Changes or Transition? Analysing the Use of ICTs in the Sciences

Current changes in the science system conceptualised as cyberscience, Mode 2 knowledge production or Triple Helix have been debated heavily the last decades. This paper rearticulates these debates by studying the ways in which the emergence and use of ICTs have conditioned changes in the science system. Based on empirical studies and theoretical conceptualisations, we analyse these changes as an interaction at three levels: researching, scientizing and politicking. The analysis suggests that the main result of the use of ICTs in sciences is an additional layer of communications, providing heterogeneity on top of established patterns, and allowing a recombination of new and established elements. Concepts of radical discontinuity in sciences are rejected and policy implications on the basis of the analysis are offered.

HEIMERIKS Gaston; 

2008-12-12

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

JRC38002

0539-0184,   

http://ssi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/47/1/5,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC38002,   

10.1177/0539018407085747,