Making sense of sensing: Scaffolding community knowledge in an online informal scientific engagement

Abstract

In the relatively understudied area of online informal scientific engagements, this paper aims to unpack the process of creating and sharing knowledge and understanding through dialogue. This is done through online ethnography in an initiative where members with their own air pollution monitors are discussing matters of air pollution, monitoring, data, and technical issues in a public Facebook group. By analysing a sample of text-based dialogue through the framework of exploratory talk, this paper addresses how knowledge and changes of understanding are negotiated, and situated, through social interaction within the community. The findings provide detailed and empirical insights into the ways in which the members of this informal online scientific community create and share meaning through social interaction. The use of low-cost sensors, active participation in the Facebook group, and a shared interest in understanding their own air pollution data are here shown to mediate further engagement and informal learning. Through social interaction and by sharing resources, members are enabled to engage in productive dialogue where common knowledge is created and scaffolded in the community over time. By unpacking the content and context dependent aspects of dialogue, this paper argues for the importance of meaningful participation for productive dialogues.

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