It is actually p[ossible to be both a generalist & a specialist. That is what post-normal scientists do. I am trained as a vet & an epidemiologist, but the generalist in me redefines the epidemiologic problems by changing the context in social-ecological systems, rather than lists of risk factors. I find that in this context I can work easily with both cultural anthropologists and molecular biologists. They all have a home in the nested hierarchies (or as environmental scientist Henry Regier would say, holonocracies) we construct to understand complex reality.
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Frederik's perception on this matter sounds very close to my own. I > would ad to his view that: > > Getting people from radically 'opposed' disciplines to share the same > views and pull at the same strings can sometimes be a tough nut to > crack > > and > > it's hard to have a career both as a generalist and as a specialist > at the same time. > > By saying, how can we bridge this gap when at universities, such as > the University of Canterbury where the humanities staff protesting > possible layoffs as a result of falling roles? These roles are > falling for two reason's. First is the "BA stands for Bugger-All" > perception which exists but this is compounded by the fact that they > have a "pay per course" fees policy which very effectively discourages > students from taking interest papers in areas other than their major > discipline. I accept this (management) situation as a fait-accompli, > but I think that if we are interested in "building bridges" through > having people speak a common language then we need to think carefully > about how to achieve this in the face of what is being actively > managed to be a radically diverging academic culture. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Thursday, 2 March 2006 6:00 a.m. > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: IntSci Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3 > > Send IntSci mailing list submissions to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://mail.learningforsustainability.net/mailman/listinfo/intsci_learningforsustainability.net > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of IntSci digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Intro (Sue Lennox) > 2. A brief hello (Eozarth) > 3. Topic 1, Q 1,2,3: Integrated science as a going concern > (Valerie Brown) > 4. Introduction (David Waltner-Toews) > 5. self-intro (Dana Coelho) > 6. (no subject) (Frederik Oberth?r (FOB)) > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 19:20:20 +1100 > From: Sue Lennox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [IntSci] Intro > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > Dear colleagues - Hello to you all. I am writing from Dee Why in > Sydney, where I am Co-Founder and CEO of Oz GREEN - an environmental > education NGO undertaking the kind of Type 2 science mentioned - > involving young people and local communities in actively investigating > their environment and using this information to inform the actions > they will take to care for their environment. (we talk about engaging, > equipping and enabling). We are working in Australia (focus on > Murray-Darling basin) Ganges basin India, East Timor, Papua New Guinea > and Pakistan... See www.ozgreen.org.au > > I have enjoyed the early contributions to the list. I find the depth > connections described by Goethe to be inspirational. > > I am keen to build links between our on-ground activities and > research/teaching institutions - so we can all do what we do more > effectively. > > Kind regards, Sue > > Sue Lennox > Co-Founder/CEO > Oz GREEN > PO Box 1378, > Dee Why NSW 2099 > Australia > > Phone +612 99848917 > Fax +612 9981 4956 > www.ozgreen.org.au > www.myriver.org.au > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 21:43:18 +1100 > From: Eozarth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [IntSci] A brief hello > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hi, I'm a first year student at the Australian National University in > Canberra, undertaking the BSc (Resource & Environmental Management) > degree. I can't say as I will have much, if any, valuable input to the > > discussions due to being such a 'newbie' however I fully intend to > lurk > and learn from what I can. I wish to thank the organisers of this > e-conference for the opportunity to see and learn from such > experienced > and knowledgeable people. > > Regards, > Andrea Michael > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 22:13:15 +1100 > From: Valerie Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [IntSci] Topic 1, Q 1,2,3: Integrated science as a going > concern > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > http://mail.learningforsustainability.net/pipermail/intsci_learningforsustainability.net/attachments/20060301/60872e75/attachment-0001.html > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 08:46:06 -0500 > From: David Waltner-Toews <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [IntSci] Introduction > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > A brief introduction - I am a professor of epidemiology, a > veterinarian, and an essayist, poet, fiction writer. My books include > 7 of poetry, one of poetry & recipes, one of fiction, three of popular > nonfiction (One Animal Among Many: Gaia Goats & Garlic; Food Sex and > Salmenonella: the risks of environmental intimacy; Good for your > Animals: Good for You), and a text (Ecosystem Sustainability & Health: > a practical approach, Cambridge, 2004). I have co-edited & written a > text (with the late James > > Kay) - The Ecosystem Approach: Complexity, Uncertainty, and Managing > for Sustainability (Columbia U Press date TBA). In my spare time, I am > founding president of the Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and > Health (www.nesh.ca) and Veterinarians without Borders-Canada > (www.vwb-vsf.ca). I am a firm proponent of integrating participatory > research in communities with systemic & ecological thinking/ > investigation. I figure we may have multiple understandings of the > world, but if one "understanding" blows it up or destroys it, all of > our "understandings" have to live with the consequences. Hence I think > that > > 1) there is a global narrative within which we have partial knowledge > and our own narratives and 2) it is impossible to know what that > global narrative is (we are all inside it with partial understanding) > and that therefore 3) our journey toward what we hope is a convivial > and reasonably long-lived planet must be the result of some sort of > negotiation. One of the biggest challenges I see is how we can > maintain "quality control" in such a situation (differentiating > delusional thinking from just substantially different perspectives) > without degenerating into an "expert-knows" mode. > > So much for being short. > -- > David Waltner-Toews > Professor > Department of Population Medicine > University of Guelph > Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 > Tel 519-824-4120 ext 54745 > Fax 519-763-3117 > email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > web sites: > www.vwb-vsf.ca > www.ovcnet.uoguelph.ca/popmed/ecosys/index.html > (personal/professional/courses) > www.nesh.ca (Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health) > www.eccho.ca (Ecosystems, Climate Change and Health Omnibus Project) > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 5 > Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 08:48:12 -0500 > From: Dana Coelho <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [IntSci] self-intro > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Good morning everyone (or afternoon as the case may be for some!). > From > first glance, this looks to be a rich discussion beginning. Myself, I > am > a graduate student at the University of Maryland studying sustainable > development & conservation biology, and environmental policy. I have > my > bachelors in urban and environmental planning from the University of > Virginia. > > My current research very much tries to integrate different systems and > > ecological theories of urban, economic and energetic systems, and I am > > interested in effective communication and youth participation in both > science and policy. As such, I am coordinating this year's Citizen > Science Paper Competition, which aims to encourage and publish young > scientists and give them the opportunity to present their research at > the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. Citizen Science is a > national program of SustainUS, the US Youth Network for Sustainable > Development (www.sustainus.org). I am also technology & design at > EcoVentures International, a small non-profit working in sustainable > development via youth participation and the creation of environmental > micro-enterprises (www.eco-ventures.org). > > Regards, > Dana > > -- > Dana Coelho > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > 301.653.1720 > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 6 > Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2006 15:47:43 +0100 > From: "Frederik Oberth?r (FOB)" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [IntSci] (no subject) > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Message-ID: > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Frederik Oberth?r, project manager and consultant in the Swedish > consultancy company Scanagri Sweden AB. I have a background in > agronomy, social and communication sciences from Wageningen University > in the Netherlands. > > Short comment on the issues raised so far: > > I think that loose from the fact of how such a 'new science' would be > defined epistemiologically (or whether it would be defined as a new > science at all), one has to be aware that this will have to happen in > a strongly entrenched academic culture, as some already have > mentioned. Most of you probably know better than I do that this isn't > always easy, bearing in mind the tight schedules, need to stay ahead > in one's field (it's hard to have a career both as a generalist and as > a specialist at the same time), limited (and contested) funding > opportunities and different worldviews and methodologies of 'hard' and > 'soft' scientists. Getting people from radically 'opposed' disciplines > to share the same views and pull at the same strings can sometimes be > a tough nut to crack. > > As such I think it's maybe too early to start thinking at the > paradigm-level. What is needed is a critical mass of working examples > of successful integrations between 'hard' and 'soft' research, > identification of the methods and/or approaches that made these > successful, and from these one could analyse whether the success is > based on a specific way of doing and perceiving science, whether it > was a matter of effective resource- and people-management, or whether > it was just because after working hours the hard and soft scientists > involved used to have a good time together in a pub. > > Unfortunately I can't provide any myself (yet). At university I had to > see how the interdisciplinary research group in which I was doing my > MSc-research(Technology and Agrarian Development) tried to get rid of > their 'social stigma' by having their offices within the irrigation > sciences building, but were soon moved back to the social sciences > building by university management. And in a 'technically-led' > environmental project I was involved in, the 'communication component' > for which I was responsible was understood as developing a > 'communication strategy' for folders and webpages, the assumption > being that social learning and institutional change would happen by > themselves once the right way to do things was found and people were > told about it. Convincing project management of the contrary took me > two years... The same problems were by the way experienced by the > Strategic Communications Department of the World Bank, whom I visited > back in 2004. It was still hard for them to justify spending 5% of > project resources on communication- and learning-activities that > cannot be touched or causally defined... > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > IntSci mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://mail.learningforsustainability.net/mailman/listinfo/intsci_learningforsustainability.net > > End of IntSci Digest, Vol 2, Issue 3 > ************************************ > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Attention: > This e-mail (and attachments) is confidential and may be > legally privileged. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > _______________________________________________ > IntSci mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://mail.learningforsustainability.net/mailman/listinfo/intsci_learningforsustainability.net -- David Waltner-Toews Professor Department of Population Medicine University of Guelph Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Tel 519-824-4120 ext 54745 Fax 519-763-3117 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web sites: www.ovcnet.uoguelph.ca/popmed/ecosys/index.html (personal/professional/courses) www.nesh.ca (Network for Ecosystem Sustainability and Health) www.eccho.ca (Ecosystems, Climate Change and Health Omnibus Project) _______________________________________________ IntSci mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.learningforsustainability.net/mailman/listinfo/intsci_learningforsustainability.net
