Papers by Olga Kuchinskaya
Routledge Handbook of Energy Democracy , 2022
Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2019
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In this commentary, I reflect on the differences between two independent citizen approaches to monitoring radiological contamination, one in Belarus after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and the other in Japan following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. I examine these approaches from the perspective of their contribution to making radiological contamination more publicly visible (i.e., publicly recognized as a hazard). The analysis is grounded in my earlier work (Kuchinskaya 2014), where I examined how we have come to know what we know about post–Chernobyl contamination and its effects in Belarus, a former Soviet republic most heavily affected by the fallout. As I described in this study, much of what we know about the consequences of Chernobyl is based on the work of the Belarusian nonprofit Institute of Radiation Safety, “Belrad.” I compare Belrad’s approach to radiological monitoring with the work of the volunteer network Safecast, arguably one of the best-known citizen science projects in the world, which is working to monitor the scope of the post–Fukushima contamination. Through this comparison of approaches, I raise broader questions about a form of sensing practices—data-related practices of citizen science that make environmental hazards publicly in/visible.
This is a response to Waddington et al. who argue that there was insufficient public health benef... more This is a response to Waddington et al. who argue that there was insufficient public health benefit to justify the relocation of several hundred thousand individuals after the Chernobyl and perhaps Fukushima nuclear accidents. We believe the arguments are not defensible either from a radiological/public health point of view, or from a consideration of costs, and we are skeptical of the use of the “J-value assessment” as a foundation to reach these conclusions. There is debate about the health consequences of exposure to ionizing radiation; data on health impacts are often uncertain and incomplete, and therefore not the basis on which to hesitate to evacuate those affected.
Social Science & Medicine, 2018
Women with recurrent pregnancy loss face unique challenges associated with the social invisibilit... more Women with recurrent pregnancy loss face unique challenges associated with the social invisibility of their condition, patchy medical knowledge about it, and often intransigent positions of doctors. We approach online forums as sites of knowledge production and examine discussions among women with recurrent miscarriages. We observe that some forum participants gather, summarize, and share experience-based and research-based information in order to challenge certain medical conceptions. We describe these efforts as an example of individual patients’ evidence-based activism enabled by new media platforms and other technoscientific tools available to the public.
Air pollution and other environmental hazards are often imperceptible and need to be made publicl... more Air pollution and other environmental hazards are often imperceptible and need to be made publicly visible. The paper argues for the importance of visualizations in drawing public attention to imperceptible hazards and in
providing the public with access to empirical data describing the risks. It also argues for critical inquiry into hazards’ selective visibility as it is produced by visualizations. The impact of visualizations and their
selective visibility are considered through the example of a public art project called Particle Falls installed in 2014 in Pittsburgh, a city with a long history of both ignoring air pollution and working to ameliorate this problem. I examine the impact and selective visibility of Particle Falls by considering the underlying production of data, as well as
context and support systems for this visualization, and by comparing it with other visualizations of local air quality.
Air pollution and other environmental hazards are often imperceptible and need to be made publicl... more Air pollution and other environmental hazards are often imperceptible and need to be made publicly visible. The paper argues for the importance of visualizations in drawing public attention to imperceptible hazards and in providing the public with access to empirical data describing the risks. It also argues for critical inquiry into hazards' selective visibility as it is produced by visualizations. The impact of visualizations and their selective visibility are considered through the example of a public art project called Particle Falls installed in 2014 in Pittsburgh, a city with a long history of both ignoring air pollution and working to ameliorate this problem. I examine the impact and selective visibility of Particle Falls by considering the underlying production of data, as well as context and support systems for this visualization, and by comparing it with other visualizations of local air quality.
This article examines the politics of formal representations of environmental hazards. Certain en... more This article examines the politics of formal representations of environmental hazards. Certain environmental hazards are made publicly invisible when their formal representations are misaligned with what can be measured in practice under the existing socioeconomic and technoscientific conditions. Conversely, better aligning formal representations and measurement capabilities helps reveal the scope of such hazards. Such (mis)alignment of formal representations is a relative, dialogical, and historically specific process. It requires not only experts and their specialized knowledge, but also contextual knowledge of the actual local conditions. The work of alignment of formal representations requires public 'un-black-boxing' of these formalisms. It also depends on much infrastructural work, which I describe as the invisible work of making visible. (Mis)alignment of formal representations is illustrated here with the examples of three successive concepts of radiation protection in Belarus, a former Soviet Union republic that was covered with much of the Chernobyl fallout. Revisions to the radiation protection concept first expanded and then dramatically shrank the scope of the officially recognized and publicly visible radioactive contamination in Belarus.
