Negotiating Openness in Science Projects: Case studies from Argentina

Abstract

Open Science promises to revolutionize the scientific model of knowledge production, and as a result, scientific and funding institutions have increasingly started to adopt its policies. However, most policies are limited to the institutional level, and, in developing countries, there are no models that inform how to build good practices of openness at the laboratory level. This chapter analyzes four cases of Open Science in Argentina, characterizing what is being opened, how, and who participates in these practices. The analysis shows that as scientists open more stages of their research, they enter into a social terrain that challenges their formal scientific norms and customs. We tentatively study this moment through the notion of boundary objects to understand how scientists negotiate meanings, tools, and several forms of communication with actors from outside the laboratory. In the conclusion, we suggest the need to identify and build exemplary cases of Open Science that allow the construction of good practices.