Theorizing digital divides through the lens of the social construction of technology and social shaping of technology

The Social ◽

Contemporary Life ◽

Social Shaping

Within the scope of how technology impacts on society three theoretical models: the social shaping of technology (SST), social construction of technology (SCOT) and the Actor-Network theory (ANT) are frameworks that help rethink the embeddedness of technology within society, once each is transformed and transformative of the other. More attention will be given to the ANT approach since it solves the technology/society dualisms unresolved by the previous proposals. This is a flexible epistemological possibility that can reach the ambiguity of contemporary life and the remarkable transformations brought by progress that have changed drastically childhood and children's contemporary lives.

Advances in Public Policy and Administration - Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Government and Society ◽

The Networked Effect of Children and Online Digital Technologies

10.4018/978-1-5225-7661-7.ch040 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 505-522

Author(s):

Teresa Sofia Pereira Dias de Castro ◽

António Osório ◽

Emma Bond

Keyword(s):

Social Construction ◽

Digital Technologies ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Theoretical Models ◽

The Other ◽

The Social ◽

Contemporary Life ◽

Social Shaping

Within the scope of how technology impacts society, three theoretical models—the social shaping of technology (SST), social construction of technology (SCOT), and the actor-network theory (ANT)—are frameworks that help rethink the embeddedness of technology within society, once each is transformed and transformative of the other. More attention will be given to the ANT approach since it solves the technology/society dualisms unresolved by the previous proposals. This is a flexible epistemological possibility that can reach the ambiguity of contemporary life and the remarkable transformations brought by progress that have drastically changed childhood and children's contemporary lives.

Shaped Technology: An Afterword

Science in Context ◽

10.1017/s026988970000209x ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 8 (2) ◽

pp. 451-455

Author(s):

Thomas Hughes

Keyword(s):

Social Construction ◽

Technological Determinism ◽

The Past ◽

Technology And Culture ◽

The Social ◽

Social Shaping ◽

Better Than

The informative and engaging essays in the foregoing collection suggest several interesting concepts that deserve further research and reflection. Over the past decade, the “social construction of technology” has become a concept often explored by historians (Bijker, Hughes, and Pinch 1987). Even though it has performed the useful function of discrediting technological determinism, the concept suggests too narrow a set of influences that shape technology. Two other concept, “nature-shaped technology” and “culture-shaped technology,” convey the character of technology more effectively. To designate “nature” as a shaper of technology reminds us that in a relatively prisine world the designer of technology negotiates with natural forces more than with human-built ones. To see culture as a shaper of technology suggests a broader range of influences affecting technology, not simply the social. “Shaping” conveys the notion of influence and avoids that of determinism better than “construction.”

The social shaping of technology: the case of a CNC lathe

Behaviour and Information Technology ◽

10.1080/01449298808901873 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 193-204 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

P. T. Kidd

Keyword(s):

The Social ◽

Cnc Lathe ◽

Social Shaping

Social Construction of Technology

Entanglements ◽

10.7551/mitpress/9780262035279.003.0003 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Simone Tosoni ◽

Trevor Pinch

Keyword(s):

Social Construction ◽

Social Groups ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Technological Artifacts ◽

The Social ◽

Relevant Social Groups ◽

Scientific Facts ◽

Nonhuman Agency ◽

Interpretative Flexibility

The chapter focuses on the Social Construction of Technology approach (SCOT) by Trevor Pinch and Wiebe Bijker, introducing the reader to its initial formulation (1984), and to the subsequent extensions – and sometimes reformulations – elaborated in more than 30 year of empirical research. It first clarifies how the Empirical Programme of Relativism, elaborated by the Bath School to address the social construction of scientific facts, was adapted to technological artifacts. In particular the concepts of relevant social groups, interpretative flexibility, closure or stabilization are in-depth discussed. Regarding relevant social groups, the chapter dedicates a peculiar attention to users, sellers and testers, all understudied in the original formulation of SCOT. The chapter then clarifies SCOT’s take on materiality, and discusses its main differences with the idea of nonhuman agency proposed by Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Finally, it goes back to the Golem Trilogy to discuss with the author the specific take on politics implied by SCOT.

