scholarly journals Actor-network Theory and cartography of controversies in Information Science

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-140
Author(s):  
Ramon Fernandes LOURENÇO ◽  
Maria Inês TOMAÉL

Abstract The present study aims to discuss the interactions between the Actor-network Theory and the Cartography of Controversies method in Information Science research. A literature review was conducted on books, scholarly articles, and any other sources addressing the Theory-Actor Network and Cartography of Controversies. The understanding of the theoretical assumptions that guide the Network-Actor Theory allows examining important aspects to Information Science research, seeking to identify the relationships between information, people, and technological equipment in the structure of information flows that create intricate information sharing networks. This interaction between the Actor-network theory and Information Science highlights the role of the research method Cartography of Controversies as an approach that results from the use of the Actor-network theory to investigate the creation of sociotechnical networks.

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-126
Author(s):  
Karolina Żyniewicz

The aim of the text is to present the use of the analytical autoethnographic method in studying the “art&science” phenomenon. It is attempt to show that the role of the artist can combine with the role of the ethnographer. The objects of study are the multilevel relations emerging during the realization of artistic projects in biological laboratories. These relations concern both humans (the artist, the scientists) and non-humans (laboratory organisms, equipment). On the basis of actor-network theory, the author presents how the liminal status of ethnographic research is modified when it connects with art. The form of conducting the research is both an example of activity in the art and science field and a new methodological proposal for the study of science and technology.


Author(s):  
Marianne Harbo Frederiksen ◽  
Stoyan Tanev

Creativity is often conceptualized as actions and outcomes related to the creation of novel and useful ideas within the context of the development of new products. It is usually positioned in the activities of designers who play the role of “the creator”. In this paper the authors suggest “changing the subject” to consumers by claiming that creativity plays a key role in the adoption phase when they attempt to address their needs and preferences by appropriating the use value of everyday technological products. They emphasize that the product value perception which makes a potential consumer buy is the result of this consumer's own activities and efforts. Thus, the intensity of consumers' creative activities becomes a critical adoption factor. The authors suggest that activity-based approaches such as actor-network theory and activity theory could be quite appropriate in studying the dynamics and the design of new product adoption, and offer a comparative analysis indicating that actor-network theory has a greater potential to contribute to the interplay between consumer creativity and technology adoption research.


Author(s):  
Magdalena Bielenia-Grajewska

In this paper an attempt will be made to show how the grapevine shapes the relations between companies and stakeholders. To narrow the scope of the research, attention will be focused solely on one type of colloquial corporate socializing, namely gossiping. The company, its organizational environment and its relation with gossip are studied by implying the notion of company identity. The interrelation between gossiping and company identity has not been discussed by many researchers, although informal communication as such spans a number of disciplines. Consequently, in this work the author will try to show both the negative and positive sides of gossip in forming corporate communities and their character. Taking into account the growing role of networks in creating and sustaining different types of communication, gossiping is studied through the perspective of Actor-Network Theory that facilitates an understanding of how human beings and non-living entities shape the way company identity is constructed and maintained.


Author(s):  
Bárbara Lúcia Guimarães Alves ◽  
Fred Tavares ◽  
Giselle Gama Torres Ferreira ◽  
Jefferson Fernando Gonçalves Guedes da Costa ◽  
Margarete Ribeiro Tavares ◽  
...  

The contemporaneity is marked, in part, by the Control Society, characterised, among other aspects, by consumption. In this scene, both the material and the immaterial objects come to have value in the market, so that one of the influential tools in this period is the use of sociotechnical networks, also involving the social behaviours of individuals and their desires of belonging. In this perspective, the research aims at analysing the use of the images inherent to the landscape of the Telegraph Rock Trail - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - transmitted in these networks, as an influencing factor in the increase of the number of visitors in this place, having as background to the control society. The study attentive to Bruno Latour's Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which measures the fact that the "human actor" and "non-human" can transform the society. Thus, Facebook posts were analysed from the Cartography of Controversies, which is the operationalisation of the Actor-Network Theory (ANT). For that, the contents of the publications from the years 2015 to 2017 were analysed, in the page called "Pedra do Telégrafo_RJ", with 41 thousand participants. Clues point out that the use of socio-technical networks, in the scope of consumption may have influenced the process of production of the trail, through its transformation into a product that now has market value, through the logic "tourism-commodity".


