Public Computation & Boundary Play

In this paper, we introduce 'public computation' as a genre of learning environments that can be used to radically broaden public participation in authentic, computation-enabled STEM disciplinary practices. Our paradigmatic approach utilizes open source software designed for professional scientists, engineers and digital artists, and situates them in an undiluted form, alongside live and archived expert support, in a public space. We present a case study of DigiPlay, a prototypical public computation space we designed at the University of Calgary, where users can interact directly with scientific simulations as well as the underlying open source code using an array of massive multi- touch screens. We argue that in such a space, public interactions with the code can be thought of as boundary work and play, through which public participation becomes legitimate scientific act, as the public engages in scientific creation through truly open-ended explorations with the code.