Using Actor Network Theory to Understand ICT Integration in Secondary Schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 58-74
Author(s):  
Lucia Ginger ◽  
Irene Govender
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Time Table ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Basic Infrastructure ◽  
Human Actors

The aim of this study is to understand the effective implementation and use of technology in secondary schools in Mozambique, a developing country. Actor network theory (ANT) was used as a lens to understand technology integration in the education system as a package, in which the mutual dependence between the social and technical is highlighted. Maputo province in Mozambique was chosen as the site for this research. Both qualitative and quantitative data approaches were employed. The findings revealed that technology implementation in secondary schools is a dynamic process which is impacted either positively or negatively by the surrounding contextual situation. The study emphasizes that the role of non-human actors such as the ICT curriculum guide, the time-table and the schools' basic infrastructure, and its relationship with human actors, such as the heads of schools, teachers, and students, is gradually shaped by technology and its related network entities.

Distance, Climate, Demographics and the Development of Online Courses in Newfoundland and Labrador

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-28
Author(s):  
Scott Reid
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Newfoundland And Labrador ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

One of the assertions of the Actor-Network Theory is that physical factors can be actors within a network of other factors which determine the development and use of technology. This paper documents the impact of climate, distance and demographics on the adoption of online courses at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. The qualitative study demonstrates that these physical factors did influence professor’s decisions to use online courses. The findings support the Actor-Network Theory and provide insight into the interaction of physical and human actors within a network that facilitated the adoption of online courses at the university being studied.

scholarly journals IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD IN LIGHT OF THE ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antônio Sávio de Macedo ◽  
Tarcisio Laerte Gontijo ◽  
Cleyane Jovelina da Cruz Januario Brito ◽  
Nádia Fontoura Sanhudo ◽  
Luciane Ribeiro de Faria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Record ◽  
Electronic Medical Record ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Technology Implementation ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Minas Gerais ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Health History ◽  
Human Actors

ABSTRACT Objective: to describe the human and non-human actors network involved in the implementation of an electronic medical record in Primary Health Care in Minas Gerais. Method: this is a study with a qualitative approach, with the Actor-Network Theory as a theoretical framework and Controversy Cartography as a methodological framework. We interviewed 20 health professionals, managers and other spokespersons involved with the implementation of an electronic medical record in a city in Minas Gerais State. We conducted observation and collection of 30 documents when following the participants from September 2018 to August 2019. For analysis, we used the following scales to visualize the mapped social dynamics: Minor Scale (brief and chronological description of the main events); Intermediate Scale (identification of humans and non-humans, their relationships and controversies); Major Scale (detailed description of the main controversies). Results: the network of actants involved in the electronic medical record implementation is woven from controversies: multiple actants and their translations influencing the electronic medical record implementation; contributions and weaknesses shaping the electronic medical record as an open controversy. Such controversies emerged from the mobilization of actors from various spheres of government, in addition to the place of implementation. Despite the weaknesses found, the electronic medical record contributed to: support decision-making; monitor patients’ health history; integrate information between the assistance network points. Conclusion: the success of the technology implementation was influenced by the relationships established between humans and non-humans from different management spheres, which, by mobilizing, strengthen or weaken computerization.

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?”

Actor-Network Theory and the Online Investor

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
Arthur Adamopoulos ◽  
Martin Dick ◽  
Bill Davey
Keyword(s):  
Network Analysis ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Human Actors ◽  
Theory Research ◽  
The Way

An actor-network analysis of the way in which online investors use Internet-based services has revealed a phenomenon that is not commonly reported in actor-network theory research. An aspect of the research that emerged from interviews of a wide range of online investors is a peculiar effect of changes in non-human actors on the human actors. In this paper, the authors report on the particular case and postulate that this effect may be found, if looked for, in many other actor-network theory applications.

