Preparing Dinosaurs
An investigation of the work and workers in fossil preparation labs reveals the often unacknowledged creativity and problem-solving on which scientists rely. Those awe-inspiring dinosaur skeletons on display in museums do not spring fully assembled from the earth. Technicians known as preparators ha...
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| Formatua: | Online |
| Hizkuntza: | ingelesa |
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The MIT Press
2022
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| Sarrera elektronikoa: | ONIX_20220221_9780262365970_138 |
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Etiketarik gabe, Izan zaitez lehena erregistro honi etiketa jartzen!
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| _version_ | 1869518128197664768 |
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| author | Wylie, Caitlin Donahue |
| author_browse | Wylie, Caitlin Donahue |
| author_facet | Wylie, Caitlin Donahue |
| author_sort | Wylie, Caitlin Donahue |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | An investigation of the work and workers in fossil preparation labs reveals the often unacknowledged creativity and problem-solving on which scientists rely. Those awe-inspiring dinosaur skeletons on display in museums do not spring fully assembled from the earth. Technicians known as preparators have painstakingly removed the fossils from rock, repaired broken bones, and reconstructed missing pieces to create them. These specimens are foundational evidence for paleontologists, and yet the work and workers in fossil preparation labs go largely unacknowledged in publications and specimen records. In this book, Caitlin Wylie investigates the skilled labor of fossil preparators and argues for a new model of science that includes all research work and workers. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews, Wylie shows that the everyday work of fossil preparation requires creativity, problem-solving, and craft. She finds that preparators privilege their own skills over technology and that scientists prefer to rely on these trusted technicians rather than new technologies. Wylie examines how fossil preparators decide what fossils, and therefore dinosaurs, look like; how labor relations between interdependent yet hierarchically unequal collaborators influence scientific practice; how some museums display preparators at work behind glass, as if they were another exhibit; and how these workers learn their skills without formal training or scientific credentials. The work of preparing specimens is a crucial component of scientific research, although it leaves few written traces. Wylie argues that the paleontology research community's social structure demonstrates how other sciences might incorporate non-scientists into research work, empowering and educating both scientists and nonscientists. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-78618 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | The MIT Press |
| publisherStr | The MIT Press |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-786182024-04-09T11:42:08Z Preparing Dinosaurs Wylie, Caitlin Donahue Palaeontology Philosophy of science Museology and heritage studies thema EDItEUR::R Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning::RB Earth sciences::RBX Palaeontology thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAD Bioethics thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GL Library and information sciences / Museology::GLZ Museology and heritage studies An investigation of the work and workers in fossil preparation labs reveals the often unacknowledged creativity and problem-solving on which scientists rely. Those awe-inspiring dinosaur skeletons on display in museums do not spring fully assembled from the earth. Technicians known as preparators have painstakingly removed the fossils from rock, repaired broken bones, and reconstructed missing pieces to create them. These specimens are foundational evidence for paleontologists, and yet the work and workers in fossil preparation labs go largely unacknowledged in publications and specimen records. In this book, Caitlin Wylie investigates the skilled labor of fossil preparators and argues for a new model of science that includes all research work and workers. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews, Wylie shows that the everyday work of fossil preparation requires creativity, problem-solving, and craft. She finds that preparators privilege their own skills over technology and that scientists prefer to rely on these trusted technicians rather than new technologies. Wylie examines how fossil preparators decide what fossils, and therefore dinosaurs, look like; how labor relations between interdependent yet hierarchically unequal collaborators influence scientific practice; how some museums display preparators at work behind glass, as if they were another exhibit; and how these workers learn their skills without formal training or scientific credentials. The work of preparing specimens is a crucial component of scientific research, although it leaves few written traces. Wylie argues that the paleontology research community's social structure demonstrates how other sciences might incorporate non-scientists into research work, empowering and educating both scientists and nonscientists. 2022-02-21T15:13:37Z 2022-02-21T15:13:37Z 2021 book ONIX_20220221_9780262365970_138 9780262365970 9780262542678 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/78618 eng The MIT Press image/jpeg n/a https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12643.001.0001 The MIT Press The MIT Press ae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d 9780262365970 9780262542678 The MIT Press 264 Cambridge open access |
| spellingShingle | Palaeontology Philosophy of science Museology and heritage studies thema EDItEUR::R Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning::RB Earth sciences::RBX Palaeontology thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAD Bioethics thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GL Library and information sciences / Museology::GLZ Museology and heritage studies Wylie, Caitlin Donahue Preparing Dinosaurs |
| title | Preparing Dinosaurs |
| title_full | Preparing Dinosaurs |
| title_fullStr | Preparing Dinosaurs |
| title_full_unstemmed | Preparing Dinosaurs |
| title_short | Preparing Dinosaurs |
| title_sort | preparing dinosaurs |
| topic | Palaeontology Philosophy of science Museology and heritage studies thema EDItEUR::R Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning::RB Earth sciences::RBX Palaeontology thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAD Bioethics thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GL Library and information sciences / Museology::GLZ Museology and heritage studies |
| topic_facet | Palaeontology Philosophy of science Museology and heritage studies thema EDItEUR::R Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning::RB Earth sciences::RBX Palaeontology thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PS Biology, life sciences::PSA Life sciences: general issues::PSAD Bioethics thema EDItEUR::G Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects::GL Library and information sciences / Museology::GLZ Museology and heritage studies |
| url | ONIX_20220221_9780262365970_138 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wyliecaitlindonahue preparingdinosaurs |