Social Studies Of Technology Research Articles

Three Decades of Social Construction of Technology: Dynamic Yet Fuzzy? The Methodological Conundrum

ABSTRACT Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) formed a key component of the ‘new sociology of technology’, which emerged in mid-1980s and heralded the entry of social constructivist theory into the domain of technology from science. A large number of empirical case studies were generated using SCOT methodology in the following three decades, encompassing a wide range of technological artefacts or systems. This essay reviews the trajectory of SCOT as a distinct intellectual tradition in technology studies. First, an attempt is made to appraise and classify the main strands of criticisms against SCOT that have come up over the years. Second, this essay discusses several new conceptual heuristics, which were successively incorporated by the original authors of SCOT, along with the concomitant broadening of analytical units and research questions. We conclude that, while SCOT demonstrated its resilience as a dynamic scholarly tradition and constantly adapted itself to address criticisms through the incorporation of new conceptual tools, the consequent methodological transition had profound implications for SCOT as a theory, somewhat undermining its original agenda and methodological distinctiveness in social studies of technology.

Цивилизованный скептицизм, доверие и реабилитация скептицизма в социальных исследованиях науки и технологий

The article reveals the concept of “civilized skepticism” proposed by M. Ramirez-i-Olle as a solution to the problem of the relationship between skepticism and trust in the production of scientific knowledge. The basis of the work is the study of skepticism as a practice in the process of interaction between members of the scientific community, carried out by M. Ramirez-i-Olle from 2016 to 2019. Skepticism as a practice of interaction between scien­tists needed to be rehabilitated because it has been suggested that skepticism does not foster trusting relationships. “Civil skepticism” was proposed as a rehabilitation of skepticism in scientific practice, and primarily in the social study of technology. Using the example of three years of empirical work by dendroclimatologists, M. Ramirez-i-Olle demonstrates the stages in which skepticism was practiced: laboratory work, seminar, conference, and publication. The paper deduces characteristics corresponding to these stages, which are also characteristics of “civil skepticism”: temporality, materiality, discursiveness and performa­tivity. The practice of “civil skepticism” not only fosters trusting relationships between members of the scientific community in the process of knowledge production, but also ex­pands the so-called “core group” of scientists involved in the work. Despite the fact that we can make a number of comments related to the use of the term “skepticism” and the inter­pretation of some concepts, the study of M. Ramirez-i-Olle is relevant and important for the development of SSK and STS, as it puts a “point” in the issue of the opposition of skepti­cism and trust in the process of scientific knowledge production. In addition, M. Ramirez-i-Olle touches on problems of the sociology of scientific knowledge that need to be addressed, such as the concept of “sociological skepticism”, studies of agnotology and the sociology of ignorance in the STS, and their relevance in the era of “post-truth”.

Towards a sociomaterial approach to inter-organizational boundaries: How information systems elicit relevant knowledge in government outsourcing

This article furthers a sociomaterial framework to examine inter-organizational boundaries in government IT projects. It engages in a dialogue with the practice theory-based approach to boundary spanning and utilizes analytical tools and epistemologies drawn from the social studies of technology. It aims to contribute to a situated, material understanding of inter-organizational boundaries. We argue that boundaries in outsourcing relationships can be de facto enacted through definitions of what counts as relevant knowledge. Information systems have a key role in eliciting such definitions, thus establishing knowledge asymmetries and regimes of inclusion and exclusion. The article responds to the call to value the role of artefacts in IT research. Furthermore, it eventually shows that understanding knowledge asymmetries triggered at the micro-level of information systems can help to examine macro-scale transformations between the public and the private sectors. To illustrate the framework, two ethnographic case studies of governmental IT projects are discussed. The first case concerns a permit and licence submission service in Italy. The second case analyses a 20-year-long database integration carried on at the Dutch land registry. In the first case, information systems made relevant a form of knowledge developed by contractors; in the second case, the integration process valued knowledge developed in-house. Three sets of implications are drawn for the theory and practice of inter-organizational IT projects. To conclude, the article focuses on inter-organizational boundaries involving the public and the private sectors and foresees a novel interdisciplinary research direction at the confluence of information systems and political studies.

Redacted letters to the other Korea

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

The art of fieldworking together

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Method Matters in the Social Study of Technology: Investigating the Biographies of Artifacts and Practices

Science and Technology Studies understandings of technological change are at odds with its own dominant research designs and methodological guidelines. A key insight from the social shaping of technology research, for instance, has been that new technologies are formed in multiple interlinked settings, by many different groups of actors over long periods of time. Nonetheless, common research designs have not kept pace with these conceptual advances, continuing instead to resort to either intensive localised ethnographic engagements or extensive historical studies, both of which can generate only partial and limited accounts of the processes they suggest are at playThere has, however, been increasing interest in extending current methodological and analytical approaches through longitudinal and multi-site research templates, which include the emerging ‘biographies of artifacts and practices’ (BOAP) framework. Since its onset in the 1990s, there are now numerous exemplifications of the BOAP approach. This paper outlines its basic rationale and principles, and its significant variations, and discusses its contribution to STS understandings of innovation, especially user-led innovation. We finish by arguing that if STS is to continue to provide insight around innovation this will require a reconceptualisation of research design, to move from simple ‘snap shot’ studies to the linking together of ‘a string of investigations’.

