| 1. |
- Aspers, Patrik
(författare)
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Performing ontology
- 2015
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - : SAGE Publications. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 45:3, s. 449-453
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ontology, and in particular, the so-called ontological turn, is the topic of a recent themed issue of Social Studies of Science (Volume 43, Issue 3, 2013). Ontology, or metaphysics, is in philosophy concerned with what there is, how it is, and forms of being. But to what is the science and technology studies researcher turning when he or she talks of ontology? It is argued that it is unclear what is gained by arguing that ontology also refers to constructed elements. The 'ontological turn' comes with the risk of creating a pseudo-debate or pseudo-activity, in which energy is used for no end, at the expense of empirical studies. This text rebuts the idea of an ontological turn as foreshadowed in the texts of the themed issue. It argues that there is no fundamental qualitative difference between the ontological turn and what we know as constructivism.
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| 2. |
- Berner, Boel, 1945-, et al.
(författare)
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Modernizing the flow of blood : Biomedical technicians, working knowledge and the transformation of Swedish blood centre practices
- 2017
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - : Sage Publications. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 47:4, s. 485-510
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The early 1980s saw a ‘paradigm change’ in how donated blood was handled and used by blood centres, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. In Sweden, a five-year state-financed R&D programme initiated a swift modernization process, an alleged ‘revolution’ of existing blood centre practices. In this article, we use interviews and archival material to analyse the role of female biomedical technicians in this rapid technical and organizational change. In focus is their working knowledge, or savoir-faire, of blood, instruments and techniques. We give a detailed analysis of technicians’ embrained and embodied skills to create safety in blood and its representations, handle contingencies and invent new procedures and techniques. These transformations are analysed as sociomaterial entanglements, where the doing and undoing of gender, sociomaterial practices, hierarchies of authority and expertise, and emotions are intertwined.
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| 3. |
- Bohlin, Ingemar, 1958
(författare)
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Communication regimes in competition: The current transition in scholarly communication seen through the lens of the sociology of technology
- 2004
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Ingår i: SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE. - : SAGE Publications. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 34:3, s. 365-391
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent advances in information technology have enabled new ways of communicating research reports. A significant innovation in this area is that of ‘eprint’ archives: online repositories in which researchers make their papers freely available to their colleagues. This practice, which is known as self-archiving, poses a serious challenge to traditional academic journals. Publishers have responded with several strategies for remodelling journals in order to make them more attractive to authors and readers. New services, products and initiatives are constantly being launched in this market, and the outcome of the present disruption is uncertain. The present paper employs the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) methodology to analyse the current transformation in scholarly communication. The analysis defines the functions long served by academic publishing, examines the extent to which newly introduced technologies fulfil these functions and explains the dynamics of the stabilization process now underway. A key element of the analysis is the principle of interpretative flexibility. In the present case, interpretative flexibility brings into relief disciplinary variation in the needs and interests of potential users.
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| 4. |
- Brante, Thomas, et al.
(författare)
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Brain or Heart? The Controversy over the Concept of Death
- 1991
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 21, s. 389-413
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The controversy of the deathconcept is approached from both a diachronic and synchronic perspective and its argumantative structure is analysed.
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| 5. |
- Coopmans, Catelijne, 1976-, et al.
(författare)
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Eyeballing Expertise
- 2014
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - : Sage Publications. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 44:5, s. 758-785
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- ‘Tacit’ and ‘explicit’ knowledge, and their relation to expertise, have a long-standing importance within social studies of science and technology. At the centre of the development of thinking about these topics has been the work of Harry Collins and Robert Evans. In this article, we bring to bear observations of the work of people involved in grading eye disease, and their seeming display of expertise, tacit and explicit knowledge, on three thrusts identified in the work of Collins, and Collins and Evans. These thrusts are the following: (1) a concern with the appearance of tacit knowledge in the activities of experts, (2) a commitment to studying expertise as ‘real’ and substantive rather than attributed, and (3) a commitment to promoting the recognition and fostering the management of expertise by providing analytical distinctions regarding expertise and its reliance on tacit knowledge. By considering what is involved in the work of grading eyes, we relocate the interest in tacit and explicit knowledge, and their bearing on expertise, in how expert knowledge is displayed and made recognizable in and through courses of action and interaction.