Critical theory of technology and actor-network theory in the examination of techno-empowered online collaborative translation practice

Babel ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Szu-Wen Kung
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Translation Practice ◽  
Interactive Relationship ◽  
Critical Theory Of Technology

Abstract While “turns” in translation studies have long been embracing the theoretical complexity integrated into the discussion of various translation phenomena, the theorisation of the use of technology and its impact on translation remains under-represented in scholarly literature of the field (O’Hagan 2016). This article considers the influence of technology on translation and reflects on the question as to how the interactive relationship between technology and translation may be theoretically conceptualised. Taking an approach informed by sociological theory, this article combines critical theory of technology (CTT) and actor-network theory (ANT) to examine the relationship between technology and translation, as well as the translation players involved. With the advent of Web 2.0, techno-empowered collaborative translation in the online TED Talks environment using Amara subtitling platform becomes a useful locale for discussion. Through a participant-observation approach, that is, with the author’s experience in the online translation environment, this article aims to explore how the technological elements in translation often described as “emergent property from new forms of translation practice” (Cronin 2010, 1) may offer critical insights from an epistemological perspective, especially the reciprocity between technology and its users.

Lice work: Non-human trajectories in volunteer tourism

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amira Benali ◽  
Carina Ren
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Head Lice ◽  
Volunteer Tourism ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Volunteer Experiences ◽  
Human Actors

This article studies volunteer tourism by following the trajectories of a non-human actor. Based on fieldwork at a Nepalese orphanage and drawing on insights from the material semiotics of Actor–Network Theory, we describe how the louse interferes as an unexpected actor with volunteer tourism at the orphanage. This post-human approach decentres the volunteer and destabilises the host–guest binary while adding to our understanding of tourism practices as complex and materially distributed endeavours. We analyse two configurations of head lice enacted through a modern morality of hygiene and Nepalese everyday life and show how they are deployed, contested and reconfigured onsite by volunteer tourism actors. By exploring patterns of absence and presence and using the concept of ontological choreography as an analytical resource, we show how the situated lice work of human and non-human actors at the orphanage offers new ways to grasp the forging of volunteer experiences and subjectivities.

scholarly journals Probation practice in the information age

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Heterogeneous Networks ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Way

This article analyses the implications of the greater use of technology and information in probation practice. Using data generated via an ethnography of probation, the article firstly argues that probation in England and Wales now exists in what scholars would identify as ‘the information age’ (i.e. that computers and other technologies work to define and create probation practice as we know it). The article goes on to use actor-network theory to analyse two ‘heterogeneous networks’ to explore the way in which probation practitioners and the technologies they use interact to create particular forms of practice. The article argues that unless we understand the technology that underpins practice we cannot fully understand practice. Finally, the article considers the implications of this analysis for probation post-Transforming Rehabilitation (TR).

scholarly journals Bibliotekarerne - en profession der former og formes af et aktør-netværk

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-20
Author(s):  
Trine Schreiber
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Actor Networks ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology ◽  
Data Collection Procedure

Using actor network theory (ANT) as a starting point, the aim of the paper is to describe relationships between heterogenous actors in a particular kind of library work and to discuss how these relationships might potentially be part of a preliminary actor-network representing a profession of librarianship. The particular kind of library work involved in the discussion is user teaching and -guidance in libraries affiliated with educational institutions. The paper draws on this particular kind of work to illustrate the use of ANT in a discussion about the profession of librarianship. The data collection procedure has been guided by ethnographic methodology considerations. As an actor-network, a profession is not a static entity organised around fixed connections. It is undergoing shifts in character as new actors or relations are forged and old ones wear out. Regarding the particular kind of library work, the paper has a focus on actors such as librarians, teachers, students, digital technologies, and political paradigms of control. The author examines how librarians in the particular kind of library work create and maintain relationships with teachers and students. The paper provides a description of the ways influential actors such as digital technologies and political paradigms of control intervene in these processes. The paper concludes that through these relationships, new areas of work and new understandings of professions are under way to be established. These processes might lead to an actor-network intertwined with those many other actor-networks that librarians in general are involved in because of other practices and relationships.

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