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WORK TITLE: Masters of Uncertainty
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.phaedradaipha.com/
CITY: Highland Park
STATE: NJ
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://media.wix.com/ugd/d583e3_46dbe65d5467484b81b7fd90df14a52a.pdf * https://www.linkedin.com/in/phaedra-daipha-ph-d-70053986/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2015017446
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2015017446
HEADING: Daipha, Phaedra
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PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:American College of Greece, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1994; University of Chicago, M.S., 1999, Ph.D., 2007.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Cultural sociologist, educator, and writer. University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, research assistant and project coordinator at the National Opinion Research Center, 1998-2001, then research assistant at the Cultural Policy Center, 2001-03, also quarterly lecturer at the Social Sciences Collegiate Division, 2002-2005; Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, postdoctoral associate in the Department of Sociology, 2007-08, assistant professor of sociology and faculty affiliate at the Rutgers Climate Institute, 2008–. Also visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Social Organization, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 2011 (four-month appointment).
MEMBER:American Sociological Association, Society for Social Studies of Science, Eastern Sociological Society, and International Commission on History of Meteorology.
Recipient of grants and fellowships.
WRITINGS
Contributor of articles and book reviews to professional journals, including the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociologist, Poetics, Sociology Compass, and Sociological Forum. Member of book review board for the American Journal of Sociology, 2000-02; faculty advisory board for Rutgers Journal of Sociology, 2010–, and consulting editorial board of the American Journal of Sociology, 2013-15. Ad hoc manuscript reviewer for the American Journal of Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Contexts, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Social Forces, Social Studies of Science, Sociological Forum, and the Sociological Quarterly.
SIDELIGHTS
Phaedra Daipha is a cultural sociologist whose research encompasses science, technology, medicine studies, organizational analysis, and social theory. Her primary area of interest is the nature, practice, and institutions of knowledge production, with a focus on understanding the development and transformation of systems of expertise and the emergence of new forms of coordinated action. She has studied decision making in complex sociotechnical systems, visualization and expertise, object-centered sociality, and professional boundary work.
A contributor to professional journals, Daipha is also the author of Masters of Uncertainty: Weather Forecasters and the Quest for Ground Truth. The book examines decision making within the context of weather forecasters and their exceptional ability to manage uncertainty in predicting the weather. In her effort to better understand the decision making process, Daipha points out in the book’s introduction that, contrary to popular opinion, weather forecasts are much better at handling uncertainty than many other professionals, including physicians, stockbrokers, and professional poker players. “Per the judgment and decision-making literature, weather forecasters exhibit an exceptionally high degree of reliability in their assessment of uncertainty and risk,” Daipha writes in the book’s introduction.
Drawing from five years of field work at an office of the National Weather Service, Daipha develops a theory of decision making as a practical and habitual social activity that is shaped by particular contexts. Within that idea, Daipha delves into weather forecasting, noting that it is more of a craft than a science considering the weather’s often unpredictability. “To be a weather forecaster means to live in what Robert Wagner-Pacifici … describes as a ‘subjective mood’: a dispositional openness to possibility and contingency due to the fundamental indeterminacy of the decision-making context,” Daipha writes in Masters of Uncertainty.
Daipha notes that computer modeling and complex data infrastructures can never completely substitute for the real weather. As a result, forecasters also rely on various improvisational techniques and a love of information to create a forecast that is largely successful for a local audience. Daipha provides numerous firsthand account of forecasting successes and failures. In examining the role of decision making in weather forecasts, Daipha shows how intuition, experience, and risk management play an important role in the decision-making process, especially in light of often conflicting data. Daipha goes on to discuss how research in the decision-making process of forecasters should continue within the context of how it applies to various socioeconomic events.
“This interesting book will give readers a greater awareness of how problem-solving decisions are made,” wrote J.C. Stachacz in a review for Choice. A contributor to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society noted that Daipha provides new insights into “how judgments are made in the digital age.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, April, 2016, review of Masters of Uncertainty: Weather Forecasters and the Quest for Ground Truth, p. 659.
