Socio-technical Process Research Articles

Green Securitization, A Legal Structure Currently Unfit for Ecological Transition

Abstract Ever since the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the European banking sector and its regulating authorities have been seeking to revive securitization markets in Europe. The most recent attempt in this direction is the inscription of green securitization in the European sustainable finance agenda. Building on Katharina Pistor’s work on the legal coding of capital as well as Eve Chiapello’s work on financialization as a socio-technical process, our proposed contribution focuses on the legal structuring of green securitization. Based on the legal documentation and sustainability frameworks of four recent green securitization deals tied to energy-efficiency home improvements, it critically examines the new kind of financial circuits that is being constructed to channel funds towards projects deemed to create positive impacts on the environment. Our analysis shows that green securitization’s current legal structure fails to properly incorporate sustainability considerations, whether in its contractual terms, financial metrics, or parties involved.

Challenges in Value-Sensitive AI Design: Insights from AI Practitioner Interviews

As AI systems become increasingly prevalent in critical domains, ensuring their alignment with stakeholders’ values is essential. However, recent studies have revealed deficiencies in socio-technical design processes and design activities for AI, particularly in eliciting diverse stakeholder values and integrating them into system design and development. To investigate these challenges empirically, we conducted 30 semi-structured interviews with AI practitioners. Our findings reveal several key challenges faced during AI design and development. Firstly, practitioners struggle with identifying and involving stakeholders due to uncertainties regarding user demo-graphics, and a lack of interdisciplinary expertise. Secondly, they encounter obstacles in integrating values into technologies, citing practical complexities, unclear responsibilities, and limited support. This paper presents a concept map detailing these four primary barriers and discusses potential strategies and recommendations for overcoming them. These strategies revolve around improving value elicitation practices, facilitating more meaningful stakeholder engagement, and understanding the impact of stakeholder values By qualitatively describing the barriers to integrating stakeholder values into AI systems, this study contributes to the emerging field of value-sensitive AI.

Understanding the importance of collaborative problem formulation for data analytics: Key lessons about leadership, governance, and technology

Data analytics (DA) use has been frequently considered a transformational practice in the public sector, particularly in terms of its potential for data-driven decision making by local governments. Despite growing interest from academics and practitioners, empirical research on what cities are actually doing regarding DA and how is still relatively scarce, particularly in terms of a focus on specific activities and processes. Based on a socio-technical view, this paper examines a local government’s experience with DA use and how DA can be seen as a process and transformational practice. Results reveal that DA practices go beyond the use of specific technologies and involve collaborative efforts to formulate meaningful problems and prepare data for specific uses. Indeed, problem formulation is an essential step where collective discussions and assessment by technical and nontechnical DA practitioners occurs. Our findings suggest that (1) data analytics viewed as a socio-technical process involves data management and analysis, but also collaborative processes between multiple city agencies, (2) collaborative efforts go beyond data analytics and include data collection, data representation, and problem formulation; and (3) formulating the problem in a collaborative manner could be considered an important first step when using data analytics for decision-making in local governments. Furthermore, collaborative problem formulation in DA seems to be affected by specific variables related to the collaborative effort such as leadership, governance, and technology.

A precision immuno-oncology turn? Hybridizing cancer genomics and immunotherapy through neoantigens-based adoptive cell therapies.

This article explores the development of T cell-based therapies in Switzerland. These therapies, which elicit the immunological potential of each patient to respond to tumor development, constitute a major promise for so-called 'precision oncology'. We document how immunological concepts, technologies, and practices are articulated given the centrality of genomics in 'precision oncology'. We consider 'precision immunotherapies' to probe whether and how change ensues in these established sociotechnical regimes of biomedicine. The case of genomics and immunology in oncology offers a unique insight into the conditions of possibility for change in such regimes. How does the present new wave of cancer immunotherapies challenge, integrate, and complement the centrality of genomics in 'precision oncology'? What are the specific processes that make possible the convergence, competition, or co-existence of distinct conceptions, infrastructures, and programs of innovative cancer medicine? Drawing from observations and interviews with researchers and clinicians, we qualify these sociotechnical processes as hybridizations. Bringing together different sociotechnical regimes of biomedical research is conditional to the articulation of core concepts, technologies, and translational practices of genomics and immunology. Pivotal to this objective are neoantigens, cell surface proteins originating from the somatic genetic mutations of tumors and which activate a patient's immune response. While neoantigens are an unstable entity in experimentation, they offer a conceptual and material substrate to renegotiate the dominance of cancer genomics, and initiate the production of a new, hybrid regime of 'immunogenomic precision' in oncology.

