Re-Thinking Organisms: The Epistemic Impact of Databases on Model Organism Biology
Leonelli, Sabina; Ankeny, Rachel A.
Date: 1 November 2011
Article
Journal
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Community databases have become crucial to the collection, ordering and retrieval of data
gathered on model organisms, as well as to the ways in which these data are interpreted and
used across a range of research contexts. This paper analyses the impact of community
databases on research practices in model organism biology by ...
Community databases have become crucial to the collection, ordering and retrieval of data
gathered on model organisms, as well as to the ways in which these data are interpreted and
used across a range of research contexts. This paper analyses the impact of community
databases on research practices in model organism biology by focusing on the history and current use of four community databases: FlyBase, Mouse Genome Informatics, WormBase
and The Arabidopsis Information Resource. We discuss the standards used by the curators of
these databases for what counts as reliable evidence, acceptable terminology, appropriate
experimental set-ups and adequate materials (e.g., specimens). On the one hand, these
choices are informed by the collaborative research ethos characterising most model organism
communities. On the other hand, the deployment of these standards in databases reinforces
this ethos and gives it concrete and precise instantiations by shaping the skills, practices,
values and background knowledge required of the database users. We conclude that the
increasing reliance on community databases as vehicles to circulate data is having a major
impact on how researchers conduct and communicate their research, which affects how they
understand the biology of model organisms and its relation to the biology of other species.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Item views 0
Full item downloads 0