According to the symposium, “Outlaw Biology” is when non-scientists participate in the world of science by experimenting, questioning, reevaluating, re-designing, and modifying preconceived ideas and established laws/standards in scientific practices. This, it is maintained, has at times provided additional incentives for research and has dramatically altered the ways in which scientists operate.
Public participation, here, refers to the DIY (do-it-yourself) model being today increasingly applied in scientific research amongst scientists and science-enthusiasts alike. They (the symposium) proposed three types of participants that are increasingly changing the meaning of public participation as we know it: Outlaws, Hackers, and Victorian Gentlemen.
Outlaws: are independent experimenters of science. They look at the world from the outside, seeing what is there and what could be, and propose somewhat unprecedented hybrids. Hackers: are collective innovators and work in group. They are a kind of subculture that together find ways of re-purposing, skewing, and modifying initial ideas and functions of systems. They think of new types of engineering processes for new solutions. Victorian Gentlemen: hold the knowledge that is needed to switch perspectives of preconceived ideas in science.
This paper outlines three prevailing characteristics: Outlaw Biology is “before the law” and therefore cannot be illegal, but instead provokes, impresses, and frightens; Outlaw Biology is the result of Big Bio (or its child); and Outlaw Biology is changing the notion of “public participation” — it is an inclusive view of scientific practices wherein the public is engaged in the process of discovery and innovation.
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