Healing Structures: Sociotechnical Mechanisms for Centering Survivors of Domestic Violence within US-Based Marginalized Communities

Domestic violence (DV) survivors from marginalized communities face serious challenges when seeking governmental services and community resources. Current resources often overlook victim-survivors' needs, neglecting their choices and autonomy. Through studying the context of DV within the US-based Muslim community and embracing a Survivor-Centered Transformative Justice approach, we introduce healing structures, structures promoting justice for victim-survivors and their communities, where healing is promoted by tackling harmful practices and discriminatory laws and fostering collective and survivor-centered interventions. Through focus groups, design concepts, and expert evaluations, we unveil three sociotechnical processes that establish healing structures for survivors and their communities when implemented collectively and simultaneously. The processes are: 1) Survivor advocacy, ensuring safety, empowerment, informed decision-making, and care continuity. 2) Community accountability, encouraging reparation and behavioral change of abusers through communal intervention and support. 3) Institutional transformation, reshaping broader conditions perpetuating abuse through preventive measures and structural reform. We conclude by reflecting on healing structures and discussing their design implications and potential tensions.

Where to plan shared streets: Development and application of a multicriteria spatial decision support tool

In response to the growing recognition of the vital role played by streets as public spaces in enhancing the vibrancy of urban life, various concepts aiming at creating greener and more inclusive streets have gained popularity in recent years, especially in North America. Shared streets are one example of such concepts that have attracted the attention of citizens and of urban and transportation planning professionals alike. This was the case in the city of Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada) where, in response to numerous citizens’ requests, a need was identified to develop decision aid tools to help evaluate and rank street segments based on their potential to become shared streets. To achieve this, an action-research project was initiated in which we conducted a socio-technical process based on MACBETH, a multicriteria evaluation method. The project led to the development of a spatial decision support tool, operationally used today by the city professionals. This tool ensures a more informed and transparent decision-making process and supports shared streets planning policy. The methods developed are generalizable and can be adapted to other cities facing similar planning problems.

Enhancing Data Use Ontology (DUO) for health-data sharing by extending it with ODRL and DPV

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health is an international consortium that is developing the Data Use Ontology (DUO) as a standard providing machine-readable codes for automation in data discovery and responsible sharing of genomics data. DUO concepts, which are encoded using OWL, only contain the textual descriptions of the conditions for data use they represent, and do not specify the intended permissions, prohibitions, and obligations explicitly – which limits their usefulness. We present an exploration of how the Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) can be used to explicitly represent the information inherent in DUO concepts to create policies that are then used to represent conditions under which datasets are available for use, conditions in requests to use them, and to generate agreements based on a compatibility matching between the two. We also address a current limitation of DUO regarding specifying information relevant to privacy and data protection law by using the Data Privacy Vocabulary (DPV) which supports expressing legal concepts in a jurisdiction-agnostic manner as well as for specific laws like the GDPR. Our work supports the existing socio-technical governance processes involving use of DUO by providing a complementary rather than replacement approach. To support this and improve DUO, we provide a description of how our system can be deployed with a proof of concept demonstration that uses ODRL rules for all DUO concepts, and uses them to generate agreements through matching of requests to data offers. All resources described in this article are available at: https://w3id.org/duodrl/repo.

On-Demand and Marketplace Platforms: Gig Care Work Conditions on Two Digital Labour Platform Care Models

With worker shortages and the need for care workers projected to grow, personal care work through digital labour platforms (DLPs) is important to understand. This paper considers DLPs used by gig care workers providing personal care in Ontario, Canada. We recruited 20 women gig care workers for interviews. We examined socio-technical processes such as signing up on platforms, creating profiles, and searching for jobs. We draw on Institutional Ethnography to study the actual work on the following two DLP models: marketplace and on-demand. Marcusean theory provides a lens for the critical examination of DLP care work. We found job inequity between DLPs operating in the homecare sector, compared to DPs used in institutional settings. Jobs had disparate quality between the two platform types. Workers on both DLP types remained vulnerable to fluctuations in demand and had limited social security protections, and both models of DLP institutionalised precarity.

