scholarly journals Food for Thought on Conducting Research Projects on Media Accessibility During the Covid-19 Pandemic and the New Normal

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Şirin Okyayuz

The following practice report is based on observational experiences of a project group running a research project on accessibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aimed to provide accessibility using plain language in children’s programs on a public television channel. The project included three groups of end-users: Deaf, hard of hearing, and visually impaired children. An overview of the project is presented to provide background for the practice report. The second part of the report deals with changes encountered in the running of the project during the pandemic: compensating for the lack of interactivity, social interaction and collective experience; using video conferencing; monitoring research; at-home research spaces and technological availability; network availability and performance; dealing with home computers; communication load; workload and work-life balance. Some key concepts of actor-network theory are used to analyse new actors, networks and shifts encountered in the process of implementing the project in the “new normal” in comparison to its planned implementation pre-COVID-19. In conclusion, a summary of possible options is cited to provide food for thought in running such projects.   Lay summary The following practice report is based on the observations of a group running a research project on accessibility for Deaf, Hard of Hearing and blind children to children’s programs during the Covid-19 pandemic. We aimed to provide accessibility using plain language (easy to understand and easy to follow language in subtitles, through sign language and audiodescription) in children’s’ programs on a public television channel. Initially, an overview of the project is presented to provide background, then the changes encountered in the running of the project due to the pandemic are studied. Some of the issues discussed are: How to compensate for the lack of interactivity and social interaction since there was no face-to-face interaction; using video conferencing, monitoring research; at home research spaces and technology availability; issues about network availability and performance; dealing with home computers; communication load, and workload. Some key concepts of the actor-network theory (ANT) are used to explain changes. ANT is concerned with exploring how networks come into existence, looking into which relations exist, how those relations are sustained, how actors come together to constitute and maintain a network and how networks maintain impermanent stability. In conclusion, a summary of possible options is cited to provide food for thought in running such projects.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1037969X2096614
Author(s):  
Milena Heinsch ◽  
Tania Sourdin ◽  
Caragh Brosnan ◽  
Hannah Cootes

During the COVID-19 pandemic, courts around the world have introduced a range of technologies to cope with social distancing requirements. Jury trials have been largely delayed, although some jurisdictions moved to remote jury approaches and video conferencing was used extensively for bail applications. While videoconferencing has been used to a more limited extent in the area of sentencing, many were appalled by the news that two people were sentenced to death via Zoom. This article uses actor-network theory (ANT) to explore the role of technology in reshaping the experience of those involved in the sentencing of Punithan Genasan in Singapore.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
BENJAMIN PIEKUT

AbstractThis article offers clarifications and critiques of actor-network theory and its usefulness for music historiography. Reviewing the work of ANT theorists Bruno Latour, Annemarie Mol, and other social theorists (such as Georgina Born and Anna Tsing), the author explains that ANT is a methodology, not a theory. As a general introduction, the author outlines ANT's methodological presuppositions about human and non-human agency, action, ontology, and performance. He then examines how these methodological principles affect three concerns of music-historical interest: influence, genre, and context. In conclusion, he addresses problems related to temporality, critique, and reflexivity. He draws on music-historical examples after 1960: John Cage, the Jazz Composer's Guild, Henry Cow, Iggy Pop, and the Velvet Underground.


Author(s):  
Kjell Tryggestad ◽  
Chris Harty ◽  
Peter Holm Jacobsen

The aim of this chapter is to include buildings in studies of context. It foregrounds what is usually considered contextual background—the building—and focuses on the hospital building and the ways in which it matters for the organization and performance of health care. Our approach to the question of context is processual, socio-technical, and inspired by actor-network theory. The actor-network theory lens allows the researcher to consider the building as both background and foreground, as object, context, and process. As an object, and as a matter of fact, the building resides in the background, yet it can always become foregrounded as a matter of concern. This can happens for a multitude of reasons, including that the “object” itself might create unwelcome surprises and obstacles for its human users and, in turn, spur further attempts by specialists in building construction to contain these through mitigating projects and redesign.


Author(s):  
Dan Harnesk

Over the past 20 years, researchers have made significant headway into understanding information security, with most studies focusing on internal organizational information security affairs. This study adds to the cumulative tradition by creating a concept for the convergence of information security in B2B network contexts. More specifically, the move from information security safeguards to information security observers is presented in depth. By adopting the Actor Network Theory and the Process Theory, this chapter demonstrates how three conversion, use, and performance sub-processes constitute the devised process of converging information security. Each sub-process directs attention towards definition, integration, the evaluation of security and how the metaphor of the observer may operate in the B2B network context.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Gupta ◽  
Stephen B. Salter

ABSTRACT Utilizing the theoretical underpinnings of the actor-network theory (ANT) and neo-institutional theory, we develop and test a model of the relationship between organizational culture and the use of the balanced scorecard (BSC). The data are collected from 1,126 top management and other employees in 48 manufacturing companies in India. After primary data collection and using path analysis, we find that the usage of the BSC is dependent on organizational culture. Organizations that are future and performance oriented with a high level of power distance have higher levels of BSC usage. This usage is found to be lower in organizations that are collectivist and uncertainty avoidant.


Author(s):  
Huda Ibrahim ◽  
Hasmiah Kasimin

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.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-121
Author(s):  
Michel Chambon

This article explores the ways in which Christians are building churches in contemporary Nanping, China. At first glance, their architectural style appears simply neo-Gothic, but these buildings indeed enact a rich web of significances that acts upon local Christians and beyond. Building on Actor-Network Theory and exploring the multiple ties in which they are embedded, I argue that these buildings are agents acting in their own right, which take an active part in the process of making the presence of the Christian God tangible.


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