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Browsing by Author "Fitzpatrick, Anne C."

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    One Flu East, One Flu West, One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest: A Cross-Cultural Investigation of Pandemic Influenza Paradoxes in Epidemiology
    Vu, Chrissy Thuy-Diem (Virginia Tech, 2016-06-10)
    This comparative case study examining epidemiological practices in Vietnam and the US revealed three pandemic influenza paradoxes: The paradox of attribution which asserts that pandemic influenza comes exclusively from Asia even though historical evidence points to the contrary; the paradox of prevention which encourages industrial methods (i.e., factory farming) for combating influenza even though there is conflicting evidence for any superiority of this method in terms of means of production or disease prevention; and the paradox of action where epidemiologists act in ways not consistent with prevailing epidemiological recommendations.  The existence of these paradoxes may, in fact, impede efforts at stopping and preventing pandemic influenza.  In order to find the root causes of these paradoxes, this study examined indigenous media and historical and contemporary research reports on pandemic influenza.  This archival information was juxtaposed to viewpoints garnered from ethnographic interviews with epidemiologists who have worked in Vietnam, the United States, or in both countries.  This study found that these paradoxes endure because of the dual nature of science " the known and the unknown elements of current knowledge " and assumptions made between the two.  The dual nature of science describes both the information that has been codified and information that has not been codified and the implications between the two. In other words, in between the spaces of known information, there are attempts to fill in the gaps in knowledge, which results in paradoxes. Of particular importance in this gap-filling process are the three "C's" of collaboration, conflict, and competition.  Collaboration is integral to the successful prevention of influenza pandemics; however, it is this same collaboration wherein which epidemiologists are trained to be so highly specialized that they often depend on unvetted external expert information.  Conflict and competition occur from the geopolitical level all they way down to the level of the individual epidemiologist and are influenced by the political and scientific economy along with social and cultural factors.
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    Operationalizing Data Culture: The US Army's Engagements With Data Science 1961-2023
    Jantzen, Linda Carol (Virginia Tech, 2024-08-21)
    Culture frames what an institution values, reveres, and rewards. It emerges over an extended period, sometimes deliberately, often indirectly. As a subset of organizational culture, a common understanding of both data and culture is needed in order to build the data culture the Army desires. This study examines data culture within the context of the US Army and its interactions with data science over the past six decades. It uses Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholarship to analyze Army data culture from the perspectives of leadership, expertise, technology, and structure and practices to better understand how it can be shaped to better support the Army's goals. This study posits that rather than adopting a data culture as something entirely new, the Army would be better served by an understanding of the data culture it already has, made up of entrenched policy and operational approaches perpetuated over decades, some of which are unsuitable for the current and future environment. A second posit is that Army data culture is situated within a broader context and cannot be understood independently of the external cultures and social systems with which it interacts. And third, STS scholarship is uniquely suited to inform this type of analysis. I conclude that the Army should focus resources on educating leaders on how to assess, build and sustain positive data cultures in their organizations.