Sociotechnical Strategies Research Articles

Gender Justice in Saudi Arabia: Sociotechnical Institutions' Approach to Addressing Domestic Violence Against Women and Men

The aim of this research is to determine the effectiveness of a sociotechnical institutional approach in overcoming domestic violence against women and men in Saudi Arabia with a focus on achieving gender justice. This research uses an extensive literature review method by examining scientific literature, official documents, and reports from various sources to gain an in-depth understanding of this problem. This analysis involves a synthesis of literature findings to understand the dynamics of domestic violence and the effectiveness of sociotechnical strategies in promoting gender justice in Saudi Arabia. The research results show that domestic violence is a global phenomenon that is understood and handled with different approaches from Islamic, Feminist and Western perspectives. The Islamic perspective emphasizes the values of justice, respect and reconciliation in marital relations, as well as fighting for women's rights and opposing violence within the framework of religious teachings. Feminist approaches, particularly in Western contexts, highlight gender-based power dynamics and urge to address inequality as a root cause of domestic violence. In addition, the family violence perspective and ecological violence theory offer a broader view of this issue. In Saudi Arabia, the role of sociotechnical institutions is very important in overcoming the problem of domestic violence. A multidisciplinary approach that includes technology, legal reform, education, and community support contributes to creating a safer and more supportive environment for women. This research concludes that a sociotechnical institutional approach can be an effective strategy in achieving gender justice and reducing domestic violence in Saudi Arabia.

Analyzing the Logistics of the Brazilian Book and Teaching Material Program: a sociotechnical strategy to inform optimization

The National Book and Teaching Material Program, formulated and executed by the Brazilian Ministry of Education and the National Education Development Fund, aims to ensure that students and teachers in Brazilian public schools have the constitutional right to access teaching materials. The program's logistics are complex, requiring the timely and cost-effective delivery of thousands of tons of teaching materials to public schools across thousands of Brazilian municipalities. A sociotechnical analysis is essential to comprehend the logistics challenges of such a program, as it enables considering social, normative, and technical aspects in a comprehensive and integrated manner. This article presents a qualitative analysis of the program logistics by applying different sociotechnical artifacts. The findings reveal a complex problem involving diverse processes and stakeholders who must adhere to several norms, adopt different computer systems, and rely on a direct and intense communication culture. Identifying key attention points and acknowledging the unique Brazilian context, the article argues that a sociotechnical perspective is crucial for understanding the problem's complexity and informing the design of solutions to optimize the program’s logistics.

Coinnovación y asistencia técnica predial para contribuir a una transición sostenible de la ganadería en Uruguay

Abstract The transformation of the existing agrifood system towards more sustainable systems requires sociotechnical strategies that can boost radical changes. In Uruguay there is a community of practice committed to the sustainable development of family livestock farming which has developed alternative production practices, that improve the sustainability of farms based on ecological intensification, for more than fifteen years. Co-innovation as a modality of intervention was a fundamental aspect in the results achieved, being the work on farms a key factor, with a very special bond between extensionist and family. Taking this community of practice as a case study, this text characterizes co-innovation as a modality of intervention for farm technical assistance, offering a vision to enhance the scaling of the interventions and contribute to the sustainable transformation of livestock farming. Results are presented on: 1) general characteristics of the intervention modality, 2) stages of work and practices on farms, 3) characteristics of the family-extensionist bond and 4) lessons learned. Finally, key aspects are pointed out to scale co-innovation, in order to contribute to a sustainability transition of Uruguayan family livestock farming.

Community-based water demand management: socio-technical strategies for improving water security in Australian Indigenous communities

Sustainable water management in remote Australian communities is a delicate balance between sufficient and acceptable supply options and appropriate and effective demand approaches. This paper focus on the evaluation of community-based water demand management strategies piloted in four remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities in Australia. Findings of the pilot demonstrate that from a systems perspective, community-based demand management centred around education and encouragement of residents to conserve and use water efficiently, provide greater opportunities for long-term sustainable water management outcomes that support building of social capital. To ensure truly transformative management outcomes, a toolbox of socio-technological strategies should be used including, where possible, smart metering of water consumption and use of water-efficient devices. A key element of this approach to demand management calls for a shift away from business-as-usual policy towards a flexible learning approach that involves genuine collaboration between water managers and Indigenous communities.