This essay examines lay experiences of radiation—the hazard imperceptible with unaided senses—and... more This essay examines lay experiences of radiation—the hazard imperceptible with unaided senses—and how these experiences are shaped. Analysis is conducted on the basis of participant observation and interviews in Belarusian rural areas affected after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. I argue that radiation risks and health effects are not always obvious or immediately observable for those experiencing them, and they should be articulated. The paper compares various opportunities for articulation, including the context of radiological testing and administrative contexts, and describes the kinds of articulations they make possible. I conclude that limited opportunities for articulation result in limited lay recognition of radioactive contamination and their own health effects. The analysis implies that affected lay populations cannot always be assumed to be the most risk-conscious and hold special knowledge about radiation effects independently of scientific and administrative definitions of it.
Metascience, 2006
This well-researched book (here re-issued in paperback format) explores cultural and political co... more This well-researched book (here re-issued in paperback format) explores cultural and political conditions that shaped the development of the Soviet nuclear program and its civilian applications. It provides a detailed account of some remarkable successes of the program, its abandoned routes, and, most importantly, its great failures. Josephson underlines what should have been -but never were -the areas of public concern: environmental protection, safety, health, and waste problems. There were many warning signs before the Chernobyl accident; and, though a disaster of a great scope, the accident does not seem out of place in the overall picture of the Soviet commercialisation of nuclear power described by Josephson. Exploring the relationship between the state regime, development of large-scale technologies, and ecological and health problems is at the heart of Red Atom.
Other by Olga Kuchinskaya
... iii The Dissertation of Olga Kuchinskaya is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and for... more ... iii The Dissertation of Olga Kuchinskaya is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm: ... My thanks to: Cynthia Schairer, Tom Waidzunas, Eric Van Rite, April Huff, Soek-Fang Sim, Ferruh Yilmaz, Sonja Baumer, Toi James, Emma Johnson, Steve ...
VISION Our perspective on Distributed Collective Practice is based on the assumption that the stu... more VISION Our perspective on Distributed Collective Practice is based on the assumption that the study of DCP would benefit from looking at large-scale ad hoc and cross-boundary collaborative processes in organizations. Our research does not address Internet collectives (such as Free/Open Source Software) but we believe that the questions raised in this research are of importance for the broader DCP studies. Building on the work of Bowker and Star (Bowker and Star 1999, Star 1995, 2002), as well as Schmidt (Schmidt, 1997; Schmidt and Bannon, 1992), we propose a concept of 'shared landmarks' to facilitate the discussion of articulation work in distributed ad hoc collectives, especially collectives cutting across organizational, geographic, institutional and other boundaries. WORKSHOP ISSUES The issue of how people 'navigate' distributed ad hoc work spaces is a theme that speaks directly to the DCP: how is 'articulation work' organized and supported in DCP? What i...
Chi 05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2005
We explore the concept of social landmarks in complex, shared information and coordination enviro... more We explore the concept of social landmarks in complex, shared information and coordination environments. Previous research in navigation and shared spaces has tended to emphasize individual navigation, formally inscribed spaces, social filtering, and boundary objects. Based on ethnographic research into complex collaborative work in organizations, we extend the concept of navigational "landmarks" to include not only individually-used documents, but also shared landmarks in the form of persons, roles, and events. This emerging concept of social landmarks may be applied in identifying and representing these coordinating points, to support the work of teams and organizations in complex projects.
Books by Olga Kuchinskaya
Before Fukushima, the most notorious large-scale nuclear accident the world had seen was Chernoby... more Before Fukushima, the most notorious large-scale nuclear accident the world had seen was Chernobyl in 1986. The fallout from Chernobyl covered vast areas in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in Europe. Belarus, at the time a Soviet republic, suffered heavily: nearly a quarter of its territory was covered with long-lasting radionuclides. Yet the damage from the massive fallout was largely imperceptible; contaminated communities looked exactly like noncontaminated ones. It could be known only through constructed representations of it. In The Politics of Invisibility, Olga Kuchinskaya explores how we know what we know about Chernobyl, describing how the consequences of a nuclear accident were made invisible. Her analysis sheds valuable light on how we deal with other modern hazards -- toxins or global warming -- that are largely imperceptible to the human senses.
Kuchinskaya describes the production of invisibility of Chernobyl's consequences in Belarus -- practices that limit public attention to radiation and make its health effects impossible to observe. Just as mitigating radiological contamination requires infrastructural solutions, she argues, the production and propagation of invisibility also involves infrastructural efforts, from redefining the scope and nature of the accident's consequences to reshaping research and protection practices.
