Technology and structure• The structuring effects of technology

– Promotes certain behaviors, discourages others

• The meaning of technology– Interpretive flexibility

• The structuring OF technology– Designed by people who live within social, cultural

systems – Designed to fit INTO social, technical conditions– Embodies values, assumptions, power relations, authority

• examined or not• intended or not

Technological politics -- Winner

• Pay attention to the momentum of large-scale sociotechnical systems– Durability of technology– Durability of social systems– Stabilization of sociotechnical systems

• Pay attention to the characteristics of tech objects and meaning of those characteristics– Including values of all kinds

Do artifacts have politics & values?

• Endogenous: inherent in the technology– Strong form: required by the tech– Weaker: strongly compatible with

• Exogenous: reside in the users, not the tech

• Middle way: the way tech is designed promotes some kinds of activity, values, power relations, and constrain others

Winner’s conclusion• ‘Technologies:’ ways of building order in our world.• Many tech devices and systems contain possibilities for many

different ways of ordering human activity. • Society chooses structures for technologies that influence how

people are going to work, communicate, travel, consume, and so forth for a very long time– Consciously or not, deliberately or inadvertently

• In the processes by which structuring decisions are made, different people are differently situated and possess unequal degrees of power and awareness.

• Greatest latitude of choice exists when first introduced. Choices tend to become fixed in material equipment, economic investment, and social habit. Original flexibility vanishes once initial commitments made.

• Tech innovations establish a framework for public order that endures across many generations.

-p. 33

Bias

• Friedman and Nissenbaum:– System that systematically and unfairly

discriminates against certain individuals or groups in favor of others.• Unfair: denies an opportunity or a good or

assigns an undesirable outcome to an individual or group oon grounds that are unreasonable or inappropriate.

• More generally:– Systematic tendency, a preference or

inclination, not necessarily unfair.

Friedman & Nissenbaum’s types of bias

• Pre-existing: rooted in social institutions, practices, attitudes; prior to creation of system– individual– societal

• Technical: rooted in tech design– Computer tools; algorithms– Formalization of human constructs (e.g. expert

systems; classification/taxonomies)

• Emergent: arises in context of use; result of – changing societal knowledge – mismatch users and designers

• different expertise (e.g. literacy)• different values (e.g. games/competitive)

Implications

• Awareness of how specific technologies enable and constrain certain behaviors, social arrangements, authority structures– May be result of pre-existing, technical, or emergent

bias

• Awareness of differences in groups’ abilities to influence decisions– Decisions often reinforce current patterns, power

relations

• Awareness of points at which choices are possible, most influential– The momentum of sociotechnical systems, differences

in durability of technology > differences in the persistence over time of decisions

Social Construction of Technology (SCOT)

• Purpose– Explain development of tech artifacts as

alternating processes of variation and selection– Unpack the uncertainties, branchings, and

decision points in tech design– Demonstrate that techs are socially

constructed in design as well as use

• Method– Identify & describe relevant social groups– Sociologically deconstruct the artifact – Map mechanisms for stabilization of the

artifact

Limits, criticisms of SCOT

• Has been mostly concerned with design stage– But doesn’t have to be

• Relevant social groups– Who decides?– Importance of groups left out, decisions never

considered

• Ignores structural, cultural features that affect choices

• Sense of “closure” too rigid– On-going design in use– Continual design iterations– However, persistence and durability

Benefits of SCOT

• well known in STS world – useful to know about it

• Provides a framework and methodology– Not perfect, but useful– Helps to spur thinking, suggest

considerations otherwise overlooked

Artifacts & relevant social groups

artifact

Socialgroup

Social groupSocial

group

Social group

Social groups and problems

Socialgroup

problem

problem

problem

problem

Problems and solutions

problem

solution solution

solution solution

1. Identify & describe relevant social groups

• Relevant social group is defined as one in which all members share same set of meanings for artifact

• You may need to subdivide initial groups• Technological frames:

– Structure the interactions among actors within a group and explain the development of “sociotechnical ensembles.”

– Are broad, including theories, goals, practices of use, and tacit knowledge. The result is a shared meaning within a social group.

• If relevant, include their strength in decision-making

2. Sociologically deconstruct

the artifact• What artifacts are “hidden within”?

– interpretive flexibility – different artifacts have different meanings for different groups

• What counts as a viable working artifact for each group?

3 . Map mechanisms for stabilization of the artifact

• Stabilization: the design and understanding of the artifact are generally agreed to

• The problem may be solved• Relevant social groups may see

problems as solved (rhetorical closure)

• Problem may be redefined

The bicycle story

Relevant social groups

Group Overall “Problem”

Problems(Needs, preferences)

Possible Solutions

“Young men of means and nerve”

Sport Speed, perception of dangerLook macho

high front wheel

NOT air tire

Women (in long skirts)

Transport Safetycomfort (vibration) modesty

Low front wheelAir tire

Changing mores

Older men Transport SafetyComfort

Low front wheelAir tire

Anti-cyclists ?? ?? ??

Relevant social groups (cont)

Group Overall “Problem”

Problems (Needs, preferences)

Possible Solutions

Bicycle manufacturers

Return on investmentMarket for good idea

Large enough, persistent enough market

Bicycle that appeals to multiple groups

Tire manufacturers

Return on investment New market for product

Large, persistent marketPneumatic tires not cool

Bicycle that appeals to multiple groupsDemo that pneumatic tires are fast & comfortable

City planners & builders

Transportation

Horses leave manure; Cars require good roads, threaten pedestrians & horses

Vehicles that are low impact, work on existing roads, don’t leave a mess

Closure – the “safety” bicycle

(after 18 years)

The “Safety” Bicycle

• Air tire – Greater comfort– Greater speed (so no longer looks

stupid)

• Low frame with rear chain drive– Safety– Stability and speed?

• But stabilization is not permanent – continuing developments in bicycle design

Determinism

• Technical determinism: tech follows some inherent logic of its own and affects society

• Social determinism: that society determines the shape of technology

• Mutual constitution: a continual interaction, with each changing the other

WRITING – structuring arguments

• Constructing an argument– Logical reasoning– Structure, flow of argument

• Using evidence• Anticipating counter-arguments• Audience• Genre: A category of artistic

composition, as in music or literature, marked by a distinctive style, form, or content

WRITING the elements of the text

• Syntax: The rules whereby words or other elements of sentence structure are combined to form grammatical sentences; the ordering of the grammatical sequences within a phrase, with agreement between concomitant entities (i.e., between subject and verb, noun and pronoun); verb case; and such sentence transformations as negativization, interrogation, coordination, subordination, passivization and relativization.

• Usage: The way in which words or phrases are actually used, spoken, or written in a speech community.

• Grammar• Spelling• Punctuation