BRANDON COSTELLOE-KUEHN
GRADUATE STUDENT
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STUDIES
April 15, 2009
Kim M. Cardillo
Executive Assistant
Office of the Vice President for Research
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
CII 7015, 110 8th Street
Troy, NY 12180
Ms. Cardillo,
Attached please find a project description and informed consent form for an ethnographic
project titled “Experimental Environmental Media: Leveraging Media Technologies,
Practices and Communities in India and the U.S.”
Sincerely,
Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn
Graduate Student, Department of Science and Technology Studies
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA
Phone (518) 276-2199 | Fax (518) 276-2659 | www.rpi.edu/dept/ hss
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Title:
Experimental Environmental Media:
Leveraging Media Technologies, Practices and Communities in India and the U.S.
Summary
My dissertation research will document, analyze and compare ways environmental
movements in India and the U.S. have been shaped by and make use of new media. I will
study experimental environmental media (EEM) – people, practices and products that
address environmental issues through creative use of new and old media – and attempts
to develop innovative forms of communication and collaboration that are essential for
capacity building. My central research question is: How and why do EMOs use new
media to develop capacity? More specifically, how do these organizations: a) Produce
and circulate knowledge and expertise; b) Enable intra- and inter-group communication
and collaboration, often with individuals and groups not immediately recognized as
“activist”; and b) Develop and deploy innovative protest tactics
This project will explore the perceptions and experiences of actors in EMOs and the
structures in which they operate, from local political alliances to neoliberal policies on
global trade. In order to elicit the interplay between multiple levels of experience and
analysis, this project will employ multi-sited ethnographic research methods (Marcus
1995).
Empirical material for this study will be collected through 60 in-depth interviews
(approximately two hour sin length) with experimental environmental media
practitioners. Field research will be conducted at multiple sites in the United States and
India from October 2009 through April 2011. Specifically, the study will be based on: a)
participant observation and ethnographic interviews with individuals involved with the
JATAN Trust (based in Pipariya and Delhi, India), the Deccan Development Society
(Pastapur, India), the Yes Men (based in Troy, NY) and Greenpeace (Washington D.C.);
b) fieldwork at relevant conferences and workshops including the “Be the Media”
workshop series at the Sanctuary for Independent Media; Beyond Broadcast: Public
Service Media from Local to Global (summer 2009), and The Info-Activism Camp
(spring 2010); and c) Discourse analysis of the media produced by EMOs.
All interviews will be conducted face-to-face, either at the interviewee’s home
institution or at meetings or conferences that we will attend. Interviews will be partly or
completely transcribed by me. The transcripts will be returned to the interviewee for
editing and approval before they are analyzed and direct quotations excerpted.
The study is situated at the intersection of media studies, STS and anthropology.
This project will draw on and contribute to the scholarly literature on the politics of
participation in the “information society” (Castells 2000); on the making and
authorization of knowledge and expertise within social movements (Epstein 1996); and
the practices and politics of alternative media producers (Ginsburg 2008). Findings will
be published as my dissertation for the PhD in Science and Technology Studies and in
journals such as American Ethnologist and Social Studies of Science.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA
Phone (518) 276-2199 | Fax (518) 276-2659 | www.rpi.edu/dept/ hss
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RESPONSE TO IRB QUESTIONS
1. Title of Proposal: “Experimental Environmental Media: Leveraging Media
Technologies, Practices and Communities in India and the U.S.”
2. Principal Investigator: Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn
3. Address: Sage 5711 (????????)
4. Phone: 518-727-1623
5. N/A (????????????)
6. Department: Science and Technology Studies
7. Objective: This anthropological and ethnographic study will document and analyze
emerging practices combining old and new media technologies to build capacity for
addressing critical and complex environmental problems, conducting in-depth
ethnographic interviews to understand new circuits of knowledge production and
collaboration.
8. Methods: Approximately 60 in-depth interviews (approximately two hours in length)
with experimental environmental media producers will be conducted for this study.
Interview subjects will be recruited through email messages that describe the aims and
methods of the project, and include a copy of the project’s informed consent form. Initial
contacts will be involved with my primary research site: the Jatan TRUST, in Pipariya
India. The contact list will evolve as the project progresses though discussion with
interviewees and engagement with the primary and secondary literature on media
practices and environmentalism. A preliminary interview guide is included below.
9. Effects on the subjects: There will be minimal physical effects on the subjects
because they will be interviewed (????????????????).
10. Measures to minimize risk: All interviews will be voluntary. Interviewees will be
given the opportunity to be anonymous, to stop the interview at any point, or to retract the
interview or parts of it before publication.
The tape of the interview will be stored on the computers of Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn as
password protected (128-bit) encrypted files, and will not be shared with anyone. Once a
digital text file, the transcript will be stored on the computers of Brandon CostelloeKuehn, again with password protection and encryption. All hard copies of the transcript
will be stored in the offices of Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn, which are locked when he is
not present. Only Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn will have access to both electronic and hard
copies of transcribed interviews. All copies of the interview (recorded and transcribed)
will be destroyed at any time on the request of the interviewee.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA
Phone (518) 276-2199 | Fax (518) 276-2659 | www.rpi.edu/dept/ hss
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This is detailed in the attached informed consent form for interviews
11. Likelihood of harm: Minimal.
12. Documentation of risks: None.
13. Benefits to participants: Participants in this study will directly and indirectly benefit
from development of a historical record and cultural analysis of the emerging media
practices of environmentalists. Results of the study will be presented to my interviewees,
and also to decision-makers responsible for funding and using experimental
environmental media.
14. Alternative Method not Using Human Subjects: None possible.
15. Qualifications of Researchers: Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn has a MS in Science and
Technology Studies and extensive experience conducting ethnographic interviews.
Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn conducts interviews in accordance with the code of research
ethics established (and recently updated) by the American Anthropological Association.
16. Recruiting of subjects: Interview subjects will be contacted directly, informed of the
purposes of the interview, and given the opportunity to refuse the interview.
17. Confidentiality: The participants will be given the opportunity to define the extent to
which their names will be associated with any (or all) statement(s) during the interview,
and will be given the right to retract any statement at any time prior to publication of
research results. Any statements that participants designate as “off the record” will not
be attributed to the participant, nor used in a way that would link their statement to said
participant. As is codified in the Informed Consent Form, I will use any such comments
only as background information, and will not quote them in either an attributed or
unattributed fashion in any of my future work.
18. Specimen of Consent Form: Please see attached “Informed Consent Form.”
19. Preliminary Interview Guide is also attached below.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA
Phone (518) 276-2199 | Fax (518) 276-2659 | www.rpi.edu/dept/ hss
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INFORMED CONSENT FORM
ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDY OF EXPERIMENTAL ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA
Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn, Department of Science and Technology Studies
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute / Troy, NY 12180 (518-727-1623) / costeb@rpi.edu
Contact information for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Review Board:
Chair, Institutional Review Board, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, CII 7015, 110 8th Street,
Troy, NY 12180
This interview with __________________________________ is being conducted as part
of an anthropological study of emergent practices using new and old media technologies
to build capacity to address environmental problems. The research will result in public
talks, articles, and a dissertation. The interview will be recorded on tape, with the
following conditions:
1. Your participation in this interview is voluntary. You may terminate the interview at
any time during our conversation. The interview will last approximately two hours.
2. You may ask that the tape be turned off at any time during this interview, and I will
turn the tape off.
3. You may designate any comments you make on the tape as “off the record.” You may
also designate comments as “off the record” retrospectively, either at a later point in
the interview or in the process of approving the transcript. I promise to use such
comments only as background information, and will not quote them in either an
attributed or unattributed fashion in any of my future work.
4. I will transcribe the tape in part or in full. I will submit any such full or partial
transcript to you for your approval. You will be free to edit, clarify, amend, or delete
any part of the transcript before returning it to me, having made a copy of the
transcript and any changes you make to it for your own files.
5. I will be free to quote from this approved transcript, and only this approved transcript,
in my future work. The tape itself will not be made public in any fashion, and can
also be destroyed if you so request. The transcript of the interview will not be made
public unless you explicitly approve a request to do so.
6. The tape of the interview will be stored on the computers of Brandon CostelloeKuehn as password protected (128-bit) encrypted files, and will not be shared with
anyone. Once as a digital text file, the transcript will be stored on the computers of
Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn, again with password protection and encryption. All hard
copies of the transcript will be stored in the offices of either Brandon CostelloeKuehn, which are locked when she is not present. Only Brandon Costelloe-Kuehn
will have access to both electronic and hard copies of transcribed interviews. All
copies of the interview (recorded and transcribed) will be destroyed at any time on the
request of the interviewee.
7. You have the right to remain anonymous, and can do so by initializing here: _______.
If you do not choose to remain anonymous, in quoting from the approved transcript in
my future work, I may attribute remarks directly to you, but will not necessarily do
so.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA
Phone (518) 276-2199 | Fax (518) 276-2659 | www.rpi.edu/dept/ hss
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8. If you have any additional conditions that you would like to add, write them here and
they will be considered part of this agreement:
Additional Conditions:
Finally, if for any reason you change your mind about this interview or any of these
conditions in the future, I promise to respect any request that you make to me. I will not
be able to retract anything that is already in print or in press based on the approved
transcript, but I will honor any future request to change any of the terms of this
agreement, up to and including complete retraction of the interview and permission to
quote from it.
INTERVIEWER
date: ________________________
INTERVIEWEE
address_____________________
_____________________
phone _____________________
email _____________________
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA
Phone (518) 276-2199 | Fax (518) 276-2659 | www.rpi.edu/dept/ hss
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PRELIMINARY INTERVIEW GUIDE
Research Questions
How and why do experimental
environmental media producers use
new and old media to:
 Produce and circulate knowledge
and expertise
 Enable intra- and inter-group
communication and collaboration,
often with individuals and groups
not immediately recognized as
“activist”
 Develop and deploy innovative
protest tactics
What are the imaginaries of
experimental environmental media
producers and how have they
developed?
What are the structures and contextual
factors that forcefully shape
experimental environmental media?
Under what social, political, economic
and cultural conditions is experimental
environmental media likely to be more
successful?
Interview Questions
 What are some examples of knowledge that has
been important in specific struggles, and how
was this knowledge circulated? How do you
“map,” figuratively and literally, local
knowledges?
 What kinds of groups and experts do you
collaborate with and what kinds of translational
challenges do you face?
 Outside of your particular organization, how do
you draw on and foster networks of various
experts?
 How does the form of your organization include
and exclude potential collaborators?
 Is “protest” an important component of your
work? Are new protest strategies needed? What
are the limits of protest?
 What experiences have drawn you into
environmental media work and deepened your
commitment?
 Do you see your work as primarily oriented
towards reform, struggle, or collaboration?
 What are the biggest factors shaping your work?
 How do local, national, and international laws
affect your day-to-day practices and your
organization?
 Is there an economic component to your work?
 How does the cultural context affect your
strategies?
 Are these “new” media technologies sometimes
difficult to fit into already existing, entrenched
ways of producing and consuming media?
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street | Troy, NY 12180-3590 USA
Phone (518) 276-2199 | Fax (518) 276-2659 | www.rpi.edu/dept/ hss
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