Coalition Science. MSU Ethics of Water, Symposium 2023.

INTRODUCTION TRANSCRIPT

I like to say I an ethnographer of and on water. I spend a  significant poortion of my time witnessing and thinking about ocean research using sensors and observatories to capture and make sense of the wild and feral dynamics in the sea, particularly high tech built for climate interventions. The ocean is only really knowable through innovative technologies and many of our most exciting advances in pandemic were paused, downscaled, or discontinued, leaving working instruments like detritus in water and leaving critical questions concerning the sustainability of big data projects more generally.

Ill draw insights across a few different research sites around the globe in developing protocols for science teams to build community engagement in their field.  I specialize in the US and polar research, in the arctic and antarctic regions . My current field sites are: sensor-based research networks in the polar oceans (Irminger Sea by Greenland and Iceland as well as northern Alaska), off-shore wind turbines in Massachusetts (soon to extend to the UP) and building community workshops and assessment toolkits around the toxic superfund sites of the Passaic River in New Jersey.

My research is centrally focused on the ethics of water and ocean engineering, developing findings through participatory and ethnographic observations and interviews and long term immersion in fields. I collaborate and emphasize the productivity of bridging social and physical sciences to identify pathways and mitigate harms often unintentionally derived from scientific research endeavors. My methods reflect a deep commitment to listening to both people and ecology in my field. I use interviews as well as long-term observational methods in laboratories on dock on deck in warehouses on oyster farm in the waves on the water on the barges in truck and often in meeting rooms or offices.

I draw from grounded theory methods to allow my participants to tell me what is most important. In past this strategy unearthed four less discussed yet critical insights about the ethics of marine science: breakdown and repair, maintenance and calibration,  colocation and co-design.