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Henne

This article offers a transnational analysis of sport for development and peace (SDP) governance, focusing specifically on the role of indicator culture. Building on earlier attempts to use actor-network theory to study law and governance, it illuminates how a focus on indicator culture requires considering how actors, both human and nonhuman, inform SDP governance. It draws upon multi-sited ethnographic research conducted at the United Nations and in Oceania and considers how bureaucratic mechanisms, political and funding mandates, and postcolonial ideologies converge. Taken together, they point to emergent tensions within the broader embrace of indicator culture across domains of governance.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1037969X2096614
Author(s):  
Milena Heinsch ◽  
Tania Sourdin ◽  
Caragh Brosnan ◽  
Hannah Cootes

During the COVID-19 pandemic, courts around the world have introduced a range of technologies to cope with social distancing requirements. Jury trials have been largely delayed, although some jurisdictions moved to remote jury approaches and video conferencing was used extensively for bail applications. While videoconferencing has been used to a more limited extent in the area of sentencing, many were appalled by the news that two people were sentenced to death via Zoom. This article uses actor-network theory (ANT) to explore the role of technology in reshaping the experience of those involved in the sentencing of Punithan Genasan in Singapore.


Author(s):  
Donna D. Rubinoff

This chapter introduces actor-network theory (ANT) as an approach to the analysis and improvement of the use of ICT for development (ICT4D). It argues that ANT helps to conceptualize ICT beyond the technological systems of the conventional “digital divide.” ANT supports thinking about the sociotechnical networks that incorporate humans, hardware, institutions, texts, and policies, etc. into ICT networks. It also supports the inclusion of marginal actors, helps to address development problems from the perspective of those populations, and traces the networks of power that supports their participation or exclusion. The author hopes that the ideas in this chapter will promote further discussion on the topic and the refinement of an analytical framework for ICT4D.


Author(s):  
C. Claire Thomson

This chapter offers Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a toolkit for analysing the often messy and complex networks and relationships involved in the production and distribution of useful cinema. Stressing that ANT is employed in the book as a way of thinking rather than as an explicit framework, the chapter briefly outlines the key principles of ANT and relates them to documentary and informational filmmaking. In particular, the chapter discusses the potential of ANT for rendering visible or audible the many non-human actors in any instance of filmmaking, and for revealing how facts are constructed in documentary and related genres. The institutions, individuals, networks, technologies and other actors involved in mid-twentieth-century Danish informational filmmaking are then mapped. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the role of the archive and the researcher in the network of any given film, explaining how contemporary archival practices, especially digital technologies, are creating new dispositifs for historical informational film.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Budi Harsanto ◽  
Chrisna T. Permana

PurposeThis study aims to explore the development of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI) in the cultural village. SOI has recently generated widespread interest, both academically and practically, by factoring in environmental and social impacts in addition to economic aspects. However, previous works have mostly been performed at profit organisations, with few discussed at the non-profit, and likewise, in the cultural village.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a qualitative approach by focusing on a unique case, Laweyan Batik Village in Surakarta, Indonesia. Founded in the 15th century, Laweyan Batik Village remains the oldest batik village in Indonesia. Batik is the traditional fabric of Indonesia, influenced by Arabian, Chinese and European patterns, that was recognised in 2009 by UNESCO as part of the World's Intangible Cultural Heritage. The actor-network theory (ANT) is used as an analytical framework to understand the process of SOI development through the role of actors in developing innovations.FindingsThe findings suggest that, it is not only in mainstream business sectors and formal settings, as already evidenced by existing literature, that SOI can be promoted, but also in community sectors and within informal settings. This paper has found that the development of sustainability innovation in these settings is challenged by the dynamics of the actors and the institutional settings. The overall development process of sustainability innovation has been undertaken through so-called “collaborative practices”, emphasising the involvement of government actors and non-government actors, highlighting community leaders, academics and NGOs as the “in-between” actors who provide knowledge sharing and maintain communications to ensure the promotion of the SOI concepts and programmes.Originality/valueThis research contributes in two main ways: first, an understanding of the process of sustainability innovation in a cultural village that has not been deeply explored by current literature; and second, the use of the actor network theory as an analytical framework from which to map the process of SOI collaborative development through networking dimensions.


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