scholarly journals Bodybuilders as cyborgs: considering the actor-network-theory parallels

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie-Ann J. Bissonnette
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Hair Colour ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Level I ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
Ongoing Dialogue

As a registered female athlete with the Ontario Physiques Association (OPA), I have first hand knowledge of bodybuilding at the non-competitive level. I have attended various figure, fitness and bodybuilding competitions and continue to participate in an ongoing dialogue with competing female bodybuilders. I believe that my first hand knowledge and experience allows me, as a member of this community, to provide a unique and in-depth analysis of the culture of female bodybuilding more profoundly than those outside of it. Adopting the role of participant-observer, I will explore the connection between the female bodybuilder as a cyborg and ANT. I will present my study as a micro-ethnography with autoethnography elements framed as a kind of case-study that incorporates both primary and secondary research. In conjunction with relevant academic literature, my analysis will be informed by my ongoing journal and an analysis of popular bodybuilding literature. I hope to understand how my own decision-making process as well as that of other female bodybuilders is subsequently enculturated into a cyborg's mindset. This study does not consider the ethics of building a body to unnatural proportions. I will not debate whether the choices made by a female bodybuilder are right or wrong. All persons shape their bodies in some way, through the food they decide to eat, the cigarettes they smoke, the tattoo or piercing they acquire or the hair colour they select for this season. I will focus only on the ways we may regard a female bodybuilder as a cyborg and show how ANT may help us better understand this phenomenon. It is, however, important to first understand the history and culture of bodybuilding.

scholarly journals Bodybuilders as cyborgs: considering the actor-network-theory parallels

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie-Ann J. Bissonnette
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Hair Colour ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Level I ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
Ongoing Dialogue

As a registered female athlete with the Ontario Physiques Association (OPA), I have first hand knowledge of bodybuilding at the non-competitive level. I have attended various figure, fitness and bodybuilding competitions and continue to participate in an ongoing dialogue with competing female bodybuilders. I believe that my first hand knowledge and experience allows me, as a member of this community, to provide a unique and in-depth analysis of the culture of female bodybuilding more profoundly than those outside of it. Adopting the role of participant-observer, I will explore the connection between the female bodybuilder as a cyborg and ANT. I will present my study as a micro-ethnography with autoethnography elements framed as a kind of case-study that incorporates both primary and secondary research. In conjunction with relevant academic literature, my analysis will be informed by my ongoing journal and an analysis of popular bodybuilding literature. I hope to understand how my own decision-making process as well as that of other female bodybuilders is subsequently enculturated into a cyborg's mindset. This study does not consider the ethics of building a body to unnatural proportions. I will not debate whether the choices made by a female bodybuilder are right or wrong. All persons shape their bodies in some way, through the food they decide to eat, the cigarettes they smoke, the tattoo or piercing they acquire or the hair colour they select for this season. I will focus only on the ways we may regard a female bodybuilder as a cyborg and show how ANT may help us better understand this phenomenon. It is, however, important to first understand the history and culture of bodybuilding.

Unravelling the Dynamics of IOIS Implementation: An Actor-Network Study of an IOIS in the Seaport of Barcelona

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Rodon ◽  
Joan Antoni Pastor ◽  
Feliciano Sesé ◽  
Ellen Christiaanse
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Technical Process ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Multilevel Study ◽  
Organizational Information ◽  
Fixed Set

Although inter-organizational information systems (IOIS) implementation has been widely studied, mainstream literature has not focused on understanding how implementation unfolds and how the existing components of the installed base shape the process. This paper addresses this gap by conducting a socio-technical, process-oriented, and multilevel study. Based on a longitudinal in-depth case study of the implementation of an industry IOIS, we develop an explication of IOIS implementation that considers the role of the installed base. Using the lens of actor-network theory (ANT), we counter the mainstream IOIS literature by showing that IOIS implementation cannot only be explained by a fixed set of independent factors; instead, the dynamic mutual shaping of socio-technical actors throughout implementation complements existing factor-based models in explaining the evolution and the outcome (success or failure). The study also shows the importance of complying with the technical and non-technical components of the installed base for an IOIS to be successfully initiated.

scholarly journals Paimio Sanatorium under Construction

Arts ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Marianna Heikinheimo
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Construction Period ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Collective Competence ◽  
Under Construction ◽  
Building Project

Alvar Aalto created innovative architecture in his breakthrough work, Paimio Sanatorium, located in Southwestern Finland and designed between 1928 and 1933. This empirical case study looked at the iconic piece of architecture from a new angle by implementing the actor-network theory (ANT). The focus was on how the architecture of the sanatorium came to be. A detailed description of the chronology and administration of the building process enabled observing on the role of the agency of the architect. The study surveyed the cooperation, collaboration, and decision making of the agency during the construction period. The first part of this paper focused on the relations and conditions of producing the sanatorium and analyzed the building through drawings and archive material; the second part linked to the actor-network theory of Bruno Latour and included a discussion on how Aalto managed to bring along the other actors. The study clearly showed the importance of a collaborative effort in a building project. The most special architectural solutions for Paimio Sanatorium, a demanding institutional building project, came into being in circumstances where the architect managed to create a viable network that merged collective competence with material factors.

