Between national development and personal precarity: the social construction of robotaxis from taxi drivers’ perspective in China

This study was intended to understand and explain Indian tertiary education students’ perceptions about using the Internet for their learning. The aim of this research is to examine the impact of Internet use on Indian tertiary education students’ learning. The study explores the role of the Internet in teacher education students’ learning and how students report the Internet to be useful for their studies. The purpose is to investigate whether better and increased Internet access links to better educational opportunities. The investigation is informed by the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) theory of Bijker and Pinch (1986), which is used to explore the perceptions of the students about Internet use in their learning. The theory of SCOT suggests humans’ perceptions are based on interactions and usage patterns of a particular technology, hence, in this study, Indian tertiary education students’ perceptions about their Internet interactions and usage patterns are explored. In order to identify and interpret the different meanings of the Internet for male and female students, the relationship between gender and the use of the Internet is also investigated. An embedded mixed methods study was conducted involving semi-structured interviews (five females and five males) and a survey (N= 1000) of Bachelor of Education students from eighteen different educational institutions in India. My personal narrative data was also used parallel to interview and survey data. The four components of the SCOT (interpretative flexibility, relevant social group, wider context and technological framework) were utilised to analyse data, and present and discuss the overall findings. The interview data and personal narrative data were analysed using content analysis where the patterns of themes guided by SCOT were compared and contrasted within and between cases. Statistical descriptive and comparative analyses were employed to analyse the survey data. Of significance, this study showed that the participants perceived the Internet to be an online learning tool because it enabled them to access learning materials digitally. Particularly, the interpretative flexibility theme showed that the students’ perceptions about the Internet use for their learning were based on their Internet usage patterns. The relevant social group theme highlighted that the poor Internet quality (including lack of Internet access, slow Internet speed and weak Internet signal quality) impacted on students’ Internet use for learning. The wider context theme showed that the social beliefs (e.g., parental and teachers’ negative attitude towards the Internet use stopped students from using the Internet), economic factors (e.g., high cost of the Internet), political factors (e.g., lack of provisions of the digital devices and appropriate electricity supply) and socio-economic background (e.g., educational and family background) also impacted adversely on students’ Internet use for their learning. On the basis of relevant social group analysis and wider context analysis, the technological framework was utilised to provide some practical suggestions to improve the provision of the Internet resources into Indian tertiary education institutions in order to promote tertiary education students’ learning through the implementation of new practices of the Internet in the Indian learning context.

Many large cities in North America have jurisdiction over licensing rules that shape the employment and health conditions of ride-hail and taxi drivers. Yet there is a lack of research on the role of licensing agencies relating to the occupational health and safety (OHS) of taxi drivers. Most taxi and ride-hail drivers in Canada are self-employed workers and are, by default, exempt from OHS and worker compensation laws. Additionally, municipal licensing regimes in Canada and the US have undergone various changes as a result of pressures from new platform-based ride-hail services, like Uber and Lyft.The analysis is part of a larger study on the health and safety conditions faced by ride-hail drivers. The research approach adopted a multi-level sampling and analysis strategy with the aim of connecting taxi drivers’ everyday work experiences to company and sector practices, and with various regulatory arenas, including municipal licensing, taxation and car insurance. In this paper, the analysis draws from in-depth interviews at these different levels: with taxi and ride-hail drivers, with taxi and ride-hail managers, and with key informants in government, law, insurance, tax and elsewhere.The paper identifies features and impacts of municipal deregulation in the era of on-demand taxi services, focusing on a large Canadian city in a province where municipal authorities regulate the vehicle-for-hire sector. The research identified regulatory changes that included removing centralized taxi vehicle inspections, cancelling mandatory driver training, and instigating rapid changes to competition in the taxi workforce by issuing unlimited numbers of ride-hail licenses. Our analysis indicates that regulatory changes adopted by the city administration have compounded work vulnerabilities and hazards for taxi drivers, while extending hazardous conditions to ride-hail drivers. These hazards suggest the need for interventions at a range of levels, actors and agencies, rather than solely by city licensing officials.

Technological determinism initially emerged in the relationship between technology and society. In the environment surrounding technology and society, technology determinism and social construction of technology (SCOT) have a tense relationship. This study aims to reveal the characteristics of SCOT by exploring and reflecting on the substantive debates and criticisms surrounding the social constructionism of technology, which is opposed to technological determinism in terms of the philosophy of technology. It is intended to substitute for the conclusion of the study by suggesting the implications obtained through reflection on SCOT. First, driving technological development in SCOT is achieved through consensus between social groups and technology developers. In the process of technological development, conflicts arise among social groups due to different problems and solutions with respect to technology, and the form of the technological artifact that has reached an agreement is finally selected. Second, technological flexibility or interpretative flexibility can solve a problem in various technical ways in SCOT. This variety of flexibility appears as a difference of interpretation and conflict between the social groups surrounding technology. Third, in SCOT, the technology frame greatly affects the artifacts. The function of the description frame differentiates it from most other concepts and is intended to be applied to the interaction of various actors. Fourth, for a specific technology to develop from the SCOT perspective, it has momentum through the consolidation of the technology system. A technological system is composed of physical artifacts, organizations, science bases, legal devices, and natural resources, with each element contributing to the overall goal of the system by interacting with other elements.Fifth, in SCOT. Finally, the main criticism of SCOT is that researchers’ methodologies are formal, they focus on the early stage of the emergence of technology, there is indifference to the influence of technology, and the social structures and power relations accompanying technological change are ignored.

