Hacking Science: Emerging Parascientific Genres and Public Participation in Scientific Research

The Internet, in Brian Trench's (2008) words, "is turning science communication inside-out" and, as a result, the boundaries between internal and external science communication are "eroding." Yet these boundaries have long been complicated by "para-scientific genres" such as trade magazines, as Sarah Kaplan and Joanna Radin (2011) show, when they detail genres that exist "alongside" mainstream scientific genres. These genres' existence is dependent upon their association with established scientific media and genres, such as the scholarly journal and the scientific research article. Moreover, these genres reach a wider audience, including policymakers and others involved in the community, with a mission of influencing the direction of a discipline or field. Bringing together these ideas, Carolyn R. Miller and I (forthcoming) extend the notion of parascientific genres to account for emerging genres of science communication online, suggesting that the rhetorical work parascientific genres do has been partially moved into more public (or, external) spheres of scientific discourse. This dissertation focuses on the erosion of boundaries between internal and external science communication to explore the possibilities for parascientific genres---and looks specifically to citizen science as a site of inquiry. While some attention has been paid to citizen science, it is often devoted to scientist-driven cases, where discursive acts are governed by rhetorics of professionalized science. Participant-driven citizen science can depart from these conventions, I maintain. And interesting examples of parascientific genres, or genres that demonstrate characteristics of both internal and external science communication, are available for examination.;In this study, I trace the history of this distinction between expert and public science communication, looking back to early scientists, amateur scientists, and forward to the emerging trends in citizen science. I also uncover an emerging sphere, both within and beyond citizen science, where hackers have become involved in scientific research. I trace this phenomenon to the emergence of "hackerspaces." I then take up Safecast as a case study to suggest that boundaries between expert and public spheres of science communication are eroding. Securing funding and support for Safecast's work----collecting radiation readings----relied on the use of "parascientific genres." I suggest that emerging "parascientific" genres----genres alongside traditional scientific genres----demonstrate features characteristic of both expert and public scientific communication. To better understand this phenomenon, I employ rhetorical genre theory and stylistic analysis in a comparative analysis. I compare traditional scientific genres (grant proposals, conference talks, and scientific databases) to what I believe are parascientific genres. The parascientific genres I analyze are science-focused Kickstarter funding proposals, conference talks, and Safecast's database. This study helps to address questions about the relationship between expert and public science communication as well as professional and amateur communication of scientific and technical subject matter.