Practice and Technology

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kjeld Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Turning Points ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Cooperative Work ◽  
Computer Supported Cooperative Work ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
Crucial Question

The emergence of practice-centered computing (e.g., Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, or CSCW) raises the crucial question: How can we conceptualize the practices into which the prospective technology is to be integrated? How can we, reasonably, say of two observed activities or events that they are, or are not, instances of the same type? These are crucial questions. This chapter therefore attempts to clarify the concepts of “practice” and “technique.” First, since our ordinary concepts of “practice” and “technique” developed as part of the evolution of modern technology, as tools for practitioners’ and scholars’ reflections on the role of technical knowledge in work, the chapter outlines the major turning points in the evolution of these concepts, from Aristotle (via the scholastics), to enlightenment thinkers such as Diderot and Kant, and finally to Marx and Marxism. The chapter thereafter moves on to analyze the concepts as we use them today in ordinary discourse.

A Bridge Too Far?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte P. Lee ◽  
Kjeld Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Cooperative Work ◽  
Computer Supported Cooperative Work ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
Systems Research ◽  
Information Infrastructures ◽  
Information Systems Research ◽  
Critical Investigation

The study of computing infrastructures has grown significantly due to the rapid proliferation and ubiquity of large-scale IT-based installations. At the same time, recognition has also grown of the usefulness of such studies as a means for understanding computing infrastructures as material complements of practical action. Subsequently the concept of “infrastructure” (or “information infrastructures,” “cyberinfrastructures,” and “infrastructuring”) has gained increasing importance in the area of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) as well as in neighboring areas such as Information Systems research (IS) and Science and Technology Studies (STS). However, as such studies have unfolded, the very concept of “infrastructure” is being applied in different discourses, for different purposes, in myriad different senses. Consequently, the concept of “infrastructure” has become increasingly muddled and needs clarification. The chapter presents a critical investigation of the vicissitudes of the concept of “infrastructure” over the last 35 years.

scholarly journals shARe-IT: Ad hoc Remote Troubleshooting through Augmented Reality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Ludwig ◽  
Oliver Stickel ◽  
Peter Tolmie ◽  
Malte Sellmer
Keyword(s):  
Augmented Reality ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Cooperative Work ◽  
Computer Supported Cooperative Work ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Articulation Work ◽  
Remote Collaboration ◽  
Expertise Sharing ◽  
A Minor

Abstract10 years ago, Castellani et al. (Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, vol. 18, no. 2–3, 2009, pp. 199–227, 2009) showed that using just an audio channel for remote troubleshooting can lead to a range of problems and already envisioned a future in which augmented reality (AR) could solve many of these issues. In the meantime, AR technologies have found their way into our everyday lives and using such technologies to support remote collaboration has been widely studied within the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. In this paper, we contribute to this body of research by reporting on an extensive empirical study within a Fab Lab of troubleshooting and expertise sharing and the potential relevance of articulation work to their realization. Based on the findings of this study, we derived design challenges that led to an AR-based concept, implemented as a HoloLens application, called shARe-it. This application is designed to support remote troubleshooting and expertise sharing through different communication channels and AR-based interaction modalities. Early testing of the application revealed that novel interaction modalities such as AR-based markers and drawings play only a minor role in remote collaboration due to various limiting factors. Instead, the transmission of a shared view and especially arriving at a shared understanding of the situation as a prerequisite for articulation work continue to be the decisive factors in remote troubleshooting.

scholarly journals Towards a Glass New World: The Role of Ion-Exchange in Modern Technology

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4610
Author(s):  
Simone Berneschi ◽  
Giancarlo C. Righini ◽  
Stefano Pelli
Keyword(s):  
Ion Exchange ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
High Speed ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Happy Marriage

Glasses, in their different forms and compositions, have special properties that are not found in other materials. The combination of transparency and hardness at room temperature, combined with a suitable mechanical strength and excellent chemical durability, makes this material indispensable for many applications in different technological fields (as, for instance, the optical fibres which constitute the physical carrier for high-speed communication networks as well as the transducer for a wide range of high-performance sensors). For its part, ion-exchange from molten salts is a well-established, low-cost technology capable of modifying the chemical-physical properties of glass. The synergy between ion-exchange and glass has always been a happy marriage, from its ancient historical background for the realisation of wonderful artefacts, to the discovery of novel and fascinating solutions for modern technology (e.g., integrated optics). Getting inspiration from some hot topics related to the application context of this technique, the goal of this critical review is to show how ion-exchange in glass, far from being an obsolete process, can still have an important impact in everyday life, both at a merely commercial level as well as at that of frontier research.

scholarly journals Harnessing SmartPhones to Personalize Nutrition in a Time of Global Pandemic

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 422
Author(s):  
Niv Zmora ◽  
Eran Elinav
Keyword(s):  
Modern Technology ◽  
Machine Learning Algorithms ◽  
Medical Attention ◽  
Nutritional Interventions ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Healthy Nutrition ◽  
Food Diaries ◽  
Physical Interactions

The soar in COVID-19 cases around the globe has forced many to adapt to social distancing and self-isolation. In order to reduce contact with healthcare facilities and other patients, the CDC has advocated the use of telemedicine, i.e., electronic information and telecommunication technology. While these changes may disrupt normal behaviors and routines and induce anxiety, resulting in decreased vigilance to healthy diet and physical activity and reluctance to seek medical attention, they may just as well be circumvented using modern technology. Indeed, as the beginning of the pandemic a plethora of alternatives to conventional physical interactions were introduced. In this Perspective, we portray the role of SmartPhone applications (apps) in monitoring healthy nutrition, from their basic functionality as food diaries required for simple decision-making and nutritional interventions, through more advanced purposes, such as multi-dimensional data-mining and development of machine learning algorithms. Finally, we will delineate the emerging field of personalized nutrition and introduce pioneering technologies and concepts yet to be incorporated in SmartPhone-based dietary surveillance.

Embodying the Tragic Father(s): Autobiography and Intertextuality in Aristophanes

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 278-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Telò
Keyword(s):  
Turning Points ◽  
Generation Gap ◽  
The Relationship

This paper examines the role of the generation gap in Aristophanes' construction of his persona throughout Wasps, Clouds, and Peace. It contends that in Wasps and Clouds Aristophanes defines the relationship with his audience and his rivals by presenting himself as the figure of a paternal son. The same stance shapes the comic poet's generic self-positioning in the initial scene of Peace, where the parody of Euripides' Aeolus and Bellerophon evinces a corrective attitude in relation not only to the troubled images of fatherhood offered in the two tragic plays, but also to Aristophanes' unsuccessful performances as a paternal son in his earlier comedies. Euripidean intertextuality thus serves as a discursive medium through which Aristophanes dramatizes the turning points of his poetic autobiography.

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