Choice, June, 2016. J.C. Stachacz, review of Masters of Uncertainty, p. 1497.
ONLINE
New Books Network, http://newbooksnetwork.com/ (May 29, 2017), overview of Masters of Uncertainty.
Page 99 Test, http://page99test.blogspot.com/ (May 29, 2017), “Phaedra Daipha’s Masters of Uncertainty.”
Phaedra Daipha Home Page, http://www.phaedradaipha.com (May 29, 2017).
Rutgers University Department of Sociology Web site, http://sociology.rutgers.edu/ (May 29, 2017), author faculty profile and CV.*
I am a cultural sociologist working at the intersection of science, technology, and medicine studies, organizational analysis, and social theory. My research agenda centers on the nature, practice, and institutions of knowledge production, with an eye toward understanding the development and transformation of systems of expertise and the emergence of new forms of coordinated action. Over the last decade, I have employed a variety of methods to pursue the following substantive topics: decision making in complex sociotechnical systems; visualization and expertise; object-centered sociality; and professional boundary work.
PHAEDRA DAIPHA
Masters of Uncertainty
Weather Forecasters and the Quest for Ground Truth
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 2015
July 9, 2016 Carla Nappi
Phaedra Daipha’s thoughtful new book uses a careful sociological study of a particular community of weather forecasters to develop a sociology of decision making. Based on fieldwork conducted over five years at a local office of the National Weather Service, Masters of Uncertainty: Weather Forecasters and the Quest for Ground Truth (University of Chicago Press, 2015) develops a theory of decision making as a habitual, practical, social activity shaped by particular contexts of action. In addition to working closely with (and contributing substantively to) pragmatist philosophy and theoretical STS, Masters of Uncertainty also offers a thick and fascinating description of the practices and local environments of a community of artisan-practitioners charged with creating a kind of object–a weather forecast–that many of us consume regularly. After developing a sociological theory of decision making within the context of this case study, Daipha concludes the book by testing the theory in two other fields: finance and medicine. This is a compelling and clearly-written account that will be of interest to sociologists, STS scholars, and general readers alike!
CV
CURRICULUM VITAE PHAEDRA DAIPHA
Department of Sociology Rutgers University
26 Nichol Avenue
New Brunswick, NJ 08901 pdaipha@rci.rutgers.edu http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~pdaipha
September, 2014
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
2008-present Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Rutgers University Faculty Affiliate, Rutgers Climate Institute
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Sociology, University of Chicago, 2007
M.A. Sociology, University of Chicago, 1999
B.A. Sociology and Philosophy, American College of Greece, 1994 (magna cum laude)
PRIOR ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2011
2007-2008 2002-2005 2001-2003
1998-2001
Visiting Scholar, Center for the Study of Social Organization, Princeton University (four-month courtesy appointment)
Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Sociology, Rutgers University Quarterly Lecturer, Social Sciences Collegiate Division, University of Chicago
Research Assistant, “Measuring Aesthetic Experience,” funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Professor Colm O’Muircheartaigh, Cultural Policy Center, University of Chicago
Research Assistant/Project Coordinator, “Transition to Work,” funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Professor Barbara Schneider, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago
RESEARCH AREAS
Science and Technology, Sociology of Knowledge, Organizational Decision-Making, Professions, Diagnosis and Prognosis, Cultural Sociology, Uncertainty and Risk Management, Social Theory.
PUBLICATIONS
BOOK
Daipha, Phaedra. Forthcoming (September 2015). Masters of Uncertainty: Weather Forecasters
and the Quest for Ground Truth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
This book draws on an ethnographic study of forecasting operations at the National Weather Service to analyze how weather forecasters achieve coherence in the face of uncertainty, harnessing diverse information to project themselves into the future. In the process, it advances a sociology of decision-making by weaving together pragmatist theory, science and technology studies, cultural sociology, organization studies, and cognitive psychology.
