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Lee, June Seok
- Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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- v.13 no.1
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- pp.1-39
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- 2013
How would technoscientists collaborate in their technoscientific practices? Based on the ethnographic research done at NRI(Neuroscience Research Institute), this research shows how collaboration occurs in/outside the interdisciplinary laboratory. As previous studies show, collaboration makes researches possible that otherwise would have been impossible. Korean technoscientists who are situated in the scientific periphery, practice contextualized collaboration in their labs. These collaborations are invisible before opening the black box of the lab. But it acquires visibility after certain incidents such as collaborations, debates and discussions, malfunctioning of the instruments, and networking with other actors occur. These networks again become invisible after the certain incidents end. However these blackboxing and whiteboxing (opening the blackbox) processes occur simultaneously in various levels, it is almost impossible to identify them separately. In real technoscientific practices, blackboxing and whiteboxing do not occur distinctively. They almost always occur at the same time on multi-layered levels, hence forming the 'grey box' of technoscientific practices. Lastly, collaborations inside laboratory have in/visible features, because laboratories function as Foucauldian heterotopias.
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