Ephemerality as Data Prevention: Values for an Ethics of Ephemeral Mobile Media

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-435
Author(s):  
Sarah Welsh
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Shared Values ◽  
Ethical Framework ◽  
Data Retention ◽  
Mobile Media ◽  
Response Data ◽  
Human Actors

Mobile media is a chief driver of digitizing locational information, geotags, and photos that are produced and collected as we communicate with and exist within our networks. But when these data are stored and recorded—in quantities that far exceed any of our abilities to manage—mobile technology denies our ability to actively forget. This article argues that digital ephemerality via mobile applications (i.e. Snapchat, Signal, Confide, and Facebook Messenger Secret) has emerged because of the granular possibilities for data retention enabled by mobile devices. Together these applications move towards a practice of preventing data from being stored and shared. In response, “data prevention” is proposed as an ethical framework for ephemeral mobile media, and is theorized with an eye toward the distributed agency inherent to networks. This ethics is positioned within a framework of distributed agency across stakeholders that draws most directly from actor–network theory, and three commonly articulated values—trust, transparency, and privacy—are proposed. These values help to define a system of networked practices within ephemeral mobile media that requires consideration of both human and non-human actors. Building sustainable ephemeral technologies necessitates aligning shared values amongst divergent stakeholders. The article concludes by motioning to LIMITS research, where data prevention might be included, linking and further intensifying shared values across technical and social concerns.

How Artefacts Do Leadership: A Ventriloquial Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 089331892199807
Author(s):  
Jonathan Clifton ◽  
Fernando Fachin ◽  
François Cooren
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Communication ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Distributed Leadership ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Human Actors

To date there has been little work that uses fine-grained interactional analyses of the in situ doing of leadership to make visible the role of non-human as well as human actants in this process. Using transcripts of naturally-occurring interaction as data, this study seeks to show how leadership is co-achieved by artefacts as an in-situ accomplishment. To do this we situate this study within recent work on distributed leadership and argue that it is not only distributed across human actors, but also across networks that include both human and non-human actors. Taking a discursive approach to leadership, we draw on Actor Network Theory and adopt a ventriloquial approach to sociomateriality as inspired by the Montreal School of organizational communication. Findings indicate that artefacts “do” leadership when a hybrid presence is made relevant to the interaction and when this presence provides authoritative grounds for influencing others to achieve the group’s goals.

The Impact of Network of Actors on the Information Technology

2011 ◽  
pp. 234-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiko Iyamu ◽  
Arthur Tatnall
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
It Strategy ◽  
Web Portal ◽  
Computing Environment ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
The Impact

Organisations’ reliance on Information Technology (IT) is rapidly increasing. IT strategy is developed and implemented for particular purposes by different organizations. We should therefore expect that there will be network of actors within the computing environment, and that such network of actors will be the key to understanding many otherwise unexpected situations during the development and implementation of IT strategy. This network of actors has aligned interests. Many organizations are developing and implementing their IT strategy, while little is known about the network of actors and their impacts, which this paper reveals. This paper describes how Actor-Network Theory (ANT) was employed to investigate the impact of network of actors on the development and implementation of IT strategy in an organisation. ANT was used as it can provide a useful perspective on the importance of relationships between both human and non-human actors. Another example: design and implementation of a B-B web portal, is offered for comparison.

Talking about Associations and Descriptions or a Short Story about Associology

2017 ◽  
pp. 220-233
Author(s):  
Beate Ochsner
Keyword(s):  
Short Story ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Agency And Structure

In 1999, Bruno Latour advocated for “abandoning what was wrong with ANT, that is ‘actor,' ‘network,' ‘theory' without forgetting the hyphen.” However, it seems that the “hyphen,” which brings with it the operation of hyphenating or connecting, was abandoned too quickly. If one investigates what something is by asking what it is meant as well as how it emerges, by (re-)tracing the strategy in materials in situated practices and sets of relations, and, by bypassing the distinction between agency and structure, one shifts from studying “what causes what” to describing “how things happen.” This perspective not only makes it necessary for us to clarify the changing positions and displacements of human and non-human actors in the assemblage, but, also question the role (the enrolment) of the researcher him/herself: What kind of “relation” connects the researcher to his/her research and associates him/her with the subject, how to prevent (or not) his/her own involvement, and, to what degree s/he ignores the relationality of his/her writing in a “sociology of association?”

Gene, Genomics and Networks

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Manoj Vimal
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Life Science ◽  
Genetic Disorders ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Human Genomics ◽  
Genomics Research ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Tools And Techniques ◽  
Human Genetic Disorders

Innovations in biomedical research have the potential to transform the healthcare diagnostics. Human genomics research is another approach which provides new tools and techniques by which life science researchers hope will help in predicting susceptibility towards common diseases. In this backdrop, this paper attempts to explore at the intersection of health, technology and society by attempting to understand as how human genomics approach can help the life scientists to unravel the disease susceptibility in case of human genetic disorders. Actor-Network Theory has been deployed as a theoretical framework as it gives some agency to non-human actors along with human actors. It has been argued in this paper that non-human ‘actants' play a decisive role in case of human genomics research. Rise of human genomics has been traced since the term ‘genomics' was first coined to the present day's promise and hope generated by the advances in human genomics. Some misconceptions and clarifications regarding ANT have also been discussed in this paper.

