Reassembling the Problem of the Under-Representation of Girls in IT Courses

2011 ◽  
pp. 208-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Rowan ◽  
Chris Bigum
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Australian Research Council ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Key Questions

The percentages of girls in developing countries undertaking information technology subjects in the post-compulsory years of education has remained persistently low: often under 25%. This is despite the fact that this particular phenomenon has been the subject of sustained international enquiry for at least three decades. This article investigates data collected during an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant project (2005-2007) that aimed to identify some of the contemporary reasons for this under-representation in Australian schools. The original phases of data collection proceeded from the belief that there was a clear and agreed understanding that the low numbers of girls was a problem worthy of analysis. As the project evolved, however, significant differences between the researchers’ perception of the underrepresentation and the participants’ views about the same issue. In this paper we make use of actor-network theory to ask key questions about the extent to which the enrolment of girls in IT is indeed ‘a problem’.

"What's Your Problem?" ANT Reflections on a Research Project Studying Girls Enrolment in Information Technology Subjects in Postcompulsory Education

2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonie Rowan ◽  
Chris Bigum
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Research Council ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Australian Research Council ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Key Questions

Despite more than 30 years of gender reform in schools, the percentages of girls enrolled in information technology subjects in the post-compulsory years of education has remained persistently low: often under 25%. This article investigates data collected during an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant project (2005-2007) focused on identifying the reasons for this under-representation, and ways in which the situation could be changed. The article looks beyond the official recommendations of the project to explore how the research experience and the data combine to raise important questions about the limits of research in this area. The authors discuss the difference between the researchers’ perception of the problem under consideration, and the participants’ perception of the same issue. They use the resources of actor-network to highlight the gaps, tensions and contradictions within the data and to ask key questions about the extent to which the enrolment of girls in IT is indeed “a problem”.

STRUCTURING A SUCCESSFUL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROCESS: A CASE STUDY FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF ACTOR NETWORK THEORY

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huda Ibrahim ◽  
Hasmiah Kasimin
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Private Company ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Technology Transfer Process

An effi cient and effective information technology transfer from developed countries to Malaysia is an important issue as a prerequisite to support the ICT needs of the country to become not only a ICT user but also a ICT producer. One of the factors that infl uences successful information technology transfer is managing the process of how technology transfer occurs in one environment. It involves managing interaction between all parties concerned which requires an organized strategy and action toward accomplishing technology transfer objective in an integrated and effective mode. Using a conceptual framework based on the Actor Network Theory (ANT), this paper will analyse a successful information technology transfer process at a private company which is also a supplier of information technology (IT) products to the local market. This framework will explain how the company has come up with a successful technology transfer in a local environment. Our study shows that the company had given interest to its relationships with all the parties involved in the transfer process. The technology transfer programme and the strategy formulated take into account the characteristics of technology and all those involved.  

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?”

Why Using Actor Network Theory (ANT) Can Help to Understand the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) in Australia

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran Muhammad ◽  
Say Yen Teoh ◽  
Nilmini Wickramasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Electronic Health Record ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Healthcare Delivery ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Health Record ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Healthcare Reforms ◽  
Electronic Health

Globally, healthcare reforms are being initiated to address the tremendous challenges facing healthcare systems. Without exception these reforms include the implementation of a variety of e-health solutions. Such e-health solutions are complex and have far reaching implications. In this paper, the authors argue that while these implementations and adoptions of e-health solutions are necessary, it is essential that an appropriate lens of analysis should be used to maximise and sustain the benefits of IS/IT (information systems/information technology) in healthcare delivery. Hence, in this paper, the authors proffer Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as an appropriate lens to evaluate these various e-health solutions and illustrate, in the context of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), the chosen e-health solution for Australia.

Assessment of Risk on Information Technology Projects Through Moments of Translation

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Petronnell Sehlola ◽  
Tiko Iyamu
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Risk Identification ◽  
It Projects ◽  
Information Technology Projects ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
Infrastructure Networks

Many of the IT solutions in an organisation are employed through IT projects. Based on the reliance on IT solutions, organisations’ investment on IT projects has increased tremendously in the last two decades. This is informed and triggered by the premises that IT will help them to yield solutions that will fulfill or exceed their expectations, thereby make the organisation realise the required return on investment. Projects are a means to yield solutions through technological artefacts such as infrastructure (networks included), applications, databases or a combination of these. The technological artefacts do carries or are associated with foreseen or unforeseen risks. Hence proper risk identification and management on IT projects is necessitated to ensure that the organisation reaches its desire state. Unfortunately, risks are never easy to identify or manage. Using one case, the study employed actor-network theory in the analysis of the data to understand the factors which manifest themselves into risks during the deployment of IT projects in the organisation.

Tracing healthcare organisation integration in the UK using actor–network theory

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelhakim Altabaibeh ◽  
Kay Ann Caldwell ◽  
Margaret A Volante
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Healthcare Organisation ◽  
Integration Process ◽  
Patient Journey ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThe study presents the findings from a study over a four-year period of the emergence of an integrated healthcare organisation in response to policy changes within the United Kingdom (UK). The aim of the research was to understand the process of healthcare organisation integration through the lens of actor–network theory (ANT).Design/methodology/approachAn instrumental case study approach to data collection was selected. Three methods of data collection were used to trace the healthcare organisation integration process: in depth semistructured interviews using a virtual patient journey across services with 36 purposefully selected informants, document analysis and field observations and notes.FindingsThe findings of this study suggest that neither the context nor the actors were the sole determinants of the outcome of the integration. Rather it was the dynamic interplay between the actors, their context, the shared agency and the resources available to them as the change emerged shaped the end result.Research implicationsThe findings denote that organisations need to attend to frontline workers as key contributors to change and development that is meaningful for service users. Methodologically, combining the ANT and constructive case study to understand the integration process provided us with new perspective to understand the trajectory of change process.Originality/valueThis original case study fills a gap in information about the role of healthcare professionals in healthcare policy process and the interactive relationship between all stakeholders of policy process including nonhuman actors.

The Subject of Media Studies

2017 ◽  
pp. 51-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joost van Loon
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Human Subject ◽  
Transcendental Phenomenology ◽  
Free Association ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Generalized Symmetry ◽  
The Subject

On the basis of the banal example of the rise of “the selfie”, this chapter critically considers the issue of the Subjects of (and in) Media Studies and argues that the reason why Actor-Network Theory (ANT) has thus far not been widely accepted within this field has been its adherence to the Principles of Generalized Symmetry and Free Association. That is to say: ANT categorically refuses subsuming properties of entities to abstractions such as nature, society or technology. On the contrary, Media Studies have doggedly adhered to privileging “the Human” as its subject of analysis. On the basis of a critique of transcendental phenomenology, which has been specified by a critical discussion of McLuhan's famous edict “media are extensions of man”, the chapter exposes the empirical fallacy of granting the human subject a status of exception and instead proposes an empirical metaphysics based on ‘prehension' as an alternative. This, it is argued, will enable forms of media analyses that can be both radically empirical and politically engaged.

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