by Regula Valérie Burri and Martina Merz //
A Prize Contest was organized for the participants of the Summer School Lausanne 2001, its questionnaire (see picture) appealing to the participants’ expertise, skill, imagination, and sense of humor. The prize committee (Professors David Gugerli and Trevor Pinch) evaluated the responses according to rather strict criteria: In line with the SSK symmetry principle false and correct answers were treated on an equal basis while emphasis was placed on the originality of replies.
After the Spring School in Zurich (March 1999), which fostered community-building for STS scholars across Switzerland and was the first of its kind, the Summer School in Lausanne (September 2001) constituted the second major event, conceived by and targeting the Swiss STS community. The Swiss STS association STS-CH, which was founded following the Zurich event, initiated and co-organized the Lausanne Summer School with regional partners and the Swiss Sociological Association’s STS committee. Under the header “Knowledge in Plural Context”, the Summer School attracted approximately 90 participants from within and without Switzerland, most of whom gave presentations.
The Lausanne Prize Contest was the first initiative to include playful elements in the conference program. This element was also retained at later meetings. For example, at the International Spring School and Conference which took place in Basel (March 2004), the hosts organized a drawing competition in which selected participants had to sketch the titles of classic STS books for the audience to guess.
Winning replies of the Prize Contest Lausanne 2001
Q1 You have 3 lines to define STS. You are kindly requested to refrain from using the terms “social”, “construction”, “fact”.
“STS stands for: some terrific studies that show typical scientists – who save truth scarcely – in suggestively thrilling stories on seemingly trustworthy sagas.” (Alessandro Maranta)
Q7 It’s summer and you are at the beach. Where do you locate the problem of representation?
“Back on the bookshelves of my office.” (Sally Wyatt)
Sally Wyatt also won the prize for overall performance. The winners received a non-human actor as a prize: a Berlin key made of Swiss chocolate (see entry of Florian Jaton).