Open Science, Public Engagement and the University

TL;DR

This paper advocates for opening up the ongoing scientific work within universities by engaging the public through interactive, open-source computing spaces that foster collaborative scientific knowledge creation.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of public computing spaces as a model for integrating open science practices into university environments.

Findings

Public computing spaces enable direct public engagement with scientific work.

Open science in universities can be fostered through interactive, collaborative environments.

This approach redefines the university's role in scientific knowledge production.

Abstract

Contemporary debates on "open science" mostly focus on the pub- lic accessibility of the products of scientific and academic work. In contrast, this paper presents arguments for "opening" the ongoing work of science. That is, this paper is an invitation to rethink the university with an eye toward engaging the public in the dynamic, conceptual and representational work involved in creating scientific knowledge. To this end, we posit that public computing spaces, a genre of open- ended, public learning environment where visitors interact with open source computing platforms to directly access, modify and create complex and authentic scientific work, can serve as a possible model of "open science" in the university.