Sharing epistemic power: digitally mediated wolf monitoring in Finland

Abstract

Although digital tools have expanded opportunities for various social groups to participate in biodiversity research, these tools typically assign citizens tasks that make them mere assistants of professional researchers, thus maintaining conventional power relations in research processes. Problems may arise if power asymmetries and participant expectations concerning data and participation are neglected in contested situations—for example, in conservation or natural resource conflicts. In participatory wolf monitoring in Finland, participation itself has become a power struggle. The digital participatory tool enforces strict scientific criteria for data validity and constrains possibilities for citizens to use the data produced. This situation perpetuates rather than helps resolve the persistent conflict over knowledge regarding wolves. While preparing the latest wolf management plan, Finnish wolf policy stakeholders compared the digital tool used in Finland with another tool used in Scandinavia. This comparison enabled them to envision opportunities to reorganise collaboration and share epistemic power more equally. Such alternative wolf ‘data stories’ could be essential in finding a way forward in this polarised situation. Wolf ‘data stories’ demonstrate that even subtle changes in digital designs could make participatory architectures more responsive to multiple knowledge needs. These changes need not compromise the high quality of evidence required by authorities for public decision-making. This role aligns with the growing academic interest to envision and probe alternative techno-scientific practices, especially in Science and Technology Studies.