scholarly journals Building Bridges

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-143
Author(s):  
Stefan Laser
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Cultural Anthropology ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
The One

This paper discusses three recent book publications devoted to a detailed description and reflection of methodology. These are three different contributions that focus on different disciplinary approaches to STS methods: sociology (via Meier zu Verl's monograph "Daten-Karrieren und epistemische Materialität" [Data Careers and Epistemic Materiality]), cultural anthropology (represented by Estalella's and Criado's edited volume "Experimental Collaborations") and, across these discussions, an interdisciplinary lens (brought in by Wiedmann et al.'s "Wie forschen mit den' Science and Technology Studies'?" [How to do research with 'Science and Technology Studies'?]). Based on these publications, a transformation of STS method reflection can be traced. We have now arrived at the gratifying state that the methods literature aims to build bridges to mediate between methodological ideals on the one hand and research realities on the other. At the same time, the field creatively reflects on the diverse effects of STS method practices.

The jar and the footbridge. Humanities, nature and culture in the view of science and technology studies and biosemiotics

Tekstualia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (62) ◽  
pp. 15-30
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Machtyl
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Human Subject ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bruno Latour ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
The One

The paper aims at juxtaposing two main disciplines: science and technology studies, on the one hand, and biosemiotics, on the other, from the methodological perspective (i.e. concerning epistemology and methodology) and the ontological one (concerning the object of research). Thus, the analysis concerns the opposition of naturalism and antinaturalism in reference to the huma-nities and sciences and nature / culture in reference to the field of study. Science and technology studies (Bruno Latour) and biosemiotics are of key importance in challenging two kinds of binarism: the humanities vs. sciences and nature vs. culture. The discussion further touches upon the question of how the human subject can know nature as well as the issue of discourse, language, reference and the scientifi c text. A critical perspective on science, proposed by both science and technology studies and biosemiotics, possibly anticipates a revolution.

Disciplinary Translations

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-250
Author(s):  
Casper Bruun Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Research Community ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Studies ◽  
Knowledge Change ◽  
Technical Mediation ◽  
The One ◽  
Nonhuman Agency ◽  
Instructive Case

Early in his career, Bruno Latour’s limited readership consisted mainly of the research community in science and technology studies (STS) that he helped to inaugurate. Today the situation could hardly be more different. Latour is now subject to the “translations”—the processes by which ideas travel—that he has provided such powerful tools for analyzing. He has become a “mutable mobile”—eminently transportable but always changing as he goes—that in different contexts exists as a variety of conceptual characters or figurations. As the Latour network continues to see significant extensions and transformations, it offers an instructive case for understanding the potentials and dynamics of traveling texts and ideas—and of their relation to existing disciplinary formations—as ecologies of knowledge change. This article examines the reception and adaptation of Latour’s ideas in two quite different intellectual contexts: anthropology and literary studies. The proliferation of Latour figurations is shown to be a consequence of interactions between, on the one hand, existing disciplinary constellations of ideas, concerns, and practices, and, on the other hand, his own often ambiguous arguments on topics including theory and method, nonhuman agency and politics, and technical mediation.

scholarly journals The seven rules for hydrologists and other researchers wanting to contribute to the water management practice

2008 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 843-864
Author(s):  
E. Mostert ◽  
G. T. Raadgever
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Research Utilization ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Water Management Practice ◽  
Specific Expertise ◽  
Made In

Abstract. This paper addresses the question how hydrologists and other researchers can best contribute to the water management practice. It reviews the literature in the field of science and technology studies and research utilization and presents the results in the form of seven "rules" for researchers. These are (1) Reflect on the nature and possible roles of research; (2) Analyse the stakeholders and issues at stake; (3) Choose whom and what to serve; (4) Decide on your strategy; (5) Design the process to implement your strategy; (6) Communicate!; and (7) Consider your possibilities and limitations. Key notions in this paper are that research always involves selection and interpretation and that the selection and interpretations made in a specific case always reflect the values and preferences of those involved. Collaboration between the researchers and the other stakeholders can increase the legitimacy and utilization of the research and can prevent that the specific expertise of the researchers is lost.

scholarly journals An introduction to Crafting Sustainability – exploring the interconnections between sustainability and craft

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-7
Author(s):  
Roger Andre Søraa ◽  
Håkon Fyhn
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
The Other ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Problems And Solutions

Sustainability has become a critical issue, calling for new conceptualizations of both problems and solutions. This special issue of the Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies,  explore the concept of “Crafting Sustainability”. Sustainability is a hot topic in contemporary scholarly debates, with methodological, theoretical, and conceptual contributions from a wide array of research areas, also from Science and Technology Studies. Craft on the other hand has been less of a focal point, although all humans relate to craft on some level.

scholarly journals Transforming Society Through Pilot and Demonstration Projects

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Marianne Ryghaug ◽  
Tomas Moe Skjølsvold
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Agency ◽  
Societal Change ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Technical Aspects ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Current Energy