Understanding the importance of collaborative problem formulation for data analytics: Key lessons about leadership, governance, and technology

Data analytics (DA) use has been frequently considered a transformational practice in the public sector, particularly in terms of its potential for data-driven decision making by local governments. Despite growing interest from academics and practitioners, empirical research on what cities are actually doing regarding DA and how is still relatively scarce, particularly in terms of a focus on specific activities and processes. Based on a socio-technical view, this paper examines a local government’s experience with DA use and how DA can be seen as a process and transformational practice. Results reveal that DA practices go beyond the use of specific technologies and involve collaborative efforts to formulate meaningful problems and prepare data for specific uses. Indeed, problem formulation is an essential step where collective discussions and assessment by technical and nontechnical DA practitioners occurs. Our findings suggest that (1) data analytics viewed as a socio-technical process involves data management and analysis, but also collaborative processes between multiple city agencies, (2) collaborative efforts go beyond data analytics and include data collection, data representation, and problem formulation; and (3) formulating the problem in a collaborative manner could be considered an important first step when using data analytics for decision-making in local governments. Furthermore, collaborative problem formulation in DA seems to be affected by specific variables related to the collaborative effort such as leadership, governance, and technology.

Problem-solving? No, problem-opening! A method to reframe and teach data ethics as a transdisciplinary endeavour

Starting from the recognition of the limits of today's common essentialist and axiological understandings of data and ethics, in this article we make the case for an ecosystemic understanding of data ethics (for the city) that accounts for the inherent value-laden entanglements and unintended (both positive and negative) consequences of the development, implementation, and use of data-driven technologies in real-life contexts. To operationalize our view, we conceived and taught a master course titled ‘Ethics for the data-driven city’ delivered within the Department of Urbanism at the Delft University of Technology. By endorsing a definition of data as a sociotechnical process, of ethics as a collective practice, and of the city as a complex system, the course enacts a transdisciplinary approach and problem-opening method that compel students to recognize and tackle the unavoidable multifacetedness of all ethical stances, as well as the intrinsic open-endedness of all tech solutions, thus seeking a fair balance for the whole data-driven urban environment. The article discusses the results of the teaching experience, which took the form of a research-and-design workshop, alongside the students’ feedback and further pedagogical developments.

INOVAÇÃO E TEORIA ATOR-REDE

Sociology of innovation is a transdisciplinary approach to research and development whose theoretical-methodological framework is based on the Actor-Network Theory. The article aims to map scientific communications produced in the literature about innovation and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). As bibliographical research, a semiotic-material approach is used to map these research interests on the Dimensions scientific data platform, seeking to explore their problematization networks via word co-occurrence and clustering with the VOSviewer network analysis software, in addition to describing their translational movements based on the titles and summaries of the mapped research itself and the literature itself in some way related. Two problematization networks about innovation and ANT are explored, one being multidisciplinary (see relationships between different fields of research such as health, management and technologies) and the other interthematic (through actor-words such as “implementation”, “framework” and “knowledge”. Such research interests are crossed by the very semiotic-material complexity of scientific production and communication related to ANT and innovation, performing socio-technical and political-economic processes of invention, negotiation and commercialization between human and non-human actors, of somehow linked to different knowledge and domains of scientific and technological knowledge.

Reimagining energy infrastructure for justice: Power, politics, and institutional work in India’s 2.05 GW Pavagada solar park

India has positioned itself as a leader in transitioning its energy sector to renewable sources, with ambitious targets and policies in place. Large-scale grid-integrated renewable energy plants have been identified as the most efficient option. Scholarly arguments differ regarding the impacts of renewables-led transitions, with some emphasizing positive environmental, economic, and social outcomes, while others highlight the potential for reinforcing asymmetrical power relations and unjust outcomes. Viewing the energy transition as a socio-technical process, we utilize a recent conceptualisation of the relationship between institutional work and infrastructures to analyze the unfolding power dynamics and its influence on socially just outcomes. Theoretically, we draw on the ‘Triple-Re’ framework, which distinguishes three interrelated domains of institutional work in socio-technical transitions: reimagining, recoding, and reconfiguring of infrastructures. Through a process tracing approach, we study the planning and realization of India's Pavagada Solar Park to understand the interactions among actors, institutions, policies, and material contexts at various spatial and temporal scales. Field observations, interviews, and archival research reveal how discursive dynamics and the recoding of rules and policies have facilitated land and resource mobilization, resulting in changes to ownership models, local infrastructure, land use, ecosystems, and occupational structures. We argue that recognizing and understanding these outcomes are crucial for achieving socially just outcomes in the context of renewable energy infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence and work transformations: integrating sensemaking and workplace learning perspectives