A Survey Study on the Perception of the Vertical Garden Among the Public of Chennai

Vertical gardens (VG) has proved to have numerous environmental, economic, and social benefits. However, implementing VG is not common in a highly developed city like Chennai due to various reasons. This study aims to examine public perspectives on VG and the challenges preventing their broad adoption in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This research uses a sociotechnical strategy to encourage the adoption of VG. Design/methodology/approach: A survey approach was used for the investigation. An online questionnaire was given access to the public of Greater Chennai Corporation to come out with a quantitative understanding of the perception of VG. There were four 4 parts with 11 close- ended multiple choice questions. Part 1 included socio-demographic factors, while part 2 collected information on awareness of VG and the desire to adopt it in Chennai. Part 3 examined the understanding of the environmental, economic, and aesthetic benefits of the VG. Part 4 focused on the barriers to the usage of VG in Chennai. Findings: the survey report analysis makes it clear that the following are the barriers to its widespread adoption in Chennai, the VG is still at a conceptual stage in the mind of the public due to a lack of clear understanding of its maintenance, irrigation, and the thought that vertical greening would cause structural damages. The purpose of vertical greening is prioritized for its aesthetic benefits rather than its environmental and social benefits. The maintenance and irrigation issues are also among the reasons discussed in this paper.

Undone science in climate interventions: Contrasting and contesting anticipatory assessments by expert networks

In global climate governance, anticipatory assessments map future options and pathways, in light of prospective risks and uncertainties, to inform present-day planning. Using data from 125 interviews, we ask: How are foundational experts contesting the conduct of anticipatory assessment of carbon removal and solar geoengineering – as two emerging but controversial strategies for engaging with climate change and achieving Net Zero targets? We find that efforts at carbon removal and solar geoengineering assessment leverage and challenge systems modeling that has become dominant in mapping and communicating future climate impacts and mitigation strategies via IPCC reports. Both suites of climate intervention have become stress-tests for the capacity of modeling to assess socio-technical strategies with complex, systemic dimensions. Meanwhile, exploring societal dimensions demands new modes of disciplinary expertise, qualitative and deliberative practices, and stakeholder inclusion that modelling processes struggle to incorporate. Finally, we discuss how the patterns of expert contestation identified in our results speak to multiple fault-lines within ongoing debates on reforming global environmental assessments, and highlights key open questions to be addressed.

Appraisal of Socio-Technical Water Loss Control Strategies Using Cost-Benefit Analysis in a Water Supply Network

The authors conducted a socio-technical cost–benefit analysis (CBA) in Alexandra Township (Alex for short) by combining three water loss control investment strategies: (i) pipeline and infrastructure upgrades, (ii) repair and maintenance, and (iii) socio-domestic retrofitting capital. The researchers performed the CBA using sensitivity analysis methodologies such as marginal cost of capital (MCC), weighted average cost of capital (WACC), coefficient of variance (CV), the net present value (NPV) ratio, and cumulative and total cost methods. The findings for socio-domestic retrofitting capital investment showed that at an average investment cost of USD 5735 per household, consumption was reduced from 1369.4 m3/year to 301.99 m3/year, whereas a projected water savings average of 521.05 m3/household/year was achieved. The results show that the cumulative cost of water losses equaled USD 43.9 million per year, and that, if the water loss trend continues beyond the year 2026, almost 100% of the system input volume (SIV) will be non-revenue water (NRW) in the water balance. Using the MCC method, the integrated results for the socio-technical strategy showed that the economic level of leakage (ELL) was achieved at a WACC of 16.2, a CV of 0.66, and an NPV ratio or net capital risk of 0.246. This study demonstrates that the socio-technical approach is a viable alternative for water loss control and may be adopted in various parts of the world.

Medication quality and work practice

Supported by digital systems, closed loop medication management (CLMM) is considered an essential method to improve the quality of medication management in hospitals. This includes electronic ordering, verifying, preparing and administering medication. However, healthcare has so far seen very few fully working solutions of CLMM. We therefore pose the research question: What is the nature, challenges and consequences of CLMM in hospitals? We find that CLMM is highly resource demanding and implies a lot of engagement and workaround by health personnel. While some workaround are expected, we find that others may jeopardize patient safety. The paper contributes with an understanding and conceptualization of CLMM and proposes socio-technical strategies for using digital tools to increase the quality of the medication management process. Theoretically, we draw on the concept of information infrastructures, work practice perspectives and work system theory. Empirically, we present a study of the first hospital in Norway to have implemented CLMM.

