The Sociomaterial Construction of Users

The Sociomaterial Construction of Users PDF Author: David Seibt
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000888312
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
This book explores the intricate connections that link the current digitalization of manufacturing to our daily lives and identities as members of highly technologized societies. Based on extensive research on the prosthetics industry in Germany, the US, Canada, and Haiti, the author analyzes the sociomaterial construction of users, by demonstrating the ways in which the introduction of 3D printing changes how artificial limbs are designed, manufactured, distributed, and used. Critically examining the capacity of digital technologies to afford greater diversity of user roles, enable the inclusion of marginalized groups, and increase user participation in the innovation process, the author presents a theory of user construction that sheds light on the dynamic relationship between industrial digitalization and the future of use. An empirically grounded and conceptually informed study, The Sociomaterial Construction of Users will appeal to researchers in the fields of sociology, science and technology studies, and organization studies, as well as readers interested in 3D printing and the digitalization of society.

The Sociomaterial Construction of Users

The Sociomaterial Construction of Users PDF Author: David Seibt
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000888312
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the intricate connections that link the current digitalization of manufacturing to our daily lives and identities as members of highly technologized societies. Based on extensive research on the prosthetics industry in Germany, the US, Canada, and Haiti, the author analyzes the sociomaterial construction of users, by demonstrating the ways in which the introduction of 3D printing changes how artificial limbs are designed, manufactured, distributed, and used. Critically examining the capacity of digital technologies to afford greater diversity of user roles, enable the inclusion of marginalized groups, and increase user participation in the innovation process, the author presents a theory of user construction that sheds light on the dynamic relationship between industrial digitalization and the future of use. An empirically grounded and conceptually informed study, The Sociomaterial Construction of Users will appeal to researchers in the fields of sociology, science and technology studies, and organization studies, as well as readers interested in 3D printing and the digitalization of society.

Blockchain for Construction

Blockchain for Construction PDF Author: Theodoros Dounas
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811937591
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
This book highlights the design, use and structure of blockchain systems and decentralized ledger technologies (B/DLT) for use in the construction industry. Construction remains a fragmented change-resistant industry with chronic problems of underproductivity and a very low digitization factor compared to other fields. In parallel, the convergence, embedding and coordination of digital technologies in the physical world provides a unique opportunity for the construction industry to leap ahead and adopt fourth industrial revolution technologies. Within this context, B/DLT are an excellent fit for the digitization of the construction industry. B/DLT are effective in this as they organize and align digital and physical supply chains, produce stigmergic coordination out of decentralization, enable the governance of complex projects for multiple stakeholders, while enabling the creation of a new class of business models and legal instruments for construction.

The Mutual Construction of Statistics and Society

The Mutual Construction of Statistics and Society PDF Author: Ann Rudinow Saetnan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136935525
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
What we choose to count, what we choose not to count, who does the counting, and the categories and values we choose to apply when counting, matter. This volume addresses why and how students and scholars must become more aware of the power and the limitations of statistics.

Materialities of Age and Ageing: Concepts of a Material Gerontology

Materialities of Age and Ageing: Concepts of a Material Gerontology PDF Author: Grit Höppner
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2889458636
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 79

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Book Description
In gerontological research the understanding of age and ageing changed in the last decade. Biologic determined explanations no longer prevail in this research field. Instead, ideas of social constructivism are frequently used. These ideas define the state of age and the process of ageing as social constructions, steeping ageing in social and cultural assumptions, ascriptions, and expectations. From a social constructivist perspective, age and ageing are not (just) identified as dependency, deficit, and need for care – as it was foremost accelerated from a biological perspective – but with the life course and thus with individual lifestyles, experiences, attitudes and practices, as well as institutional and economic structures. A prominent social constructivist concept is “doing age.” Similar to “doing gender” the concept of “doing age” assumes age as taking place in the form of a social praxis within everyday life interactions between people and thus in performances, embedded in discourses, through which social hierarchies and ideals proceed. Despite the paradigm shift that social constructivist concepts enable in gerontological thinking, they reveal their blind spot when it comes to the materiality of ageing and thus to fleshy-sensual experiences, human and non-human ontologies and agencies. Addressing these materialities of ageing brings up its own critique on definitions of ageing bodies and material environments. This framing does not presume that age and ageing are solely products of human-to-human interactions or those of formative environments or of discourses. Rather humans, non-humans, and discourses become essential parts of ageing processes. Such a material framing enables us new insights into forms of age and ageing and thus offers an opportunity for scholars to engage critically with materialities of age and ageing. This eBook explores theoretical, methodological, and empirical concepts of such a 'Material Gerontology'.

Off the Grid

Off the Grid PDF Author: Phillip Vannini
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135010498
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Off-grid isn’t a state of mind. It isn’t about someone being out of touch, about a place that is hard to get to, or about a weekend spent offline. Off-grid is the property of a building (generally a home but sometimes even a whole town) that is disconnected from the electricity and the natural gas grid. To live off-grid, therefore, means having to radically re-invent domestic life as we know it, and this is what this book is about: individuals and families who have chosen to live in that dramatically innovative, but also quite old, way of life. This ethnography explores the day-to-day lives of people in each of Canada’s provinces and territories living off the grid. Vannini and Taggart demonstrate how a variety of people, all with different environmental constraints, live away from contemporary civilization. The authors also raise important questions about our social future and whether off-grid living creates an environmentally and culturally sustainable lifestyle practice. These homes are experimental labs for our collective future, an intimate look into unusual contemporary domestic lives, and a call to the rest of us leading ordinary lives to examine what we take for granted. This book is ideal for courses on the environment and sustainability as well as introduction to sociology and introduction to cultural anthropology courses.

