The Future of Scholarly Knowledge: Principles, Pressures and Prospects - 35th Social Research conference
Type: Conference
Date: October 13, 2016 to October 14, 2016
Location: New York, United States
Subject Fields: Intellectual History, Literature, Research and Methodology, Social Sciences, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology
In
the mid-20th century when pure science needed no defense, the Ivory
Tower metaphor celebrated the university as a site protected from
political interference, commercial pressures and short-term problem
solving. The scholarly knowledge generated there, and at similar
institutions and academies, depended heavily on public funding, private
philanthropy, and university donors.
Today, Webster
tells us, the Ivory Tower is “an impractical often escapist attitude
marked by aloof lack of concern with or interest in practical matters or
urgent problems... where people make and discuss theories about
problems...without having any experience with those problems.”
This
change can be seen in the decades following WW II. America’s public
trust of research universities was shaped in part by the productive role
of science in the war effort. Faculty moved in great numbers to
federal labs and government agencies, where they demonstrated that they
could produce, from weapons to social intelligence, and that they placed
public good over private gain, recognized and rewarded quality, and
policed mal-practice, such as conflicts-of-interest or fraud. This
public trust has eroded. When acceptance of the need for academic
freedom and scholarly autonomy recedes, an accountability regime emerges
– increasingly attached to performance metrics.
If
universities claim beneficial consequences as justification for
government funds, why shouldn’t they be asked for evidence of these
consequences? If we urge evidence-based policy -- why not, then,
evidence-based accountability using cost-benefit analysis to determine
whether the NSF, NIH, NEA, or NEH merit taxpayer funds?
Are
we at the edge of a slippery slope on which the production of scholarly
knowledge will be shaped by the demand for metric-based accountability?
Join us October 13th and 14th and our panels of experts discussing what the future holds for scholarly knowledge.
This conference is made possible by the generous support from Sage Publications to the Future of Scholarly Knowledge Project.
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