The Datafication of #MeToo: Whiteness, Racial Capitalism, and Anti-Violence Technologies

This article illustrates how racial capitalism can enhance understandings of data, capital, and inequality through an in-depth study of digital platforms used for intervening in gender-based violence. Specifically, we examine an emergent sociotechnical strategy that uses software platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to offer users emergency assistance, education, and a means to report and build evidence against perpetrators. Our analysis details how two reporting apps construct data to support institutionally legible narratives of violence, highlighting overlooked racialised dimensions of the data capital generated through their use. We draw attention to how they reinforce property relations built on extraction and ownership, capital accumulation that reinforces benefits derived through data property relations and ownership, and the commodification of diversity and inclusion. Recognising these patterns are not unique to anti-violence apps, we reflect on how this example aids in understanding how racial capitalism becomes a constitutive element of digital platforms, which more generally extract information from users, rely on complex financial partnerships, and often sustain problematic relationships with the criminal legal system. We conclude with a discussion of how racial capitalism can advance scholarship at the intersections of data and power.

The spatiality of poverty and popular agency in the GCR: constituting an extended urban region

ABSTRACT The Gauteng City-Region (GCR) in South Africa is a paradigmatic example of extended urbanization, in which the legacy of mining and apartheid continue to impact spatial practices and the experience of everyday life. The dynamics between urban centralities such as Johannesburg and regional-scale peripheries established by this legacy characterize the “spatiality of poverty” that exists in the GCR today. Yet the relational urbanization processes occurring on these under-researched urban peripheries are also driven by the choices and strategies of people, or “popular agency,” as they negotiate both local and regional-scale spaces in pursuit of opportunities. Utilizing the northern part of the GCR as a case study, the article presents ethnographic research including a purposive sampling of informal settlement residents, government officials, and planning experts to discuss how socio-technical strategies focused on capital expenditure for infrastructure and affordable housing often reinforce existing socio-spatial inequalities. At the same time, new “popular centralities” are emerging as individual people exercise their agency to move around the region and produce alternative forms of space. Considering the agency of people calls for a decentered and transdisciplinary approach to urban analysis and spatial planning, with significant implications for both the theory and practice of urban and regional studies today.

Governing technological zones, making national renewable energy futures

This article examines linkages between strategies and imagined futures by focusing on one, often neglected facet of governance: science and innovation policy. Using the case of renewable energy imaginaries in Scotland, the article explores how strategies are used to create technological zones and knowledge infrastructures. In creating strategies for low-carbon futures, Scottish nationalists draw on imaginaries of an energy-independent nation in order to enable specific futures. By incorporating these imaginaries into strategic planning documents, nationalists exploit a powerful narrative from which to manifest energy futures. Further, through creating technological zones and knowledge infrastructures, the Scottish Government can work to actualize these futures even though its political power is limited. While it can be tempting to view strategies as a series of steps that implement policies in order to progress toward a desired future, this case demonstrates the nuanced ways in which energy futures and imaginaries of nationhood can be made tractable through science and innovation strategy, illustrating the dynamics through which these sociotechnical strategies enable specific futures and communities. The speed and scale of Scotland’s energy transition also raises questions about what might be possible in terms of transitioning other sectors or collectives that are constrained in their political power.

Delaying decarbonization: Climate governmentalities and sociotechnical strategies from Copenhagen to Paris

An era (2005–2015) centered around the Copenhagen Accord saw the rise of several immature sociotechnical strategies currently at play: carbon capture and storage, REDD+, next-generation biofuels, shale gas, short-lived climate pollutants, carbon dioxide removal, and solar radiation management. Through a framework grounded in governmentality studies, we point out common trends in how this seemingly disparate range of strategies is emerging, evolving, and taking effect. We find that recent sociotechnical strategies reflect and reinforce governance rationalities emerging during the Copenhagen era: regime polycentrism, relative gains sought in negotiations, ‘co-benefits’ sought with other governance regimes, ‘time-buying’ or ‘bridging’ rationalities, and appeals to vulnerable demographics. However, these sociotechnical systems remain conditioned by the resilient market governmentality of the Kyoto Protocol era. Indeed, the carbon economy exercises a systemic structuring condition: While emerging climate strategies ostensibly present new tracks for signalling ambition and action, they functionally permit the delaying of comprehensive decarbonization.

