The ‘obligatory passage point’ in knowledge co-production: Italy’s participatory environmental monitoring platform

ABSTRACT

The process of developing of a participatory environmental monitoring network in Italy, unfolded between 2013 and 2020, is analysed in order to explore the dynamics of knowledge co-production involving collaboration between scientists and non-experts, in the present case constituted by a community of weather amateurs and practitioners. Based on a qualitative approach and 15 in-depth interviews with different stakeholders involved in the early development of the pilot network, the analysis focuses on the dynamics of collaboration between the actors involved that led to the creation of the Italian participatory environmental monitoring platform. For the analysis, we adopt the theoretical model of ‘translation' proposed by Michel Callon (1984), which focuses on the dynamics of the emergence of a network of collaboration between scientists and other heterogeneous actors. In particular, we focus on the notion of ‘obligatory passage point’ (OPP) along the translation process. Focusing on the process of translation and the dynamics that characterise the convergence towards a common OPP in the processes of network constitution and knowledge production highlights some crucial dynamics that support the unfolding of effective forms of participatory co-production, including: the understanding of how the roles and identities of different actors are recognised, transformed, productively aligned and consolidated; the performative power of participatory processes that are able to redefine and transform the pre-existing identities and roles of actors; and the outcome of the epistemic inclusion of practices and knowledge of less powerful actors within institutional, political and scientific frameworks.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge co-production
• participatory environmental monitoring
• Actor Network Theory
• sociology of translation
• obligatory passage point (OPP)

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank their colleagues Simone Arnaldi and Stefano Crabu for their feedback and advice during the research project. The authors declare that the article is the result of their joint efforts and, in order to comply with their national evaluation standards, they also declare that Paolo Magaudda is the author of the sections Introduction: knowledge co-production as a process of ‘translation’ and Contextualising the case study within the debate on public participation and knowledge co-production, while Sergio Minniti is the author of the sections Development of the Italian platform for participatory environmental monitoring and Conclusion.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fondazione Cariplo (Milan) and was part of the national research project ‘ENRRI – Enhancing Responsible Research and Innovation’ (2020–2023), led by the Politecnico di Milano and participated by the University of Padova and the University of Trieste.

Notes on contributors

Sergio Minniti

Sergio Minniti is post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Physics (DMIF) at the University of Udine. His work focuses on critical studies of innovation and digitalisation, situated at the intersection of Science & Technology Studies and Media Studies.

Paolo Magaudda

Paolo Magaudda is Associate Professor in Sociology of Culture and Communication at the FISPPA Department, University of Padova. His work focuses on the intersection of culture, technology and society, with particular reference to digital media, symbolic representations of technoscience and alternative patterns of socio-technical innovation.