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES
Daipha, Phaedra. Forthcoming (2015). “From Bricolage to Collage: Disciplined Improvisation at a
Weather Forecasting Office.” Sociological Forum 30 (3): XX-XX.
Daipha, Phaedra. 2012. “Weathering Risk: Uncertainty, Weather Forecasting, and Expertise.”
Sociology Compass 6 (1): 15-25.
Daipha, Phaedra. 2010. “Visual Perception at Work: Lessons from the World of Meteorology.”
Poetics 38 (2): 150-164.
Daipha, Phaedra. 2001. “The Intellectual and Social Organization of ASA 1990-1997: Exploring the Interface between the Discipline of Sociology and its Practitioners.” The American Sociologist 32 (3): 73-90.
BOOK REVIEWS
Daipha, Phaedra. 2014. Talk at the Brink: Deliberation and Decision during the Cuban Missile
Crisis by David R. Gibson, American Journal of Sociology 119 (3): 888-890.
Daipha, Phaedra. 2010. On the Fireline: Living and Dying with Wildland Firefighters by Matthew
Desmond, American Journal of Sociology 115 (4): 1304-1306.
MANUSCRIPTS UNDER REVIEW
“Whose Weather Is It Anyway?: Expertise in the Public Domain.” (Under review) “Screenwork as the Social Organization of Expertise.” (Under review)
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WORK IN PROGRESS
“How Doctors Make Decisions: The Role of Prognosis in Cardiology Practice.” (Book Prospectus)
“Reconfiguring Professional Identities: Weather Forecasting in the Digital Age.” (R&R, Science as Culture)
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, AND HONORS
Seed Money Grant for “The Role of Prognosis in Medical Decision-Making,” Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, Rutgers University, 2011
Honorable Mention, Richard Saller Dissertation Prize for most distinguished dissertation in the Division of the Social Sciences in 2007, University of Chicago, 2008
University of Chicago Dissertation Teaching and Research Fellowship, 2004-2005
Honors, Special Field Exam in “The Organization of Scientific Knowledge Production,” University of Chicago, 2000
University of Chicago Unendowed Fellowship, 1996-2000
German Academic Exchange Service Fellowship (“DAAD-Stipendium”), 1988
INVITED TALKS
“TBD.” Living with Extreme Weather: A Workshop to Integrate Understanding and Improve Societal Response, NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory/University of Oklahoma, June 2015.
“Whose Weather Is It Anyway?: Communicating Risk at the National Weather Service.” Rutgers Initiative on Climate and Society, Rutgers University, April 2012.
“The Total Observation Collage: Mastering Uncertainty at a Weather Forecasting Office.” Workshop on Social Organization, Princeton University, November 2011.
“Mastering Uncertainty: The Distillation of Complexity at a Weather Forecasting Office.” Department of Sociology Colloquium Series, University of Pennsylvania, October 2010.
“Who Can Predict Mother Nature?: Weather Forecasters and the Quest for Ground Truth.” Rutgers Initiative on Climate and Social Policy, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University, October 2008.
“Preliminary Findings on the Weather Needs of Professional and Recreational Mariners in Southern New England.” National Weather Service, Eastern Region Headquarters, Bohemia, NY, June 2004.
Daipha 3

REFEREED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Temporal Regimes of Meteorological Decision-Making,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Buenos Aires, AR, August 2014.
“Anticipating the Future: Temporal Regimes of Meteorological Decision-Making,” American Sociological Association, San Francisco, CA, August 2014.
“Screenwork as the Social Organization of Expertise,” Society for Social Studies of Science, San Diego, CA, October 2013.
“Screenwork as the Social Organization of Expertise,” American Sociological Association, New York, NY, August 2013.
“The Total Observation Collage: Managing Uncertainty at a Weather Forecasting Office,” American Society for Environmental History. Toronto, CA, April 2013.