Advances in IT Standards and Standardization Research - Modern Trends Surrounding Information Technology Standards and Standardization Within Organizations ◽

The Role of the Individual in ICT Standardisation

10.4018/978-1-4666-6332-9.ch014 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 244-261

Author(s):

Kai Jakobs

Keyword(s):

Literature Review ◽

The Social ◽

Social Shaping ◽

Technical Factors ◽

Standards Development ◽

The Individual ◽

The Impact

This chapter discusses the influence individuals have in the ICT standards development process. The chapter draws upon ideas underlying the theory of the Social Shaping of Technology (SST). Looking through the SST lens, a number of non-technical factors that influence ICT standards development are identified. A literature review on the role of the individual in ICT standards setting and a case study of the IEEE 802.11 Working Group (WG) show that in a standards body's WG, the backgrounds, skills, attitudes, and behaviour of the individual WG members are crucially important factors. Yet, the case study also shows that in most cases employees tend to represent the ideas and goals of their respective employer. The chapter observes that the non-technical factors are ignored all too often in the literature. It argues that a better understanding of the impact and interplay of these factors, specifically including the skills and attitudes of the WG members, will have significant implications both theoretical and managerial.

Users as Developers

End-User Computing ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-945-8.ch093 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 1330-1345

Author(s):

Beryl Burns ◽

Ben Light

Keyword(s):

Human Resources ◽

Professional Identity ◽

Knowledge Sharing ◽

Knowledge Work ◽

The Social ◽

Social Shaping ◽

Contact Centre ◽

Forms Of Knowledge

We report the findings of a field study of the enactment of ICT supported knowledge work in a Human Resources contact centre, illustrating the negotiable boundary between what constitutes the developer and user. Drawing upon ideas from the social shaping of technology, we examine how discussions regarding producer-user relations require a degree of greater sophistication as we show how users develop technologies and work practices in-situ. In this case different forms of knowledge are practised to create and maintain a knowledge sharing system. We show how as staff simultaneously distance themselves from, and ally with, ICT supported encoded knowledge scripts, the system becomes materially important to the project of constructing the knowledge characteristic of professional identity. Our work implies that although much has been made of contextualising the user, as a user, further work is required to contextualise users as developers and moreover, developers as users.

What Use is Domestication Theory to Information Systems Research?

Handbook of Research on Contemporary Theoretical Models in Information Systems ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-659-4.ch027 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 482-494 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Deirdre Hynes ◽

Helen Richardson

Keyword(s):

Information Systems ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Is Research ◽

Systems Research ◽

Information Systems Research ◽

The Social ◽

Social Shaping ◽

Domestication Theory

This chapter introduces and discusses domestication theory—essentially about giving technology a place in everyday life—and its relevance and importance to information systems (IS) research. The authors discuss domestication within the context of the social shaping of technology and critique use and adoption theories more widely found in IS studies. The authors illustrate how domestication theory underpins studies of how Irish households find ways of using computers (or not) in their everyday life and research into the use of ICTs in UK gendered households. In conclusion they outline how developments in domestication theory can contribute to future IS research.

The Social Construction of Technology

Relating Through Technology ◽

10.1017/9781108629935.003 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 31-47

Keyword(s):

Social Construction ◽

The Social

Handbook of Research on Social Dimensions of Semantic Technologies and Web Services ◽

On the Social Shaping of the Semantic Web

10.4018/978-1-60566-650-1.ch017 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 341-356 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paul T. Kidd

Keyword(s):

Semantic Web ◽

Information And Communications Technologies ◽

Utility Value ◽

Web Searches ◽

The Social ◽

Communications Technologies ◽

Dominant Design ◽

Social Shaping ◽

Conceptual Formulation

Addressed in this chapter is the Social Shaping of the Semantic Web in the context of moving beyond the workplace application domain that has so dominated the development of both Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs), and the Social Shaping of Technology perspective. The importance of paradigms and the values that shape technology are considered along with the utility value of ICT, this latter issue being somewhat central in the development of these technologies. The new circumstances of ubiquity and of uses of ICT beyond mere utility, as a means of having fun for example, are considered leading to a notion of the Semantic Web, not just as a tool for more effective Web searches, but also as a means of having fun. Given this possibility of the Semantic Web serving two very different audiences and purposes, the matter of how to achieve this is considered, but without resorting to the obvious and rather simple conceptual formulation of the Semantic Web as either A or B. The relevance of existing Social Shaping of Technology perspectives is addressed. New thoughts are presented on what needs to be central to the development of a Semantic Web that is both A and B. Key here is an intelligent relationship between the Semantic Web and those that use it. Central to achieving this are the notions of the value of people, control over technology, and non-utility as a dominant design principle (the idea of things that do not necessarily serve a specific purpose).