The development of technology and innovation is assumed to change the human communication behavior and even alter the communication process likes computermediated communication that affects interpersonal relationships in the personal and professional life of an individual (West and Turner, 2010: 524), including in organizational life. Within organizational context, the expectation of the use new communication technology in order to improve productivity and efficiency by applying ideas to build interactivity and responsive networks between organizations and their publics (Cheney, 2004: 350) both internal and external public. The environment of the modern organization has always been technological, but this has been understood in a number of distinct ways. For example, seen as collections of rationalized and instrumental practices, organizations themselves have been regarded as technologies in which effective information and communication processes are critical (Taylor, 1911, Thompson 1967 in Jackson, et al., 2001: 1). When it viewed from the Interactionist perspectives, the communication process occurs in a social context in which the interpretation, attitude and use of communication technology in an organization are built together in the social context. This condition alienates the organization from the assumptions of technological determinism which assumes that the new communications technology 'determines' what changes occur within the organization (Pace and Faules, 2005: 232). The view of technological determinism does not take into account that the behavior of organizational members, as human beings, requires the relationship and interpretation (Pace and Faules, 2005: 232) of technology which is constructed from social interactions between groups of organizations that brings closer into the perspective of the social construction of technology. To those who work in organizations and use the new communication technology, sometime there may be the unplanned changes within the organization. The fundamental point is the communication process and communication technology is not perceived as an objective, value-free entities, but socially constructed (Rice 1992 in Pace and Faules, 2005: 233). It suggests that members of the organization have discretion in interpreting the technology used by organizations where such interpretation is usually the result of social construction. The discretion in interpreting this technology explicitly leads to a concept of flexibility interpretive that refers to the social construction of technology approach (Pinch and Bijker 1984: 419)

As a product of China’s transportation development in the last decade, the issue of road traffic crashes among ride-hailing drivers has become a growing concern for public safety. This study aims to investigate the human factors contributing to traffic crashes among traditional taxi and ride-hailing drivers, and to compare the similarities and differences between the two groups of drivers. The data was collected from 877 taxi drivers and 906 full-time ride-hailing drivers through a self-reported survey. The structural equation model was used to investigate structural interrelationships between the financial burden, work-related fatigue (WRF), road safety attitude, aberrant driving behaviors (ADBs) of the drivers and their influences on work-traffic crashes. Relevant results showed that there were significant differences in the work status between the two groups of drivers. The heavy economic burden increased the perception of WRF among taxi drivers and contributed to traffic crashes. Ride-hailing drivers had a more positive attitude toward road safety and controlled their ADBs better. These results will help formulate policy recommendations aimed at improving road safety among taxi and ride-hailing drivers.

This research focuses on the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in personalizing marketing content on social media by Pempek Bunan, a small and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) based in Palembang. By using AI to manage its digital marketing strategy, Pempek Bunan can tailor its content based on customer preferences, increase consumer engagement, and streamline the process of creating relevant content. A qualitative descriptive research method was used to collect data through interviews and direct observation. This approach allows researchers to gain deeper insights into Pempek Bunan’s experience with AI and how this technology is adapted to meet local business needs. The findings of this research show that AI helps Pempek Bunan develop more personalized content, although challenges such as language style adjustments and creativity limitations still require human intervention. The social construction of technology (SCOT) theory is used to analyze the interactions between relevant social groups, like those between the marketing team and business owners, in the process of AI adoption. This study found that the success of AI adoption depends on negotiation and collaboration between groups to ensure that the technology meets local needs and preferences. This process reflects interpretive flexibility, where AI is understood not only as a technical tool but also as a solution that can be adapted to different social contexts. Overall, the use of AI in Pempek Bunan’s digital marketing provides tangible benefits, including increased marketing effectiveness and work efficiency. However, the stabilization of this technology is still evolving, with human involvement necessary to ensure content relevance and the sustainability of personalized marketing strategies. This research is expected to provide new insights into the application of AI in MSMEs in Indonesia and open opportunities for the development of smarter and more effective marketing strategies in the future.

This study examines the development of augmented reality (AR) technologies, utilizing theories like social construction of technology (SCOT) and from the sociology of futures literature. While some have criticized SCOT for over-privileging certain social groups, drawing rigid boundaries between groups, and overlooking the role of power between them, this study addresses those critiques by conducting an ongoing mapping of the discussion surrounding AR. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation analyzing the discourse and development taking place at industry, standards, and academic conferences, this study explores a contestation emerging between two coalitions (mobile vs headworn) and how they are using future visions to negotiate the material design of the technology, the policies surrounding the technology, and stakeholder perceptions of the technology. The tactics these coalitions engage in reveal new components of stabilization, specifically deploying a “pre-stabilized ideal” to frame technological development. This case represents an instance where applying SCOT to an emerging technology helps us understand the technology itself while also building on and extending the SCOT model.