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the process of initial sensemaking that organizational members activate when they reflect on AI adoption in their work settings, and how the perceived features of AI technologies trigger sensemaking processes which in turn have the potential to influence workplace learning modes and trajectories.Design/methodology/approachWe adopted an explorative qualitative and interactive approach to capture free fantasies and imaginative ideas of AI among people within the industry. We adopt a conceptual perspective that combines theories on initial sensemaking and workplace learning as a theoretical lens to analyze data collected during 23 focus groups held at four large Swedish manufacturing companies. The data were analyzed using the Gioia method.FindingsTwo aggregated dimensions were defined and led to the development of an integrated conceptualization of the initial sensemaking of AI technology adoption. Specifically, sensemaking triggered by abstract features of AI technology mainly pointed to an exploitative learning path. Sensemaking triggered by concrete features of the technology mainly pointed to explorative paths, where socio-technical processes appear to be crucial in the process of AI adoption.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies that attempts to explore and conceptualize how organizations make sense of prospective workplace learning in the context of AI adoption.

Towards a platformised welfare state? How public administration, personal data, and third-sector welfare get entangled in a nation-wide digitalisation project

In the era of digital governance, the concept of Government as a Platform (GaaP) has gained significant attention. This article studies the implementation of this concept, taking the German Social Service Platform’ as a case study. The catalyst for the development of this public platform has been the German Online Access Act (Online-Zugangs-Gesetz or OZG), which marks a pivotal moment in the country’s government digitalization efforts. Employing the analytical toolkit of the Actor-Network-Theory (ANT), the article studies the sociotechnical processes shaping the evolution of this platform. It provides a thick description of the dynamics of translating generic ideas into an already existing landscape of institutions and technologies and explores how, through the actors’ interpretations, their negotiations, and their interactions with technologies, both ideas of traditional welfare governance (subsidiarity, welfare pluralism, and executive federalism) and ideas related to the platform concept (agility, user-centered design, once-only) are continuously redefined throughout the process.

The political economy of mini-grid electricity development and innovation in Kenya

Accessible and affordable energy services are a prerequisite for socioeconomic growth and poverty reduction. Yet it is estimated that 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa will not have access to electricity in 2030. Recent research suggests that universal access to electricity will be achieved through a mix of centralized and decentralized systems and that the diffusion of these technologies is a socio-technical process involving multiple actors. These actors include firms, networks, energy users, and government agencies that interact within a political landscape to deliver innovation within energy service systems. Thus, factors related to the political economy can impact the process of innovation and warrant analysis. This study aims to provide an analysis of the political economy factors that can influence the emergence of mini grid electricity development in the African context exemplified in Kenya as a case study. The study uses the Technology Innovation Systems (TIS) lens as an analytical framework to provide a critical analysis of how political economy factors have influenced the development of mini grid electricity in Kenya. The result shows that despite the presence of some favorable conditions for innovation, political economy factors significantly impede the deployment of mini grids in Kenya. Power and vested interests have created negative competition between public and private developers, limiting knowledge and information diffusion between actors and stalling mini grid developments where they are most needed.

“Robots taking over the world… fantastic!” Understanding social representations, familiarity and visions of experiments with autonomous public transportation

Autonomous public transport (APT) represents a potentially important innovation in the transition to a low-carbon transport system. Niche operators around the world are currently starting to experiment with forms of APT in urban environments. In these experiments visions and shared expectations are believed to play a pivotal role. However, such visions are not easily communicated to the local public, and experimenting can evoke and amplify different views. This study applies a novel combination of social representation theory and multi-level perspective (MLP) to explore the local social understandings of APT in an incumbent-led experiment in a Norwegian municipality. Based on a qualitative analysis, the study identifies three emerging social representations of the APT technology, where two oppose the niche vision. A general lack of information about the purpose and mission of the pilot evoked ambivalent and critical representations, drawing on pre-existing images and metaphors from a landscape level. We argue that social representations of technologies can help explain the complexity of the socially embedded reactions that emerge when niche experimentation takes place. We also discuss how such reactions may influence socio-technical transition processes.