Kuchinskaya finds vast fluctuations in recognition, tracing varyingly successful efforts to conceal or reveal Chernobyl's consequences at different levels -- among affected populations, scientists, government, media, and international organizations. The production of invisibility, she argues, is a function of power relations.
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Papers by Olga Kuchinskaya
In this commentary, I reflect on the differences between two independent citizen approaches to monitoring radiological contamination, one in Belarus after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and the other in Japan following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. I examine these approaches from the perspective of their contribution to making radiological contamination more publicly visible (i.e., publicly recognized as a hazard). The analysis is grounded in my earlier work (Kuchinskaya 2014), where I examined how we have come to know what we know about post–Chernobyl contamination and its effects in Belarus, a former Soviet republic most heavily affected by the fallout. As I described in this study, much of what we know about the consequences of Chernobyl is based on the work of the Belarusian nonprofit Institute of Radiation Safety, “Belrad.” I compare Belrad’s approach to radiological monitoring with the work of the volunteer network Safecast, arguably one of the best-known citizen science projects in the world, which is working to monitor the scope of the post–Fukushima contamination. Through this comparison of approaches, I raise broader questions about a form of sensing practices—data-related practices of citizen science that make environmental hazards publicly in/visible.
providing the public with access to empirical data describing the risks. It also argues for critical inquiry into hazards’ selective visibility as it is produced by visualizations. The impact of visualizations and their
selective visibility are considered through the example of a public art project called Particle Falls installed in 2014 in Pittsburgh, a city with a long history of both ignoring air pollution and working to ameliorate this problem. I examine the impact and selective visibility of Particle Falls by considering the underlying production of data, as well as
context and support systems for this visualization, and by comparing it with other visualizations of local air quality.
Other by Olga Kuchinskaya
Books by Olga Kuchinskaya
Kuchinskaya describes the production of invisibility of Chernobyl's consequences in Belarus -- practices that limit public attention to radiation and make its health effects impossible to observe. Just as mitigating radiological contamination requires infrastructural solutions, she argues, the production and propagation of invisibility also involves infrastructural efforts, from redefining the scope and nature of the accident's consequences to reshaping research and protection practices.
Kuchinskaya finds vast fluctuations in recognition, tracing varyingly successful efforts to conceal or reveal Chernobyl's consequences at different levels -- among affected populations, scientists, government, media, and international organizations. The production of invisibility, she argues, is a function of power relations.
In this commentary, I reflect on the differences between two independent citizen approaches to monitoring radiological contamination, one in Belarus after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident and the other in Japan following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident. I examine these approaches from the perspective of their contribution to making radiological contamination more publicly visible (i.e., publicly recognized as a hazard). The analysis is grounded in my earlier work (Kuchinskaya 2014), where I examined how we have come to know what we know about post–Chernobyl contamination and its effects in Belarus, a former Soviet republic most heavily affected by the fallout. As I described in this study, much of what we know about the consequences of Chernobyl is based on the work of the Belarusian nonprofit Institute of Radiation Safety, “Belrad.” I compare Belrad’s approach to radiological monitoring with the work of the volunteer network Safecast, arguably one of the best-known citizen science projects in the world, which is working to monitor the scope of the post–Fukushima contamination. Through this comparison of approaches, I raise broader questions about a form of sensing practices—data-related practices of citizen science that make environmental hazards publicly in/visible.
providing the public with access to empirical data describing the risks. It also argues for critical inquiry into hazards’ selective visibility as it is produced by visualizations. The impact of visualizations and their
selective visibility are considered through the example of a public art project called Particle Falls installed in 2014 in Pittsburgh, a city with a long history of both ignoring air pollution and working to ameliorate this problem. I examine the impact and selective visibility of Particle Falls by considering the underlying production of data, as well as
context and support systems for this visualization, and by comparing it with other visualizations of local air quality.
Kuchinskaya describes the production of invisibility of Chernobyl's consequences in Belarus -- practices that limit public attention to radiation and make its health effects impossible to observe. Just as mitigating radiological contamination requires infrastructural solutions, she argues, the production and propagation of invisibility also involves infrastructural efforts, from redefining the scope and nature of the accident's consequences to reshaping research and protection practices.
Kuchinskaya finds vast fluctuations in recognition, tracing varyingly successful efforts to conceal or reveal Chernobyl's consequences at different levels -- among affected populations, scientists, government, media, and international organizations. The production of invisibility, she argues, is a function of power relations.