scholarly journals Human Folly and Border Fences: Looking to Non-Human Actors at the Indo–Bangladesh Border

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Uddipta Ranjan Boruah
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Erosion And Deposition ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
General Symmetry ◽  
International Borders ◽  
International Boundary ◽  
Human Actors

The obsession with inter-state territorial borders and the associated paraphernalia of border management and security makes borders and their management a primarily human-centric discourse. This paper makes an attempt at introducing the agency of rivers as non-human actors—or rather as actants—in shaping and managing international borders. The paper looks specifically at the riverine sector of the Indo-Bangladesh border, where the international boundary has been re-negotiated each year by the transnational rivers, primarily the Brahmaputra (also the Gangadhar), through flooding, erosion, and deposition of sediment. By interrogating the role of rivers in shaping the border and border management strategies, the paper argues that humans, despite persisting as the primary agents in border management, are not the only actors. Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), a case is made to appreciate the general symmetry between humans and non-humans as a-priori equal. Incorporating both in an actor-network may provide insights into border management in complex borderlands. 

Mapping Messiness: The Informational Film Archive and Actor-Network Theory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Claire Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
The Many ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Archival Practices

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.

scholarly journals ICT - an ally and an alien The role of ICT in Swedish popular adult education organisations

Seminar.net ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunilla Jedeskog ◽  
Inger Landström
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Information And Communication Technology ◽  
Communication Technology ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Network Interaction ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Human Actors

This article is focused on Swedish folk high schools and study associations as organisational settings (and not explicitly at teaching efforts and educational activities). It concerns results from a research project about introducing and implementing information and communication technology (ICT) in these value based organisations. Our research has mainly been conducted through interviews with people engaged on different organisational levels. In this article empirical results are analysed in relation to actor-network theory (ANT). Human and non-human actors are linked together in a web of relationships referred to as an actor-network. Interaction among actors, contradictory roles of ICT and relations to essential values in these organisations are discussed.

The symmetry principle and the concept of time in actor-network theory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Akulov
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Ontological Status ◽  
Symmetry Principle ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Human Actors

The article addresses some problems of interpreting the symmetry principle and the concept of time in actor-network theory (ANT). The relationships between human and non-human actors constitute the basis for one of the key theses in ANT, which is the principle of generalised symmetry. However, the principle of symmetry does not seem to be strictly observed in many works by ANT proponents. This is also true for relationships between heterogeneous actors, as well as for the link between space and time. A series of discussions on the role of actors and the very concept of actor in ANT can be noticed in the writings of both the main architects and followers of actor-network theory (B. Latour, J. Law, A. Mol, A. Hennion, etc.). The analysis of ANT texts suggests that, first, assumptions about relativity are partial and incomplete; second, the actors do not have an equal ontological status.

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.

Το αστικό λαϊκό τραγούδι του ελλαδικού χώρου κατά την περίοδο των πρώιμων ηχογραφήσεων

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Σπήλιος Κούνας
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network

Η παρούσα διατριβή διερευνά την οντολογία των τροπικών μοντέλων της μουσικής στις πρώιμες ηχογραφήσεις του ελληνόφωνου αστικού λαϊκού τραγουδιού, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τις ιδιαιτερότητες που απορρέουν από τον προφορικό τους χαρακτήρα, καθώς και από την διαπολιτισμική τους φύση. Οι «δρόμοι» που αποτελούν τον θεμέλιο λίθο αυτής της τροπικότητας είναι ένα πεδίο εξαιρετικού μουσικολογικού ενδιαφέροντος, που ωστόσο αντιστέκεται στην συστηματική προσέγγιση. Ποιος είναι ο βαθμός συνέπειας στην χρήση της σχετικής ονοματολογίας και πώς αυτή μπορεί να αξιολογηθεί ως εργαλείο για την σύνθεση, τον αυτοσχεδιασμό και την εν γένει αισθητική του εν λόγω ρεπερτορίου; Η παρούσα έρευνα προτείνει την συγκριτική ανάλυση των σωζόμενων ιστορικών ηχογραφήσεων, εκκινώντας από την a priori κατηγοριοποίηση ανά μουσικό τρόπο, η οποία προκύπτει από τις σχετικές ενδείξεις που συνοδεύουν την αναγραφή του τίτλου στις ετικέτες των δίσκων 78 στροφών.Οι αναγραφές αυτές προσφέρουν μια πολύτιμη ένδειξη από την πλευρά των ίδιων των κοινωνικών δρώντων. Η ένδειξη αυτή είναι μοναδική, δεδομένου του ότι δεν διαθέτουμε άλλες αναφορές στον τρόπο με τον οποίον χρησιμοποιούνται οι σχετικές ονοματολογίες, αφού δεν μας έχει παραδοθεί καμιάς μορφής θεωρητικό πόνημα ή σχόλιο σύγχρονο της υπό μελέτης περιόδου.Με αφετηρία την ως άνω κατηγοριοποίηση, επιχειρείται στη συνέχεια μια συστηματική μουσικολογική ανάλυση των ηχογραφημάτων που αυτο-κατατάσσονται στην κατηγορία ματζόρε, μέσα από την καταγραφή και τον σχολιασμό της μορφής και του συντακτικού τους. Με τον τρόπο αυτό, η «αρχαιολογία» των μουσικών τρόπων προσφέρει τη δυνατότητα θεώρησης ζητημάτων τα οποία αφορούν την μουσική υφολογία και επιτέλεση. Μεταξύ αυτών συγκαταλέγονται ο ρόλος του οργανολογίου, της σύνθεσης ορχήστρας και των συνθετών στην διαμόρφωση των ειδολογικών μουσικών χαρακτηριστικών, η συμβολή της βιομηχανίας της δισκογραφίας, η αλληλεπίδραση με μουσικές ετερότητες και ο ρόλος των μουσικών δικτύων, καθώς και η επίδραση ιστορικών και κοινωνικών φαινομένων.Το εγχείρημα της σκιαγράφησης μουσικών έξεων και κατ’ επέκταση συλλογικών γνωστικών δομών, λόγω της συνθήκης της προφορικότητας των μελετώμενων πολιτισμικών πρακτικών, δεν είναι εφικτό χωρίς μια διεπιστημονική προσέγγιση, η οποία διασφαλίζεται εδώ με την αξιοποίηση μεθοδολογικών και εννοιολογικών προσεγγίσεων των κοινωνικών επιστημών, και πιο συγκεκριμένα της Actor-Network Theory. Μέσα από το πρίσμα αυτό, η μουσικολογία του αστικού λαϊκού τραγουδιού ολοκληρώνεται με μια απόπειρα επαναδιαπραγμάτευσης ζητημάτων τα οποία αφορούν σε κοινωνικές και πολιτισμικές πρακτικές που σχετίζονται με το ρεπερτόριο που χαρακτηρίζεται στον τρέχοντα λόγο ως «ρεμπέτικο».

scholarly journals Art&science. Autoetnografia artystki realizującej projekty w laboratoriach biologicznych

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-126
Author(s):  
Karolina Żyniewicz
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Art And Science ◽  
Science Field ◽  
Actor Network

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.

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?”

Consumer Creativity as a Prerequisite for the Adoption of New Technological Products

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-69
Author(s):  
Marianne Harbo Frederiksen ◽  
Stoyan Tanev
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
New Product Adoption ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Value Perception ◽  
Potential Consumer ◽  
Adoption Research ◽  
Consumer Creativity ◽  
Technological Products

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.

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