CCS technological innovation system dynamics in Norway

CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) is today seen as a key technology to cut carbon emissions in many hard-to-abate sectors such as energy-intensive processing industries and the waste sector. Although CO2 capture is technically possible, key challenges for realizing CCS persist. Over the past decade, CCS has taken a new direction with more focus on application in energy-intensive industries rather than the energy sector. For CCS value chains to materialize, innovation and implementation thus needs to occur amongst an array of actors, with different innovation modes, institutions, and policy regimes, and with varying sectoral capacities for adaptation and change. There has so far been limited social science research on CCS innovation dynamics, which we suggest approaching as a socio-technical change process. To better understand this process, we draw on the sustainability transitions research field and employ the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework to study the CCS innovation system in Norway. We find that, overall, the Norwegian CCS TIS displays systemic weaknesses for example in the form of market formation and resource mobilization, yet recent developments suggest a relatively positive momentum for this technological field which is key to meeting Norwegian and global climate mitigation targets.

Digital competence among pre-service teachers: A global perspective on curriculum change as viewed by experts from 33 countries

In the intensely developing information society, the education of pre-service teachers presents an organisational, methodological, and conceptual challenge. Recent years have necessitated reflection on the content and modalities of the formation of digital competence in pre-service teachers. This article – considers which components the digital competences of the new generations of teachers should contain and how this area can be effectively developed within academic education. The article is the result of interviews conducted with 35 experts (recognized scholars in the field of media pedagogy) from North and South America, Africa, Australia and Oceania, Asia, and Europe. Qualitative interviews using the Delphi methodology were conducted between June and September 2022. Using grounded theory principles, it was noted that there is a need to modify pre-service teachers' curricula in the following areas: creating, retrieving and managing digital content; integrating ICT into subject content; developing soft skills; enhancing interactivity in the classroom; social aspects of ICT; distance learning; new socio-technical processes; advanced digital competencies; predictive learning; analysing the impact of ICT on human life; data protection; e-risks; low digital competencies; understanding media messaging; and supporting people with disabilities.

Financialization the Swedish way: How Vonovia became the largest owner of former public housing estates through transaction pathways and calculative practices

ABSTRACT The Swedish rental housing market has been in transition. The once dominating municipal public housing sector has been steadily decreasing. International firms have increasingly taken over rental housing in so-called socially deprived areas. This article analyzes the financialization of the former public housing stock. It traces activities in two housing estates and outlines the history and operations of venture capital-based real estate companies focusing on deprived areas in Sweden. These companies have upgraded multifamily homes and thus increased rents, which resulted in large profits and a decrease in the affordable housing stock. In this new reality, venture capital actors have taken advantage of contextual conditions and applied powerful calculative devices. Drawing on studies of financialization as a socio-technical process, the article contributes to knowledge by de-mystifying financialization through a detailed study of specific practices undertaken by international investors who acquire former public housing units in Sweden.

Why are emergency responses ineffective and inefficient? Lessons learnt from past events

Effective and efficient emergency responses can significantly reduce damage to personnel, properties, and the environment. However, responses to emergencies are not always satisfactory. The Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) is a powerful tool for modeling and analyzing sociotechnical systems and processes, such as emergency responses. This study aimed to investigate real emergency responses using FRAM. First, a FRAM model of the emergency response process, including 21 functions, was built to explain how it is accomplished. Then, three case studies were investigated to demonstrate the applicability of the FRAM model to emergency responses. Functional variability-based analyses were conducted to identify weak points in each response. The results of this study showed that two functions with significant variability appeared in all three case studies: "developing Incident Action Plan (IAP)" and "assigning roles and responsibilities". The variability of these two functions should be managed; otherwise, it can propagate in the emergency response process, affect downstream functions, and result in negative outcomes. Effective implementation of Incident Command System (ICS) and enhancing the improvisation capacity of the organization both deem to be damping factors for successfully managing variability during emergency responses.