Extreme weather events and wastewater infrastructure: A system dynamics model of a multi-level, socio-technical transition

Coastal communities and their wastewater treatment systems are vulnerable to the impacts of extreme events. Decision-making about transitioning critical infrastructure across scale – onsite, community, or centralized – to an improved treatment portfolio is complex as it couples financial, social, policy, technological, and environmental factors with impacts to public health and aquatic ecosystems. In this paper, we propose a system dynamics approach to consider important factors and dynamics that influence municipalities' decision-making process for wastewater infrastructure transitions in the Florida Keys, particularly considering some impacts of a changing climate. Our research utilizes social-technical transition theories to develop an adaptable and dynamic decision-making tool for transitioning to an improved portfolio of wastewater technologies and to determine strategies that improve the portfolio's performance measures (i.e. nutrient loading and reliability) under extreme weather scenarios. The initial simulation results demonstrate that it is important to incorporate the impacts from extreme events into the wastewater infrastructure decision-making process because they increased nutrient loading by >20% and decreased reliability by nearly 10%. With this climate-informed decision-making structure, strategies were developed to facilitate the transition to an improved wastewater treatment portfolio. The strategies include a new socio-economic decision-making approach, technology and economic policies, and socio-technical behavior change. The socio-technical strategy simulated widespread adoption of urine diversion technologies which made the greatest improvement to nutrient loading with an 81% decrease. Furthermore, the best approach to improve the reliability performance measure (from 81% to 83%) was the technology and economic policy which economically disincentivized investment in centralized wastewater systems and changed the community-level technology option.

Elemental problems, methodical solutions: expertise, ecology and entertainment in the study of marine mammals

Abstract This paper examines the development of socio-technical strategies and practices for the study and display of marine mammals. It considers how techniques initially developed for terrestrial use were deployed under marine conditions, not least through the adaptation of strategies and habits originating in industry, commerce and the military, in order to facilitate researchers’ access to their subjects. In particular, it examines how these methodological developments intersected with the terrestrial display of marine mammals. Throughout, it shows how the agency of the animals under observation had a key role to play in the emergence of cetology as a profession and as a form of knowledge.

How Do Postgenomic Innovations Emerge? Building Legitimacy by Proteomics Standards and Informing the Next-Generation Technology Policy.

How do postgenomic innovations emerge and become legitimate? Proteomics, a frequently utilized postgenomic technology, provides a valuable case study of the sociotechnical strategies used by an emergent scientific field to establish its legitimacy and assert political power. Chief among these strategies is standard making, an inherently political process that requires examination through a critical social science lens. We report in this study an original case study from interviews with proteomics scientists and observations at conferences of the Human Proteome Organization and Australasian Proteomics Society over a 5-year period (2011-2015). The study contributes new knowledge on how an emerging postgenomic science uses standard-setting practices to politically legitimize a hitherto contested technology. Drawing on legitimacy theory, we show how proteomics scientists and organizations used standards as strategic tools to establish the legitimacy of this postgenomic field and affirm that proteomics can generate verifiable and reproducible results, thereby establishing it as a legitimate scientific field. Notably, legitimacy can be leveraged, at the same time, to maximize political power vis-à-vis other fields of science and as such embodies power relationships. These data collectively inform the broader context, in which postgenomic innovations emerge and legitimize, both technically and politically, through standards making. These findings have relevance for the design of next generation technology policies by demonstrating that standards are not "just" standards or neutral constructs but also tools to leverage political power of and by science and innovation actors, as shown in this case study of the emerging early phase of proteomics from 2011 to 2015.

The Kenya Slum Electrification Program. Local politics of electricity networks in Kibera

The development of universal electricity networks remains a challenge for public authorities and energy utilities in many African cities characterized by rapid urbanization and high poverty levels. This article looks beyond the technicalities of recent electrification programs to explore the politics of introducing new socio-technical rules and practices in unplanned settlements. Our empirical study investigates the implementation of the Kenya Slum Electrification Project in Kibera, one of the most deprived areas of Nairobi, and the regularization of electricity services promoted under the scheme. Approached through a political perspective at a local micro-scale, attempts to control and regulate electricity supply and use in the slum appear to be highly conflictual and reveal considerable power struggles over this marginalized territory. The analysis confronts the socio-technical strategies of the Kenya Power and Lighting Company with the everyday tactics and resistance of subaltern actors. It allows for an in-depth understanding of electricity networks as political terrains and conflict zones, and as junctions that mediate particular socio-spatial relations. Based on our exploratory study on the negotiations surrounding the project and the circumventions by slum dwellers we suggest perspectives for addressing the local politics of slum electrification and malfunctions in their design.