“Whose Weather Is It Anyway? Calculating Risk at the National Weather Service,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 2012.
“Whose Weather Is It Anyway? Calculating Risk at the National Weather Service,” American Sociological Association, Denver, CO, August 2012.
“Whose Weather Is It Anyway? Communicating Risk at the National Weather Service,” International Association for Media and Communication Research, Istanbul, Turkey, July 2011.
“Screenwork and the Social Organization of Expertise,” Visualization at the Age of Computerization Conference, Oxford, United Kingdom, March 2011.
“Toward an Embodied Cognitive Sociology,” American Sociological Association, Atlanta, GA, August 2010.
“Visual Perception at Work: Scientific Visualization at a Weather Forecasting Office,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Washington, DC, October 2009.
“Who Can Predict Mother Nature?: Meteorologists, Fishermen, and Forecasting in Everyday Life,” Weather, Local Knowledge and Everyday Life Conference, International Commission for the History of Meteorology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 2008.
“Re-configuring Professional Identities: Weather Forecasting in the Digital Age,” Eastern Sociological Society, New York, NY, February 2008.
“Weathering the Seas: Commercial Fishermen’s Interaction with Weather and Weather Information,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Montreal, Canada, October 2007.
“Weathering the Seas: Commercial Fishermen’s Interaction with Weather and Weather Information,” American Sociological Association, New York, NY, August 2007.
Daipha 4

“The Total Observation Collage: Weather Forecasting and the Search for Ground Truth,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Vancouver, Canada, November 2006.
“The Total Observation Collage: Weather Forecasting and the Search for Ground Truth,” American Sociological Association, Montreal, Canada, August 2006.
“The Total Observation Collage: Weather Forecasting and the Search for Ground Truth,” MEPHISTOS Conference, University of Chicago, April 2006.
“Negotiating the Weather: Weather Forecasting in the Digital Age,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Pasadena, CA, October 2005.
“Weather Forecasting in the IFPS Era: Paradigm Shifts, Carpet Bombings and Knobology,” American Sociological Association, Philadelphia, PA, August 2005.
“Managing the Weather: Sociotechnical Change and Operational Forecasting,” 7th Annual Chicago Ethnography Conference, February 2005.
“The Intellectual and Social Organization of ASA 1990-7: Exploring the Interface between the Discipline of Sociology and its Practitioners,” American Sociological Association, Washington DC, August 2000.
“Making the Transition: Work Experiences After High School,” (with Lisa Hoogstra and Dashiell Shapiro), American Sociological Association, Chicago, IL, August 1999.
TEACHING
COURSES TAUGHT Undergraduate:
Development of Sociological Theory (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015) Technology and Society (2012, 2013, 2014)
Introduction to Sociology (2009, 2010, 2014)
Sociology of Science and Technology (2008, 2010, 2011)
Revolution, Reform, and Resistance in the 20th Century (2003, 2005, University of Chicago)
Culture and Power (2002, University of Chicago) Graduate:
Ethnographic Methods (2009, 2014) Social Research Methods (2010, 2012) Sociology of Science (2007, 2012) Technology and Society (2008, 2015) Various Independent Studies, 2009-present
Normality and Assistive Technologies, Information Technologies and Standardization
FORMAL MENTORING
Dissertation Committees (*Chair):
Alicia Raia (in progress)
Andrew Stroffolino (in progress)* Kate Burrows (in progress)
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Kirsten Young-Hee Song (in progress)
Eiko Saeki (in progress)
Janet Lorenzen (February 2014) – Assistant Professor, Willamette University
Audrey Devine-Eller (June 2012) – Visiting Assistant Professor, Grinnell College
Dena Smith (August 2011) – Assistant Professor, University of Maryland-Baltimore County
Qualifying Paper Committees (*Chair): John Bailey (in progress)
Tsai-Yen Han (in progress)*
Farah Vallera (in progress) Brandon Kramer (2014)
Kate Burrows (2014)*
Eric Kushins (2012)
Chris Jackson (2011)
Andrew Stroffolino (2010) Kirsten Young-Hee Song (2010) Neha Gondal (2008)
External Dissertation Reader:
Samuel Paris Hanes, Rutgers University (October 2008, Geography)
External Honors Reader:
Ben Bernard Herman, Swarthmore College (May 2014, Sociology)
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
NATIONAL SERVICE
Panel Chair, “Visualization: Maps and Images,” Society for Social Studies of Science,
Washington, DC, October 2009
Candace Rogers Student Paper Award Committee, Eastern Sociological Society, 2008-2009. Panel Chair, “Pathologies of Weather,” International Commission for the History of Meteorology,
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 2008
Shils-Coleman Memorial Award Committee, Theory Section, American Sociological Association,
2007-2008
Panel Chair, “Managing Nature,” Society for Social Studies of Science, Montreal, QE, October
2007
EDITORIAL WORK
Consulting Editorial Board, American Journal of Sociology, 2013-2015 Faculty Advisory Board, Rutgers Journal of Sociology, 2010-present Book Review Board, American Journal of Sociology, 2000-2002
Ad Hoc Manuscript Reviewer
American Journal of Sociology, British Journal of Sociology, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Contexts, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Social Forces, Social Studies of Science, Sociological Forum, The Sociological Quarterly
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY University Service:
Committee Member, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, 2012-present
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Panel Member, “Extreme Weather and Climate Change: How Can We Address Uncertainty?,” University Colloquium sponsored by the Initiative on Climate and Society and the Climate and Environmental Change Initiative, March 2012
Departmental Service:
Area Captain – Environment, Technology, and Society Program, 2013-2015 Executive Committee (elected), 2009-2011, 2014-2015
Colloquium Committee, 2012-2014
Commencement Committee, 2011-2014
Undergraduate Teaching Committee, 2010-2012
Environmental Sociology Assistant Professor Search Committee, 2010-2011 Graduate Committee (elected), 2009-2010
First-Year Proseminar Coordinator, 2008-2009
Recruitment Committee, 2008-2009
Various Graduate Student Professionalization Workshops, 2008-present
Choosing a Dissertation Topic, Preparing for the Job Market, Preparing for ASA, Managing Your Professional Identity
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Sociological Association, 1999-present
Sections: Culture; Science, Knowledge, and Technology; Theory
Society for Social Studies of Science, 2004-present
Eastern Sociological Society, 2007-present
International Commission on History of Meteorology, 2008-present
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Greek—modern: native speaker, ancient: fair German—reading: fluent, writing and speaking: fair French—reading: fair, writing and speaking: rudimentary Spanish—reading: rudimentary
REFERENCES
Upon request.
Daipha 7

Dalpha, Phaedra: Masters of uncertainty: weather
forecasters and the quest for ground truth
J.C. Stachacz
CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.
53.10 (June 2016): p1497.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
Full Text:
Dalpha, Phaedra. Masters of uncertainty: weather forecasters and the quest for ground truth. Chicago, 2015. 271 p bibl index afp ISBN
9780226298542 cloth, $105.00; ISBN 9780226298689 pbk, $35.00; ISBN 9780226298719 ebook, contact publisher for price
(cc) 53-4380
QC983
CIP
Weather forecasting is a complicated procedure that is not based solely on the use of high-tech computer modeling. Here, Daipha (Rutgers) sets
out to accomplish two goals. Drawing on her training as a sociologist, her first goal is to create an interdisciplinary methodology to study the
general process of decision making. Her second goal is to apply this model to the study of meteorologists at the National Weather Service to
investigate how decision making plays a role in constructing their forecasts. The result is a fascinating look into the process that meteorologists
use to forecast the weather, which is based on knowledge, the interpretation of multiple and sometime conflicting data sets, intuition, risk
management, and experience and goes far beyond computer modeling. The author then expands on the need for this research in light of the
importance of weather forecasting as it applies to socioeconomic and social events. This interesting book will give readers a greater awareness of
how problem-solving decisions are made, particularity in one discipline. Summing Up: *** Highly recommended. All levels/libraries.--J. C.
