Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
5
The State of Information after the
Fukushima Disaster
The lack of information about the level and location of nuclear radiation in Japan after
11 March 2011 was due to the fact that none of the stakeholders present - from the
public authorities to the citizens - had any reliable, structured data that could provide a
clear view on the situation. In this context, maps appeared as an opportunity for citizens
to obtain and visualize information on radiation.
The “shared uncertainty”
1
about the level and location of
the radiation overlapped with the concept of controversy.
This concept departs from the “scientistic” description of
scientific work, such as the quest for truth, to take into
account “
symmetrically
and
impartially
the various actors in
their production and legitimation of statements”
[PES 07]. In that case, the analysis of scientific practices
shows how scientists “produce facts” that can stand up to
scientific debates over time. In that “comprehensive, neutral
and pragmatic” analysis [PES 07], controversies are
opportunities to observe how the scientific fact under study
is built before being “put into a black box.” These short
windows of liability enable observers to see the adjustments
1 Platform “Mappingcontroversies.net” as part of the Marcospol project:
www.mappingcontroversies.net/Home/PlatformTutorial.
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