Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.
Public Underst Sci. 2014 Apr;23(3):238-53. doi: 10.1177/0963662513515371. Epub 2014 Feb 3.
Emerging technologies such as genomics, nanotechnology, and converging technologies are surrounded by a constellation of fashionable stereotyped phrases such as 'public engagement in science', 'responsible innovation', 'green technology', or 'personalised medicine'. Buzzwords are ubiquitous and used ad libitum by science policy makers, industrial companies in their advertisements, scientists in their research proposals, and journalists. Despite their proliferation in the language of scientific and technological innovation, these buzzwords have attracted little attention among science studies scholars. The purpose of this paper is to try to understand if, and how buzzwords shape the technoscientific landscape. What do they perform? What do they reveal? What do they conceal? Based on a case study of the phrase 'public engagement in science', this paper describes buzzwords as linguistic technologies, capable of three major performances: buzzwords generate matters of concern and play an important role in trying to build consensus; they set attractive goals and agendas; they create unstable collectives through noise.
新兴技术如基因组学、纳米技术和汇聚技术被一系列时髦的刻板短语所包围,如“公众参与科学”、“负责任的创新”、“绿色技术”或“个性化医疗”。流行语无处不在,被科学政策制定者、广告中的工业公司、研究提案中的科学家和记者随意使用。尽管这些流行语在科学和技术创新的语言中大量出现,但它们并没有引起科学研究学者的关注。本文的目的是试图理解流行语是否以及如何塑造技术科学景观。它们有什么作用?它们揭示了什么?它们隐藏了什么?本文通过对“公众参与科学”这一短语的案例研究,将流行语描述为语言技术,能够进行三项主要操作:流行语产生关注事项,并在试图建立共识方面发挥重要作用;它们设定吸引人的目标和议程;它们通过噪音创造不稳定的集体。