Skip to content

Initial Proposal

Title

Mangling Geochronology: Agency and Contingency in Kelvin's Nineteenth Century Debate.

Proposal Text

1. Research Objectives

The overall goal of the project is two-fold: the first is to apply an explanatory analysis framework from the sphere Science and Technological Studies (STS) to a historical episode which has particular local relevance to Glasgow's intellectual history; the second is to generate an educational resource based on the historical episode along with a critique.

Regarding the local relevance of the project, the nineteenth century dispute concerning the age of the Earth between Lord Kelvin and the geological community of the day has ties to both Glasgow and Scotland. Firstly, a direct link to the University of Glasgow, where Kelvin was a Professor in Natural Philosophy for many years. And second, a Scottish connection on the Geological side as the contemporary thinkers were influenced by the work of James Hutton.

The analysis framework from STS was developed by Pickering and introduced in his 1995 work The Mangle of Practice (The Mangle). The framework foregrounds practice in descriptions of Scientific activity over traditional theoretical accounts and discusses themes such as contingency, agency and resistance/accomodation. The framework was originally applied to several episodes from the history of Science and Technology: including Particle Physics, Mathematics and Industrial Enginnering. More recent examples (Mangle in Practice, 2009) include Chinese Medicine and Economics.

The foregrounding of practice makes the framework easily applicable to modern or recent activities where active participants can be interrogated. However, the framework is also germane for historical contexts where contemporary evidence is available: indeed, one of Pickering's original examples includes a nineteenth century study of the mathematician Hamilton using his diary. To this end the Kelvin Archive at the Univesity of Glasgow is an excellent epistolary resource to investigate Kelvin's discussions and opinions with contemporaneous debaters.

The foregrounded themes of contingency, agency and resistance/accomodation provide useful perspectives to comminucate seemingly esoteric events of some past (scientific) era to a contemporary audience. Examining the choices of historical agents in context brings the active process of Science to the audience. Correspondingly, the details of the controversy provide a sense of open-endedness in the intellectual discussion. Packaging these themes in a game can promote audience engagement with the historical episode and analytical framework as the players (cf. agents) strive (cf. resistance/accomodation) to an uncertain goal (cf. contingency). Further, using these same themes as engagement strategies will help guide design of the game.

Further still, the themes of Pickering's analysis framework have synergies with analyses of games in general and game-like descriptions of human practices. Issues of contingency, agency and resistance/accomodation can be found across games and game-like activities (The Mangle at Play?). To this end the University of Glasgow's Games Lab (UGGL) presents an excellent opportunity to investigate analytical comminalities: both in abstract comparative critques of games, and in applied contexts such as evaluations of player engagement.

2. Literature Resources

History

Joe D. Burchfield, Lord Kelvin and the Age of the Earth (University of Chicago Press, 1990) LINK

David Lindley, Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy (Joseph Henry Press, 2004)

Geology

Jack Repcheck, The Man Who Found Time: James Hutton And The Discovery Of Earth's Antiquity (Basic Books, 2009)

Patrick Wyse, The Chronologers' Quest: The Search for the Age of the Earth (Cambridge University Press, 2018)

Jan Zalasiewicz, Very Short Introduction to Geology (Oxford University Press, 2018)

Sociology

Andrew Pickering, The Mangle of Practice (University of Chicago Press, 1995)

Andrew Pickering, Keith Guzik (eds), The Mangle in Practice (Duke University Press, 2009)

Games and Education

Adam Chapman, Digital Games as History: How Videogames Represent the Past and Offer Access to Historical Practice (Routledge, 2016)

Jason Begy, Board Games and the Construction of Cultural Memory (Sage Publishing, 2017) LINK

Matthew Barr, Graduate Skills and Game-Based Learning: Using Video Games for Employability in Higher Education (Springer, 2019) LINK

William B. Robison, Stimulation, Not Simulation: An Alternate Approach to History Teaching Games, The History Teacher, Vol. 46, No. 4 (August 2013) LINK

Mark Wong, Timothy Noël Peacock, Rachel Porteous and Lauren Watson, Video Game Research Innovation Starter Toolkit: A Beginners Guide for Innovation and Industry and Community Engagement_. Project Report. University of Glasgow (2023). LINK

3. Methodology

The project research is split into two parts.

Textual

The first part involves a traditional dissertation applying the analysis framework of The Mangle to Kelvin's nineteenth century dispute over the age of the Earth.

Here the historical content will be informed by emprical archival research on primary sources to identify documents concerning Kelvin's geochronological work and shared opinions on the age of the Earth. Secondary sources will place the dispute in a wider socio-scientific contemporary context in both Physics and Geology communities, as well as exploring Kelvin's life and the historical context of previous attempts to understand the age of the Earth.

The analytical side will use Pickering's texts to unpack his the analytic method. Examining existing analytical applications in STS and beyond will help frame this particular historical episode and give an idea of benefits, limitations or ommisions of The Mangle compared to other descriptive frameworks.

Gaming

The second part of the project takes place in the context of a placement in the UGGL. The goal is the development of an educational resource based on Kelvin's nineteenth century dispute over the age of the Earth. With the help of UGGL the historical episode will be translated into a pedagogical context which can be deployed, tested and critiqued.

The resource is expected to be a digital/table-top game. The design of the game will be informed by existing knowledge on digital and physical formats and critical evaluations of histrical game designs.

Once an proto-type game is developed an evaluated deployment of the game within the context of UGGL will inform design iterations. Participant feedback will provide a resource for design development as well as a critical evaluation of the game. The critical evaluation iteself will make use of The Mangle framework within a gaming context.

4. Game Development and Evaluation

Participant feedback will be gathered through surveys before and after playing the game. Surveys will assess changes in the participants' historical knowledge, thematic awareness and game engagement. Surveys maybe complimented by participant interviews for fuller details of participant experience.

To this end training in the surveying techniques and ethics of Arts and Humanities will be required. The outcome of this part of the project will provide direction in design iterations and content for a critical evaluation of the game.

Ethical Training

Ethical training is sought in the College of Arts and Humanities, including the Ethics approval process. This will provide the requisite background to design appropriate and sensitive approaches to study human subjects, such as considerations of informed consent and research design, and Data Protection.

5. Timeline and Outputs

The expected duration of the project is two-years as a Masters by Research. The content of the project is envisaged to split into two roughly equal parts.

Year One

Content:

  • 3-6 months literature review (history and sociology)
  • 3 months archival work
  • archival training?

This part of the project is predicted to take roughly a year with the expected output of a textual document of XXX thousand words. This will also provide the historical content of the game.

The presentation of historical content maybe appropriate to test during Glasgow Science Festival summer 2025.

Year Two

Content:

  • 3-6 months literature review (historical games and game criticism)
  • 3-6 months game design and iterations
  • ethics training?

This part of the project is predicted to take roughly a year with the expected output of an educational resource.

A game proto-type maybe ready for Explorathon in autumn 2025.

A final game is envisaged to be read in 2026, which can coincide with the University's 575th anniversary.