Actor-Network Theory and the Online Investor

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
Arthur Adamopoulos ◽  
Martin Dick ◽  
Bill Davey
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Theory Research ◽  
The Way

An actor-network analysis of the way in which online investors use Internet-based services has revealed a phenomenon that is not commonly reported in actor-network theory research. An aspect of the research that emerged from interviews of a wide range of online investors is a peculiar effect of changes in non-human actors on the human actors. In this paper, the authors report on the particular case and postulate that this effect may be found, if looked for, in many other actor-network theory applications.

scholarly journals Secured and Sorted Mobilities: Examples from the Airport.

2002 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Adey
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
International Travel ◽  
Shopping Malls ◽  
Surveillance Studies ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Global Movements ◽  
Human Actors

Surveillance is increasingly focused upon mobility. Be it in cities, shopping malls or outdoor 'public' spaces, surveillance is now able to track and monitor peoples movements. In recent years the most diverse forms of surveillance have been found at airports, yet paradoxically these spaces remain largely invisible within surveillance studies literature. This paper discusses a taxonomy of surveillance at the airport where several scales of mobility intersect – the global movements of international travel to local scale terminal activity. These are put under surveillance by techniques such as the passport and modern CCTV technologies. This paper illustrates the surveillant sorting that is perhaps most illustrative of airport surveillance, where airports can be seen to act as filters (Lyon, 2003) to the mobilities that pass through them. Using an Actor Network Theory (ANT) approach, trends to monitor the 'means of terrorism' are discussed in regard to the monitoring of objects and actors. The paper continues to critique the way by which we tend to focus chiefly upon the human subject of surveillance, often disregarding the surveillance of non-human actors.

Lice work: Non-human trajectories in volunteer tourism

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amira Benali ◽  
Carina Ren
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Head Lice ◽  
Volunteer Tourism ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Volunteer Experiences ◽  
Human Actors

This article studies volunteer tourism by following the trajectories of a non-human actor. Based on fieldwork at a Nepalese orphanage and drawing on insights from the material semiotics of Actor–Network Theory, we describe how the louse interferes as an unexpected actor with volunteer tourism at the orphanage. This post-human approach decentres the volunteer and destabilises the host–guest binary while adding to our understanding of tourism practices as complex and materially distributed endeavours. We analyse two configurations of head lice enacted through a modern morality of hygiene and Nepalese everyday life and show how they are deployed, contested and reconfigured onsite by volunteer tourism actors. By exploring patterns of absence and presence and using the concept of ontological choreography as an analytical resource, we show how the situated lice work of human and non-human actors at the orphanage offers new ways to grasp the forging of volunteer experiences and subjectivities.

scholarly journals Appearance, Disappearance and Reappearance of Activity Based Costing: A Case Study from a Sri Lankan Manufacturing Firm

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-81
Author(s):  
Chamali Wijerathne ◽  
◽  
Tharusha Gooneratne ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Activity Based Costing ◽  
Manufacturing Firm ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Human Actors

The purpose of this paper was to identify why activity based costing (ABC) implementation in organizations at times do not continue despite their early interest, but later regain importance. Using the qualitative case study approach, the paper explored the reasons for the appearance, disappearance and reappearance of ABC drawing field data from a Sri Lankan porcelain manufacturing firms, called Gamma. Guided by the theoretical underpinnings of the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and the translation process therein, we follow organizational managers (human actors) and their interactions with various objects and systems (non-human actors) within the particular context of Gamma, during the different phases of the ABC project. Our findings suggest that the appearance, disappearance and reappearance of ABC have been shaped by a network of actors comprising both humans and non-humans, and that the implementation and continuation of ABC is constrained by the interests of these various actors both inside and outside of the firm. While most prior research has focused on a single phase of ABC implementation, such as the success or the failure, this study brings out its reappearance, following a phase of appearance and disappearance, hence it is a useful addition to prior literature. Furthermore, the findings of this research have important implications for practitioners who are striving to revive projects, such as ABC in organizations. Keywords: activity based costing, appearance, disappearance, reappearance, actor-network theory, case study

scholarly journals Two Computer Systems in Victorian Schools and the Actors and Networks Involved in their Implementation and Use

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Bill Davey ◽  
Arthur Tatnall
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Computer Systems ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
School Education ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Human Actors

As in Australia school education is the responsibility of State Governments, this article will consider two computer systems in the Australian State of Victoria. The article takes a socio-technical stance to examine two computer systems currently in use in schools in Victoria: CASES21 and the Ultranet. After describing these systems, the article makes use of actor-network theory to explore the actors involved in their creation, development, implementation and use (or in one case non-use), and the networks they established in doing so. It looks at the associations involving both the human and non-human actors and how these contributed to successful adoption and use of these systems. A comparison of two systems within the same organisational environment allows a unique perspective on the formation of networks. The ANT approach permits an understanding of the difference in adoption where very few factors differ between the cases.

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