scholarly journals Two Computer Systems in Victorian Schools and the Actors and Networks Involved in their Implementation and Use

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Bill Davey ◽  
Arthur Tatnall
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Computer Systems ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
School Education ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Australian State ◽  
Two Systems ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Human Actors

As in Australia school education is the responsibility of State Governments, this article will consider two computer systems in the Australian State of Victoria. The article takes a socio-technical stance to examine two computer systems currently in use in schools in Victoria: CASES21 and the Ultranet. After describing these systems, the article makes use of actor-network theory to explore the actors involved in their creation, development, implementation and use (or in one case non-use), and the networks they established in doing so. It looks at the associations involving both the human and non-human actors and how these contributed to successful adoption and use of these systems. A comparison of two systems within the same organisational environment allows a unique perspective on the formation of networks. The ANT approach permits an understanding of the difference in adoption where very few factors differ between the cases.

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.

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 Appearance, Disappearance and Reappearance of Activity Based Costing: A Case Study from a Sri Lankan Manufacturing Firm

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 49-81
Author(s):  
Chamali Wijerathne ◽  
◽  
Tharusha Gooneratne ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Activity Based Costing ◽  
Manufacturing Firm ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Prior Literature ◽  
Human Actors

The purpose of this paper was to identify why activity based costing (ABC) implementation in organizations at times do not continue despite their early interest, but later regain importance. Using the qualitative case study approach, the paper explored the reasons for the appearance, disappearance and reappearance of ABC drawing field data from a Sri Lankan porcelain manufacturing firms, called Gamma. Guided by the theoretical underpinnings of the Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and the translation process therein, we follow organizational managers (human actors) and their interactions with various objects and systems (non-human actors) within the particular context of Gamma, during the different phases of the ABC project. Our findings suggest that the appearance, disappearance and reappearance of ABC have been shaped by a network of actors comprising both humans and non-humans, and that the implementation and continuation of ABC is constrained by the interests of these various actors both inside and outside of the firm. While most prior research has focused on a single phase of ABC implementation, such as the success or the failure, this study brings out its reappearance, following a phase of appearance and disappearance, hence it is a useful addition to prior literature. Furthermore, the findings of this research have important implications for practitioners who are striving to revive projects, such as ABC in organizations. Keywords: activity based costing, appearance, disappearance, reappearance, actor-network theory, case study

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.

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.

The implementation of activity-based costing by a local government: an actor-network theory and trial of strength perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Gosselin ◽  
Marc Journeault
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Management Accounting ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Activity Based Costing ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Sector Organizations ◽  
Human Actors

Purpose Some public sector organizations have decided to implement activity-based costing (ABC), a new cost calculation device and management accounting innovation initially designed for the private sector. The purpose of this study is to better understand the translation of this new calculation device in the context of a local government and to identify the trials of strength that actors faced during the implementation. Design/methodology/approach Building on actor-network theory and the concept of “trial of strength,” this study examines how a major change in a large local government’s structure, the merger of several cities, led to the adoption of ABC. This case study provides a setting for conducting a longitudinal analysis of the translation of a cost management innovation, ABC, in a public sector organization. Findings This study highlights how human and non-human actors interact when implementing a management accounting innovation in a local government and the trials of strength that they face. It also shows that although ABC helped the local government deal with issues such as setting fees, assessing outsourcing opportunities, increasing accountability and improving processes, the oversophistication of the technology used to implement the ABC model and the lack of links between the costing device and the budgeting process provoked a struggle among these two networks, leading actors to choose the budget over ABC. Originality/value This study’s findings extend the work on trials of strength of Christensen et al. (2019) and Laguecir et al. (2020). While those two studies focused on the struggles existing between opposing networks of human actors regarding the strategic orientation or the mission of public sector organizations, this study highlights that trials of strength may also occur when actors agree on the objectives of the new accounting innovation but not on how it is implemented.

The struggle to fabricate accounting narrative obfuscation

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian A. Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Educational Psychology ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Accounting Research ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Human Actors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the accounting research project concerned with accounting narrative obfuscation, focusing on the translation of the concept of readability from educational psychology via an earlier literature concerned with the readability of accounting narratives per se. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses actor-network theory and examines, in particular, the need for a network to accommodate the interests of its actors and the consequent risk of failure. Findings The analysis shows that the project is failing because the network seeking to support it is failing, and failing because of its inability to adapt sufficiently to accommodate the interests of its constituents. This failure is contrasted with the earlier concern with readability per se, which did see a successful reconfiguration of actors’ interests. Research limitations/implications The puzzle of the maladjustment of the network concerned with obfuscation is examined and it is suggested that it is a consequence of interests prevailing in the wider academic research network within which the relevant human actors are embedded. Social implications The reasons for the failure of the project are bound up in the wider circumstances of the contemporary accounting research community and may affect scholars’ capacity to pursue knowledge effectively. Originality/value This paper contributes to a modest stream of actor–network analysis directed at accounting research itself.

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