AbstractThis chapter introduces pilot and demonstration projects as a key mode of innovation within contemporary energy and mobility transitions. It argues that such projects are important political sites for the production of future socio-technical order. The politics of such projects are contested: on the one hand, they have been argued to remove political agency from deliberative fora in favour of private decisions, on the other hand they have been argued to constitute new democratic opportunities. This chapter situates a discussion on these issues within Science and Technology Studies (STS). The chapter further discusses the relationship between STS and some of the currently dominating approaches to sustainability transitions and argues how STS can bring new insights to the study of energy transitions and societal change. The chapter also provides basic insights into some key social and technical aspects of current energy and mobility transitions.

scholarly journals Cybersecurity Research Meets Science and Technology Studies

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 22-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Dunn Cavelty
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Circulation Of Knowledge

This article sets out to show how different understandings of technology as suggested by Science and Technology Studies (STS) help reveal different political facets of cybersecurity. Using cybersecurity research as empirical site, it is shown that two separate ways of understanding cybertechnologies are prevalent in society. The primary one sees cybertechnologies as apolitical, flawed, material objects that need to be fixed in order to create more security; the other understands them as mere political tools in the hands of social actors without considering technological (im)possibilities. This article suggests a focus on a third understanding to bridge the uneasy gap between the two others: technology defined as an embodiment of societal knowledge. The article posits that in line with that, the study of cyberpolitics would benefit from two innovations: a focus on cybersecurity as social practice―enacted and stabilized through the circulation of knowledge about vulnerabilities―and a focus on the practices employed in the discovery, exploitation and removal of those vulnerabilities.

scholarly journals Expertise in Political Contexts: Latour Avec the Third Wave in Science and Technology Studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-21
Author(s):  
David S Caudill
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Wave Theory ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Willful Ignorance ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Scientific Controversies ◽  
Scientific Expertise

The interdiscipline of science and technology studies (‘STS’) has been characterized by its descriptive analyses of the presumptions and practices of scientific communities, and by numerous theoretical internal debates over the proper framework of analysis of science. While STS has not been characterized by a powerful effect on law and government, both of which are consumers of scientific expertise, an opportunity arises for engagement in public policy disputes due to the willful ignorance regarding science in the Trump administration, and the negative effects of political agendas and conflicts of interest therein. The urgent need for reliable expertise in such political contexts is addressed in the so-called third wave of STS that is based on Harry Collins and Rob Evans’s innovative ‘architecture of expertise.’ Two recent book chapters, namely Darrin Durant’s essay on ignoring experts and Martin Weinel’s essay on counterfeit scientific controversies, serve as practical examples of third-wave theory. Bruno Latour, who was engaged in a debate with Collins (and others in STS) concerning their respective approaches during the 1990s, also recently addressed the need for expertise (particularly climate expertise) in government contexts. Nowadays, Collins and Latour both promote consensus expertise and identify its reliance (for its authority) on science as a trusted institution. This article compares the similarities (and acknowledges the differences) between Collins and Latour with respect to their pragmatic strategies, and concludes that notwithstanding internal debates, STS scholars should join Collins (with Evans) and Latour to look outward toward critique and correction of governments that ignore scientific expertise.

Science as system vs. science as practice: Luhmann's sociology of science and recent approaches in science and technology studies (STS)—a fragmentary confrontation

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Taschwer
Keyword(s):  
Systems Theory ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Sociology Of Science ◽  
Niklas Luhmann ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Autopoietic Systems ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
The One

The last twenty years not only saw the development of a distinctive systems theory by Niklas Luhmann, but also the emergence of a transdisciplinary field called science and technology studies (STS), which emanated from the older sociology of science. This contribution is dedicated to a basic confrontation of theoretical approaches in “new” STS with Luhmann's sociology of science as a part of his theory of society. On the one hand, I want to depict some similarities between both approaches, i.e. the linguistic/semiotic turn, relativism and reflexivism. On the other hand, in the second section, I try to show some of the major differences between recent STS theories and Luhmann's autopoietic systems theory. Basic distinctions are identified with regard to the perception of science (closed system vs. “seamless web”) and the different scope of the theories. This finally leads to the modest conclusion that these conceptualizations can hardly be integrated and thus reflect the complexity of contemporary science - both as “subject” and “object”.

scholarly journals Trois regards sur la notion de « culture chinoise »

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-116
Author(s):  
Basile Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Interactional Expertise ◽  
General Argument ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Chinese Studies

Abstract Chinese studies are going through a period of reforms. This article appraises what could constitute the theoretical and methodological foundations of contemporary sinology today. The author suggests an approach of “Chinese culture” by drawing from recent frameworks of Science and Technology Studies (STS). The paper starts with current debates in Asian studies, followed by a historical overview of the concept of culture in anthropology. Then, two short case studies are presented with regard to two different STS approaches: studies of expertise and experience and the notion of interactional expertise, and the framework of waves and forms. A general argument is thereby sketched which suggests how “Chinese culture” can be understood from the perspective of materiality.

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