Stachacz, Wilkes University
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
5/14/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1494814850622 2/3
Stachacz, J.C. "Dalpha, Phaedra: Masters of uncertainty: weather forecasters and the quest for ground truth." CHOICE: Current Reviews for
Academic Libraries, June 2016, p. 1497+. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA454942791&it=r&asid=48017f1256ad0c201ab939ffefcf569e. Accessed 14 May
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A454942791
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5/14/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Masters of Uncertainty: Weather Forecasters and the Quest
for Ground Truth
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
97.4 (Apr. 2016): p659.
COPYRIGHT 2016 American Meteorological Society
http://ametsoc.org/pubs/bams/index.html
Full Text:
MASTERS OF UNCERTAINTY: WEATHER FORECASTERS AND THE QUEST FOR GROUND TRUTH
P. Daipha, 2016, 271 pp., $35.00, softbound, The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-29868-9
In this book, the author offers a new framework for understanding decision-making practices after spending years immersed in a northeastern
office of the National Weather Service. Arguing that forecasters have made a virtue of the unpredictability of the weather, the author shows how
they enlist an appetite for information and improvisational collage techniques to create a locally meaningful forecast on their computer screens.
The book advances a theory of decision making that casts a new light on how judgments are made in the digital age.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Masters of Uncertainty: Weather Forecasters and the Quest for Ground Truth." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Apr. 2016, p.
659. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA455284870&it=r&asid=4a8eacf84a4e48c44efb17b1d39431ef. Accessed 14 May
2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A455284870
Phaedra Daipha's "Masters of Uncertainty"
Phaedra Daipha is assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University.
She applied the “Page 99 Test” to her new book, Masters of Uncertainty: Weather Forecasters and the Quest for Ground Truth, and reported the following:
Masters of Uncertainty passed the test and the test passed Masters of Uncertainty. I was delighted (and somewhat relieved) to discover that page 99 can well serve as a benchmark of sorts for the book, in the sense that it nicely encapsulates how forecasters at the National Weather Service (NWS) endeavor to tackle meteorological ambiguity and uncertainty.
Right at the top of the page, I was greeted by the following passage:
It is precisely this visceral need to achieve an optimal gestalt, or “maximum grip” (Merleau-Ponty 1962, Dreyfus 1992), on the atmosphere that in practice compels NWS forecasters to oscillate between different ways of viewing the weather. Cast in this light, their habit of leaving their workstations to study the weather outside becomes central to understanding how they impose order out of the disparate and ambiguous fragments of information at their disposal.
The text next launches into a series of thickly described episodes from the field, so as to illustrate the “countless, indeed daily, instances where a forecaster would leave his workstation with the express purpose of checking on the weather outside, fully aware that a colleague had just been outside for the very same reason.”
The weather outside is forecasters’ passion and it is their nemesis. It remains forever elusive—too complex to be reconstituted and studied under controlled conditions inside, too dynamic to be perfectly predicted. To prevail over meteorological uncertainty and produce accurate and actionable weather predictions, NWS forecasters cannot afford to simply rely on the standard set of highly sophisticated information delivered to them on their computer screens. In practice, they harness a widely disparate assortment of meteorological cues to fashion a provisionally coherent representation of the future. Masters of Uncertainty takes the reader through firsthand accounts of several forecasting episodes to flesh out the dilemmas and challenges of creating weather predictions come rain or come shine. In the process, it advances a theory of decision making that foregrounds the practical and situated nature of expert cognition and casts new light on how we make decisions in the digital age.
Learn more about Masters of Uncertainty and read an excerpt from the book at The University of Chicago Press website.