This paper reports findings and observations on using the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework in a questionnaire study of literary translators’ self-imaging strategies and attitudes towards technology. The study took advantage of SCOT’s methodological flexibility to prioritise literary translators as a social group, hence compensating for the lack of opportunities to voice their interpretations of technology and become an active part in the framework’s development and implementation. Ultimately, the use (and adaptation) of SCOT proved useful for the identification, analysis, and discussion of recurrent themes in respondents’ narratives about technology and their position in society. In particular, SCOT helped to uncover the gap between how literary translators choose to (re)present themselves in society and how they see technology, and what other social groups might be pivotal for a more comprehensive, socially-relevant analysis. Finally, the paper presents suggestions for the use of SCOT in future research projects concerning the technologisation of the literary translation profession.

The traditional auction protocols (aka Dutch, English auctions) that Ebay, Amazon and Yahoo use; although considered success stories [9], have limited negotiation space: The combinatorial auction (CA) and multi-attribute auction (MAA) [10], [17] have been developed to address these shortages but even these do not allow users to negotiate more than one attribute at a time. As an answer to these limitations a new e-auction protocol has been created to enable agents negotiate on many attributes and combinations of goods simultaneously. This paper therefore shows how the automated hybrid auction was created to reduce computational and bid evaluation complexity based on CMOA bidding language and Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) principles. SCOT states that (i) the ’relevant social group’; (ii) their ’interpretative flexibility; and workability / functionality of the technology must be considered for the development of system such as e-auction as an alternative to E-Bay. SCOT is of the view that technologies emerge out of the process of choice and negotiations between ’relevant social groups’ [15], [8], in this case the bidders, auctioneers, sellers and auction house. This paper represents a collaboration of studies in progress - The Combinatorial Multi-attribute Auction as an online auction as compared to existing e-auction protocols such as Amazon, eBay, and applicaiton of intelligent software and Agent UML in e-auction.

For many years, people are finding ways in anticipating disasters such as volcanic eruptions that happen frequently in Merapi area. Many early warning systems had been installed; however, casualties still took place. This study examined the community's expectations of and responses to disasters, considering the resilience of people in the affected area. Through this research, researcher would like to know how Merapi slope community communicates and anticipates disasters in better way than in the past. The paper analyzes the concept of online and offline communities and the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) while summarizing recent applications in theory and practice of community movement and communication. The research results showed that this community movement for evacuating refugees spread fast because it was supported by the strong local cultural-based values and social construction in communication technology. This local values also helps significantly during Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Although the communication within an online community acted as an accelerator, the combination of online and offline communities created a much more responsive, coordinated, and durable social movement. From the theory perspective, the local community engaged in the social construction of technology in using tools for disaster management. A qualitative ethnography approach was used as a research method, and data were collected using in-depth interviews and participatory observation.

The group politics approach to controversy analysis describes the closure of public controversies involving scientific or technological issues as an interest group's triumph over competing groups in the political arena. In contrast, the social construction of technology (SCOT) model of closure maintains that closure occurs through the negotiation of a consensus regarding the form of an object and the corresponding elimination of its interpretative flexibility. Drawing upon the "Alar scare" of 1989, this article extends the SCOT model beyond the life of an object. This article argues that together, the group politics and SCOT views of closure permit interest groups to continue to attach divergent meanings to a controversial object even after it has been eliminated The analysis suggests that such an object may provide interest groups with a powerful symbol and an invaluable political resource.

Opposing to technological determinism, more socio-technical approaches have emerged in the second half of the 20 th century. One significant perspective is the social construction of technology (SCOT).However, besides its advantages, SCOT also has deficiencies. Many of them are discussed and answered in the literature but in this article two important aspects will be presented which have not been sufficiently elaborated in SCOT. First, light is shed on interpretative flexibility from a social cognitive approach. Here, technological frames are presented as support our understanding, but also other theories are suggested.Second, metaphors are presented as palpable images of interpretation. It is demonstrated how metaphors are used to understand complex phenomena like organisations or information systems. It is claimed that they are also suitable managerial tools to influence human actions through interpretations. Finally, three possible ways of further research are highlighted.

Technology, Social Construction of

This study was conducted to determine how communication process of Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and communication disorders in virtual learning at SMK Nusantara 1 Kota Tangerang during COVID-19 Pandemic. Study technology in the context of social science is about the meaning of technology for students and teachers and how they respond to, and adapt to, the presence of technology. This study uses case study methods. The data collection techniques used were observation and in-depth interview. Purposive sampling method was used to take samples and for data analysis using the Miles and Huberman interactive analysis model. The result shows that an implementation of virtual learning activities at SMK Nusantara 1 Kota Tangerang applies SCOT in the formation of social technology to explore forms of virtual learning during COVID 19 pandemic. SCOT means that technology is not determined by technology design but there is an interaction between technology and its users. namely teachers and students. Thus, the desired instructional outcomes are created. However, the availability of the internet and problematic communication media have also become a nuisance in virtual learning.

Exploring emergent latent themes of taxi drivers’ safety culture: A grounded theory approach