Стивом Вулгаром, Клауссом Аманом, Карин Кнор-Цетиной (Amann & Knorr-Cetina, 1988;Lynch, 1985a). Интерес Линча к репрезентациям был вписан в проблематику, которой занималась STS (Science and Technology Studies) того периода -дебаты о природе научного знания между «реалистами» и «конструктивистами», вопрос о том, являются ли научные репре-зентации отражением реальности или они ее конструируют.…”

Designed for Travel: Communicating Facts through Images

“…(Latour 2002: 34) Image multiplicity has been discussed with respect to the production of images in the scientific laboratory (Amann and Knorr Cetina 1990;Lynch 1985) and the diffusion of visual representations from the laboratory to the public (Latour 1990). In both cases, the studies drew attention predominantly to "serial" relations of images (Lynch and Woolgar 1990b: 6) -that is, the directed transformations of visual representations that render the underlying phenomena of investigation progressively "more visible, stable, and measurable" (ibid.)…”

Science and the “Good Citizen”: Community-Based Scientific Literacy

“…These representations did not stand alone, but functioned in the coordination of activity through which meaning was made (Amann and Knorr-Cetina 1990;Lynch 1994); they mediated all instances of formal scientific discourse. In the four episodes, people participated in discourse about the importance of the environment in civil politics, engaged with microscopes and specimens, identified fish species, packed bottles with dirt and poured water on them, and other activities.…”

“…The first problem, well articulated in science studies, is that "habits of mind" cannot be considered as isolated from the material and social practices of those demonstrating these "habits" (Amann and Knorr-Cetina 1990;Law 1987;Pickering 1995). Thus, students who sit in classrooms, copy notes and engage in token hands-on activities are unlikely to acquire scientific "habits of mind" because they do not have access to tools, social situations and practices that mediate the activities of scientists (Latour 1990).…”