Search

CITIZEN SCIENCE

Epistemic negotiation

Stakeholders (indigenous groups, activist, scientist, scholars, etc)

The author based their research on personal experience as a physician and writer. His examination of how doctors write about their patients and publish in journals can be taken as accurate, sue simply to experience. 

Funding appears to come from the university, along with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Emergency response is addressed in this report. Responses from various outlets to the Fukushima nuclear disaster are outlined and critiqued to prove the end point of Schmid, which is that an international nuclear emergency response plan is necessary. 

The shift in thought from prevention to response is well supported as a necessary move. This can obviously be seen by the occurrence of these accidents despite adequate regulation. Nuclear energy is a promising, but dangerous thing, and can quickly become disastrous despite efforts to maintain control. This was seen in the accident at Fukushima, following the earthquake and resulting tsunami in the region. Despite preparation for such an event and the existence of backup generators and batteries, responders were rendered useless in the efforts as they could not access the area. This is where the need for a prepared system of nuclear response is needed. Historically, such emergency response groups have been poorly resourced and short-lived, such as the Soviet Spetsatom developed after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. This group, which focused on preserving lessons learned and developing response systems, was absorbed by a larger ministry with the goal of integrated disaster response.

Additionally, the author cites a number of factors that played a role in creating the Fukushima-Daiichi disaster, such as “environmental, social, and technical systems” that, due to their complexity and separate protocol, resulted in lack or preparedness for the disaster. Following the disaster, the response efforts were delayed by this lack of preparation, and the media called out TEPCO and the Japanese government for this. STS analysis is important in this aftermath as much as in the creation of the initial plan. By utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, the media (and the people) can be heard and used to reform existing policies, or create new ones. This establishes a continuously evolving system of response that can adapt and take into account many different view of disaster relief. 

The main point of this article is that efforts to restore and rebuild Haiti have not been done as they should have been. Despite the donations received to help, none of the funds have been used appropriately to transform Haiti. The lack of responsible spending has caused the transformation to halt and rebuilding efforts to fail. The ways in which organizations are spendng their money is irresponsble and wasteful. As a result, the current status of the country is not at all where it should have been. Also, the UN brought cholera with them, which has killed over 9,000 Haitians, for which they are not taking any responsibility. 

Funding for the ARC comes from donations, selling of health and safety products designed by the red cross, and the selling of blood products collected by the red cross. 

Many stakeholders are mentioned in this film. The main group are the Liberian citizens who were directly affected. Those living in Monrovia were interviewed. They show a quarantine zone and show how citizens within it were unable to receive adequate food. They show a 260kg bag of rice meant to feed over 2,500 people. The lack of resources is something the film discusses and highlights. The film also shows government workers and their lack of knowledge and how that caused tension between the citizens and their leaders. The main narrator in the film discusses his challenges with getting his family out of Liberia and to the United States. Doctors and nurses are mentioned as well and their role in the outbreak. NGOs are discussed and how doctors from around Liberia volunteered to come to express their patriotism and assist those in need. The President is shown addressing the country, but the quarantines enacted prove to be inaffective as they caused a lot of rioting. 

Through her field work, the author is able to create a concise argument by using interviews and anecdotes by those affected by the disaster in Chernobyl. She also highlights aspects of the disaster itself, highlight pre, peri, and post events that had an impact on the area and populations exposed. She also provides some data regarding an increase in clinical registration of illnesses that have occurred under the title "symptoms and other indequately known states", that show a sharp increase after the event. 

The bibliography includes vast amounts of other papers, many of which governmental. The paper shows that a lot of background research was done, which is shown in the bibliography as well. The vastness of their references adds crediblity and authority to this paper.