Socio-technical strategies and behavior change to increase the adoption and sustainability of wastewater resource recovery systems

Given the increasing vulnerability of communities to the negative impacts of untreated wastewater, resource recovery (RR) systems provide a paradigm shift away from a traditional approach of waste separation and treatment towards a productive recovery of water, energy and nutrients. The aim of this research is to understand the relationships between factors that influence the adoption and sustainability of wastewater-based RR systems to inform technology implementation strategies. The study presents a theory-informed, community-influenced system dynamics (SD) model to provide decision-makers with an adaptable tool that simulates system-level responses to the strategies that are developed for the coastal town of Placencia, Belize. The modeling framework is informed by literature-based theories such as the theory of diffusion of innovations (TDI) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Various methods, including surveys, interviews, participatory observations, and a water constituents mass balance analysis are used to validate relationships and numerically populate the model. The SD model was evaluated with field data and simulated to identify strategies that will improve the adoption and sustainability of RR systems. Site demonstrations (marketing strategy) made a significant impact on the stock of adopted RR systems. The stock of sustained RR systems is driven by the sustainability rate (i.e. economic and environmental viability) which can be improved by more site demonstrations and tank options (technical strategy). These strategies, however, only contributed to incremental improvements in the system's sustainability performance. This study shows that changing community behaviors (i.e. reporting the correct number of users and reclaiming resources), represented by structural change in the SD model, is the more significant way to influence the sustainable management of the community's wastewater resources.

Towards a Sustainable Development Maturity Model for Green Virtual Enterprise Breeding Environments

The following on-going research work intends to highlight the relevant contributions that Green Virtual Enterprise Breeding Environments (GVBEs) can have in the development of new sustainable industrial development models, able to address the threefold sustainability challenges of environmental protection, economic growth and social progress by means of collaborative networks and systems. Focusing on a well-integrated socio-technical strategy, the Sustainable Development Maturity Model for GVBEs proposes a new generation of [virtual] industrial eco-systems contributing to the eco-restructuring of industrial processes and systems in support of a new sustainable industrial landscape. Different eco-industrial networking strategies are explored in this direction towards a Circular Economy.

The Socionatural Engineering of Reductionist Metaphors: A Political Ecology of Synthetic Biology

Political ecologists and biomedical anthropologists influenced by science and technology studies view genes as socionatural articulation points, or boundary objects, in the reshaping of societies, natures, and economies. Many of these scholars portray genetic technology as a tool for producing a new class of commodities. Scientists working for biotechnology corporations, they argue, mobilize the reductive metaphor that genes are information or code. They do this to stabilize genes for trade and ownership. Social scientists note that social negotiations involved in this reductive work, along with contingencies in the biological functioning of genes, limit and pattern how genetic material can be commodified. In this paper I critically review and extend these empirical analyses with attention to how current legal battles are redefining how genes can be owned. I then identify places where political ecologists can contribute to detailing the social, legal, and biological mutations motivated by the commodification of genes. This attention is crucial as traditional genetic technologies are being replaced by synthetic biology. Synthetic biology is a set of scientific practices that attempt to actualize the reductive informational code metaphor. Synthetic biologists seek to strip genes and organisms of their unpredictable behaviors by building organisms from the ground up, according to engineering design principles. By detailing synthetic biologists' attempts to reengineer both the structure of genetic code, and the cellular systems that give this code material expression, I first argue that synthetic technologies are producing standardized organisms and molecular parts that are extremely conducive to commodification. Additionally, I assert that the sociotechnical strategies employed by synthetic biologists to find and create useful genetic material intentionally avoid ambiguities in gene-ownership regimes as they are currently constituted. Finally, I examine situations where political ecologists can contribute to the critical analysis and transformation of synthetic biology's social and technical terrains.

Collaboration analysis: Joint resolution of problems in global supply networks

Many severe and costly supply network disruptions have been documented in the academic and business literatures, and the issue is receiving increased coverage and consideration by scholars and practitioners. It is widely acknowledged that recent trends in supply network management, such as greater global interconnectivity, make firms more susceptible to disruption risk than ever before. Further, research has demonstrated that firms are generally not able to quickly recover from the negative economic impacts associated with supply disruptions. Passive acceptance of disruptions is not a viable option; therefore, firms face a pressing need to develop superior disruption risk management capabilities. Supply network risk management has been defined as the management of external and supply network risk through a coordinated approach among supply network members to reduce vulnerability in the supply chain. Today's global manufacturing networks are complex socio-technical systems, which require socio-technical strategies for managing disruption risks. While the extant research heavily focuses on `hard' technical strategies such as second sourcing and inventory management, 'soft' socio strategies have received minimal attention. This chapter highlights socio factors such as relational closeness that are also crucial for supply partners to jointly resolve problems and contributes to the literature on disruption risk management by identifying associations between specific characteristics of relationships between partners, effective risk identification and joint problem resolution. Specifically, the chapter focuses on the dyadic relationships between a global manufacturing firm and its first tier suppliers. This dyad is the first key link in the supply network and the research conclusions may be applied to other dyadic links in the global network of suppliers.