Toward a process and situated view of compromises

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 835-855
Author(s):  
Anthony Hussenot
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
Process View

Purpose To understand how collaborative work practices emerge and evolve throughout activities, the purpose of this paper is to comprehend the making of compromises from a process view. Compromises are here understood as constantly evolving throughout activities. Design/methodology/approach The author relies on the Actor-Network Theory to define two dynamics participating in the making of compromises: the translation and the association. These two dynamics are then illustrated with a case study about the development of a Human Resource Management device that took place in a bank in Luxembourg. From this case, the author focuses on the emergence of various compromises about the project’s purpose. Findings Based on the insights brought by the theoretical framework and case studies, compromise is understood as a temporary result of the translations and associations between humans and non-humans. Compromise is also anything that is shared by actors (meaning, categories, objectives, etc). that enables them to make their collective activity possible. This process view of compromises makes three contributions: it fully recognizes that compromise is not stable but situated in practices, it highlights the mediating role of compromises and it insists on the interrelation between compromises throughout the activity. Originality/value The matter of compromise has mainly been studied from a moral standpoint as a stable agreement, whatever the context. This article also provides an alternative approach to understanding compromise as situated in practices.

scholarly journals Socio-Technical Relations in the Creation of an Interest-Driven Open Course

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 408-422
Author(s):  
Marisa Ponti
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Exploratory Case Study ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Technological Space

The aim of this article is to present the findings from a small exploratory case study of an open course on cyberpunk literature conducted at the Peer 2 Peer University (P2PU), an online grassroots organisation that runs non-accredited courses. Employing actor network theory to inform an ethnographic-inductive approach, the case study sought to understand the performative effects of technologies on the creation of forms of learning and forms of presence in a setting of peer-based learning. The research data included observation of discussions in an online forum and chats, course participants' blogs and P2PU's organisational documentation. Three main findings emerged from a thematic analysis: (1) the participatory role of technology in the course was characterised by the use of an array of different open source and free tools, most of which were not integrated within the P2PU platform – and this fluid technological space arguably led to a decentralised network; (2) people with different backgrounds affiliated around their common passion for the cyberpunk literature and the artefacts associated with it; and (3) knowledge was distributed and dispersed across many different people and artefacts, bringing about a shift from the subject-authority pattern of relations generally associated with teacher-led education to the agential pattern of relations associated with peer-led education, in which the course organiser and participants can have the same level of influence.

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.

Institutionalized Education: Journalism and Mass Communication Education in Pakistan

2021 ◽  
pp. 1326365X2110096
Author(s):  
David Bockino ◽  
Amir Ilyas
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Communication Education ◽  
Organizational Field ◽  
The World ◽  
Mass Communication Education

This article uses an examination of journalism and mass communication (JMC) education in Pakistan as a case study to explore the consequences of increased homogenization of JMC education around the world. Anchored by a qualitative method that relies heavily on actor-network theory, the study identifies key moments and people in the trajectory of five Pakistani programmes and explores the connection between these programmes and the larger JMC organizational field. The study concludes by questioning the efficacy of the current power structures within the supranational JMC organizational field before discussing how these influences could potentially be mitigated moving forward.

Friends of Rose Canyon

2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Wiese
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
First Century ◽  
Grassroots Politics ◽  
History Of ◽  
University City ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
The Rose

Place-based activism has played a critical role in the history of urban and environmental politics in California. This article explores the continuing significance of environmental place making to grassroots politics through a case study of Friends of Rose Canyon, an environmental group in San Diego. Based in the fast-growing University City neighborhood, Friends of Rose Canyon waged a long, successful campaign between 2002 and 2018 to prevent construction of a bridge in the Rose Canyon Open Space Park in their community. Using historical and participant observer methodologies, this study reveals how twenty-first-century California urbanites claimed and created meaningful local places and mobilized effective politics around them. It illuminates the critical role of individual activists; suggests practical, replicable strategies for community mobilization; and demonstrates the significant impact of local activism at the urban and metropolitan scales.

scholarly journals What makes human–animal relations ‘organizational’? The de-scription of anthrozootechnical agencements

Organization ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 761-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Doré ◽  
Jérôme Michalon
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Performance Test ◽  
Dairy Farm ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Relational Properties ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
Human Animal

Questions concerning animals’ role in society have received little attention from Organization Studies. This article develops and tests some theoretical and methodological propositions aimed at contributing to the elaboration of an analytical framework for interpreting our organized relations with animals and furthering our understanding of what makes human–animal relations ‘organizational’. First, examining the role of animals in the ‘non-human turn’ that has been emerging, especially with the Actor–Network Theory and the Symmetrical Anthropology project, it adresses the limits of the ‘non-human’ category to analyze situations of coordination of collective action involving animals. It then develops the concept of anthrozootechnical agencement to envisage the role of animals in the course of action through the lens of their relational properties and applies the notion of script to propose an operational formulation of the specifically organizational trials to which these particular agencements are subjected. Based on three case studies (the role of the leash in the organization of human–dog relations, the management of wolves’ return to France, and the production of milk on a dairy farm), this article shows that two main types of operation make human–animal relations ‘organizational’: first, the organization of anthrozootechnical relations is constituted by and constitutive of the combination of three types of specifically organizational test to which these particular agencements are subjected (the performance test, the coherence test, and the dimensioning test); second, the work of organizing anthrozootechnical relations then consists in elaborating, executing, and transforming heterogeneous scripts that are never strictly indexed on the nature (human, animal, technique) of the entities they concern.

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