[WSIS CS-Plenary] RE: On research 'representativeness' Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] LAUNCH of INTERNET GOVERNANCE PROJECT

[Milton Mueller]

Hmmm, at first your argument seemed reasonable but 
then I realized that it was advanced by a white male from
the North - and only one of them, to boot. (Much less
representative than us - at least we have different age
groups and European ethnicities!) Clearly, your contribution
to this discussion ignores the broader social political and 
cultural context of research and researchers, so I must 
reject it....

I would suggest that if you wish to evaluate research,
you really had better get into the "ins and outs of the
particular research" and not reduce people or their
writing to preconceived categories. This kind of posturing
is useless.

--MM

>>> mgurst at vcn.bc.ca 07/21/04 08:51PM >>>
Without getting into the ins and outs of this particular research
project it certainly goes in opposition to most of the recent
discussion/analysis in the philosophy/sociology of science to ignore the
broader (social, political, cultural) context of "research" and of the
"researchers" and including their nationality, gender, intellectual
history (what 'school' they belong to for example) and the
representativeness of the perspectives that are "suggested" by these
circumstances.  

It should be surprising to no one that the more political/policy
sensitive the subject matter the more these contextual circumstances are
broadly (and politically) seen as being of relevance with respect to the
research, its conduct, its outcome and its likely significance.

So let's not be too outraged at having folks somewhat less than
uniformly sympathetic (ie. somewhat suspicious) of a research project
which appears to the outsider to be uniformly northern, Eurocentric, and
male.

MG