Jamilla Notebaard As a trained historian I have focused most of my research on the history of science, particularly the ways in which ideas on epistemological issues are debated over time. The basis on which scientific knowledge is constructed by people in a specific setting, such as in laboratories or through polemic debates for example has always attracted my full attention. Especially because it allows for the understanding that science and the knowledge that is obtained is never static, but always acts along the lines of reciprocity and interaction.
Currently I am working as a PhD-candidate at the University of Utrecht within the project called “Projecting Knowledge – The Magic Lantern as a Tool for Mediated Science Communication in The Netherlands, 1880 -1940”. The project aims at providing new insights into the value of the magic lantern in communicating science both in the public domain as well as in the context of academia. My particular role in this research project is to research the academic context and the usage of the optical lantern, focussing on the idea of visual instruction. My research is primarily based on archival research due to its historical perspective. The sources that I encounter show an intriguing interplay between the specialisation process at universities at the end of the 19^th century as well as the formation of ‘new’ academic disciplines, combined with all kinds of new tools and venues dedicated to scientific study and research.
In this regard, my research shows interesting similarities with the overall approach of the Summer School organised at the University of Bern. Especially when it comes to questions of ‘trustworthiness’ or the acceptance of knowledge that are necessary to establish important scientific values at a given moment in time. During this Summer School I hope to provide some interesting historical insights, such as obtained within the field of geography of science, and in turn learn more about current issue of new media and its influence on scientific practice.