We need to know

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Mental landscapes

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Collaborative art

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Building ‘mass’ and ‘momentum’ – a latecomer country’s passage to large technological systems – the case of China

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on how a latecomer country can bring a large (infrastructural) technological system (LTS) to a market already dominated by the entrenched systems of global technology leaders. We construct a conceptual framework, building on Hughes LTS theory (1983) and insights from social studies of technology into the specificities of infrastructural sociotechnical systems to analyse the development of China’s 3rd Generation mobile telephony system. We explore the complex dynamics surrounding the distributed governance of innovation, highlighting changes in key system builders. We note the role of the state in addressing critical problems (‘reverse salients’), both in terms of aligning players through legitimating and sense-making and also, building the necessary mass and momentum. This includes a more radical reconfiguring of the field to secure the substantial commitments needed to materialise and embed a new LTS infrastructure.

Designing with the sensorial

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Un obstáculo epistemológico para el estudio de la tecnología

En este artículo se plantea que el estudio sobre el fenómeno de la tecnología es un área de investigación que las humanidades y las ciencias sociales deben estudiar. Sin embargo, el estudio social y humanístico de la tecnología frecuentemente está impedido por diversos obstáculos epistemológicos que surgen en el transcurso de la investigación. Acto seguido, se plantea con mayor profundidad uno de esos obstáculos epistemológicos: la diversidad de corrientes de estudio del fenómeno tecnológico procediendo a la identificación de esas mismas corrientes. Finalmente, se expone la necesidad de un encuadre emergente que ofrezca una epistemología pluralista e integre las corrientes presentadas de modo que el fenómeno de la diversidad de perspectivas en lugar de representar un obstáculo se convierta en una herramienta más en el estudio humanístico y social de la tecnología.

Collaborative art practice as HCI research

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Social Studies of Technology: Evolution and Interaction of Approaches

Social Studies of Technology: Evolution and Interaction of Approaches

Glimmers and half-built projects

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Exploring DIY tutorials as a way to disseminate research through design

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Crafting tools

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Design without a future

This forum highlights conversations at the intersection of design methods and social studies of technology. By highlighting a diversity of perspectives on design interventions and programs, we aim to forge new connections between HCI design and communication, science and technology studies, and media studies scholarship. --- Daniela Rosner, Editor

Anthropological STS in Asia

Anthropological STS, distinct from its nearest neighbors social studies of science (SSK), social studies of technology (SCOT), and actor–network theory (ANT), is (a) more holistic and culturally embedded than those neighbors and (b) in conversation with comparative literature, film, and media studies, including imaginaries of networks beyond national boundaries. Asian STS, or theory from the Global East, rearranges theory from the Global North (traditional STS), the Global South (South Africa), India (postcolonial or subaltern studies), or white settler postcolonial theory from the antipodes. New key journals and networks are centers for STS in Asia. With consciousness of anthropocene changes and biological sensibilities of how systems interact, regenerate, stabilize, or collapse and morph, transform, and become otherwise, this article argues that we need more perspectives, located in different parts of the earth, on our bios and our polis, including revisionist histories of inter-Asian circulations and global circuitries, both as sentinels and as sources for robustness, consent, and legitimacy of flexible and responsive governance of emergent and interacting, if culturally variegated, technoscientific societies.

Эпистемологические установки биомедицины и понимание человека как субъекта

<p>Важные линии развития современных гуманитарных исследований биомедицины заданы двумя значимыми темами в творчестве французского философа, теоретика культуры Мишеля Фуко: смена форм существования культуры и знания, с одной стороны, и «конструирование» субъекта — с другой. На первой из них сфокусировано внимание в социальных исследованиях науки и технологии (STS), на второй — внимание биоэтики и философской антропологии. Стремление STS-исследователей зафиксировать современное понимание роли и места науки и технологий, в том числе и как форм производства и хранения знаний, находит свое отражение в исследовании места и роли социотехнических мнимостей. Тем самым тематизируется сфера не эксплицированных, но существующих в рамках всего контура функционирования технонауки представлений об основаниях и задачах ее развития. Подобные исследования могут служить важным элементом в гуманитарной экспертизе современных технонаучных проектов.</p><p>Рассмотрены области современных генетических практик: медицинская генетика и генетика «биологическая». Важной чертой их анализа служат схожесть предмета и методов обеих областей и различия в типе подготовки специалистов: врачей, с одной стороны, и биологов, биотехнологов — с другой (это позволяет сконцентрировать внимание собственно на эпистемологических установках медицинской и биологической генетики). Обнаруженные особенности эпистемологических установок и понимания субъективного в обеих областях имеют сходства с реконструированными Фуко характерными чертами ренессансной и классической эпистем. Сформулированный контекст эпистемологического и философско-антропологического анализа может стать значимым элементом гуманитарной экспертизы проектов современной технонауки. </p>