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| 6. |
- Coopmans, Catelijne, 1976-
(författare)
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‘Face value’ : Revelation and concealment in imaging software demos
- 2011
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - : Sage Publications. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 41:2, s. 155-176
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Based on three ethnographic vignettes describing the engagements of a small start-up company with prospective competitors, partners and customers, this paper shows how commercial considerations are folded into the ways visual images become ‘seeable’. When company members mount demonstrations of prototype mammography software, they seek to generate interest but also to protect their intellectual property. Pivotal to these efforts to manage revelation and concealment is the visual interface, which is variously performed as obstacle and ally in the development of a profitable product. Using the concept of ‘face value’, the paper seeks to develop further insight into contemporary dynamics of seeing and showing by tracing the way techno-visual presentations and commercial considerations become entangled in practice. It also draws attention to the salience and significance of enactments of surface and depth in image-based practices.
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| 7. |
- Dahlin, Emma, 1980-
(författare)
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And say the AI responded? Dancing around ‘autonomy’ in AI/human encounters
- 2024
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 54:1, s. 59-77
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article explores technology-human relations in a time of artificial intelligence (AI) and in the context of long-standing problems in social theory about agency, nonhumans, and autonomy. Most theorizations of AI are grounded in dualistic thinking and traditional views of technology, oversimplifying real-world settings. This article works to unfold modes of existence at play in AI/human relations. Materials from ethnographic fieldwork are used to highlight the significance of autonomy in AI/human relations. The analysis suggests that the idea of autonomy is a double-edged sword, showing that humans not only coordinate their perception of autonomy but also switch between registers by sometimes ascribing certain autonomous features to the AI system and in other situations denying the system such features. As a result, AI/human relations prove to be not so much determined by any ostensive delegation of tasks as by the way in which AI and humans engage with each other in practice. The article suggests a theory of relationality that redirects focus away from questions of agency towards questions of what it means to be in relations.
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| 8. |
- Erikson, Martin G., et al.
(författare)
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A taxonomy of motives to cite
- 2014
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - : SAGE Publications. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 44:4, s. 625-637
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we explicate citing behavior in the writing of scientific papers by presenting a taxonomy of motives to cite. The suggested taxonomy consists of four main categories, which are purely descriptive: Argumentation, Social Alignment, Mercantile Alignment, and Data. These categories are divided into a suggested set of subcategories. We argue that the complexities of citing practice show how little can be assumed about actual citing behavior when studying a finished paper. The discussion supports the claim that it might be misleading to treat all citations as equal in quantitative citation analysis.
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| 9. |
- Fischer, Björn, et al.
(författare)
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Of robots and humans : Creating user representations in practice.
- 2020
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Ingår i: Social Studies of Science. - : Sage Publications. - 0306-3127 .- 1460-3659. ; 50:2, s. 221-244
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study, we explore the constitution of user representations of robots in design practice. Using the results of ethnographic research in two robot laboratories, we show how user representations emerge in and are entangled with design activities. Our study speaks to the growing popularity of and investment in robotics, robots and other forms of artificial intelligence. Scholars in Science and Technology Studies (STS) have shown that it is often difficult for designers and engineers to develop accurate ideas about potential users of such technologies. However, the social context of robots and design settings themselves have received significantly less attention. Based on our laboratory ethnographies, we argue that the practices in which engineers are engaged are important as they can shape the kind of user images designers create. To capture these dynamics, we propose two new concepts: 'image-evoking activities' as well as 'user image landscape'. Our findings provide pertinent input for researchers, designers and policy-makers, as they raise questions with regards to contemporary fears of robots replacing humans, for the effectiveness of user involvement and participatory design, and for user studies in STS. If design activities co-constitute the user images that engineers develop, a greater awareness is needed specifically of the locales in which the design of robots and other types of technologies takes place.
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| 10. |
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