De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Entrepreneurship

De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Entrepreneurship PDF Author: Wadid Lamine
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110764229
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 458

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Book Description
Far-reaching technological developments are making a deep impact on societies and economic environments worldwide. With the emergence of new digital infrastructures such as artificial intelligence, fintech, data analytics, robotics and nanotech, new creative industries, still in a state of flux, have arisen, while others have disappeared, at least in their traditional form. The intermixing of traditional and new technologies has led to a redrawing of boundaries and an extension of the limits of entrepreneurship out towards industries with hitherto high barriers to entry due to regulatory, technological or structural factors. These "external enablers" have led to a democratization of entrepreneurship and a lessening of the obstacles to starting up a company by reducing (or eliminating) the difficulties inherent in the entrepreneurial phenomenon in its "classical" configuration, such as high resource intensity, uncertainty, limited time or information asymmetry. The De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Entrepreneurship examines the impact of these technological disruptions not only using the existing paradigms, but also by re-examining our very conception of the entrepreneurial phenomenon in terms of its evolving nature and shifting contours. The contributions to this handbook promote the emergence of new theories and conceptions of the entrepreneurial opportunity and process that more fully reflect the realities of the new environment we are living in. They will benefit both academics aiming to familiarize themselves with the state of research and theory within topics and subtopics in digital entrepreneurship, as well as practicing entrepreneurs and managers aiming to acquaint themselves with leading edge practices and insights in digital entrepreneurship.

How Matter Matters

How Matter Matters PDF Author: Paul R. Carlile
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199671532
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
The third volume in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies Series focuses on the entanglement of social and material aspects of organizations, and in particular the role of objects and material artifacts in the process of organizing.

The Usage and Impact of ICTs during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Usage and Impact of ICTs during the Covid-19 Pandemic PDF Author: Shengnan Yang
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000846571
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
This book takes a holistic view of the roles of ICTs during the pandemic through the lens of social informatics, as it is critical to our understanding of the relations between society and technology. Specific attention is given to various stakeholders and social contexts, with analysis at the individual, group, community, and society levels. Pushing the boundaries of information science research with timely and critical research questions, this edited volume showcases information science research in the context of COVID-19, by specifically accentuating sociotechnical practices, activities, and ICT interventions during the pandemic. Its social informatics focus appeals to a broad audience, and its global and international orientation provides a timely, innovative, and much-needed perspective to information science. This book is unique in its interdisciplinary nature as it consists of research studies on the intersections between ICTs and health, culture, social interaction, civic engagement, information dissemination, work, and education. Chapters apply a range of research methods, including questionnaire surveys, content analyses, and case studies from countries in Asia, Europe, and America, as well as global and international comparisons. The book’s primary target audience includes scholars and students in information and library science, particularly those interested in the social aspect of the information society. It may be of interest to information professionals, library practitioners, educators, and information policymakers, as well as scholars and students in science and technology studies, cultural studies, political science, public administration, sociology, and communication studies.

The Sense of Dissonance

The Sense of Dissonance PDF Author: David Stark
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400831008
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
What counts? In work, as in other areas of life, it is not always clear what standards we are being judged by or how our worth is being determined. This can be disorienting and disconcerting. Because of this, many organizations devote considerable resources to limiting and clarifying the logics used for evaluating worth. But as David Stark argues, firms would often be better off, especially in managing change, if they allowed multiple logics of worth and did not necessarily discourage uncertainty. In fact, in many cases multiple orders of worth are unavoidable, so organizations and firms should learn to harness the benefits of such "heterarchy" rather than seeking to purge it. Stark makes this argument with ethnographic case studies of three companies attempting to cope with rapid change: a machine-tool company in late and postcommunist Hungary, a new-media startup in New York during and after the collapse of the Internet bubble, and a Wall Street investment bank whose trading room was destroyed on 9/11. In each case, the friction of competing criteria of worth promoted an organizational reflexivity that made it easier for the company to change and deal with market uncertainty. Drawing on John Dewey's notion that "perplexing situations" provide opportunities for innovative inquiry, Stark argues that the dissonance of diverse principles can lead to discovery.

Sociomaterial-Design

Sociomaterial-Design PDF Author: Pernille Bjørn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319126075
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
Investigates theoretically and empirically what it means to design technological artefacts while embracing the large number of practices which practitioners engage with when handling technologies. The authors discusses the fields of design and sociomateriality through their shared interests towards the basic nature of work, collaboration, organization, technology, and human agency, striving to make the debates and concepts originating in each field accessible to each other, and thus moving sociomateriality closer to the practical concerns of design and providing a useful analytical toolbox to information system designers and field researchers alike. Sociomaterial-Design: Bounding Technologies in Practice takes on the challenge of redefining design practices through insights from the emerging debate on sociomateriality. It does so by bringing forward a comparative examination of two longitudinal ethnographic studies of the practices within two emergency departments – one in Canada and one in the United States of America. A particular focus is placed upon the use of current collaborative artefacts within the emergency departments and the transformation into digital artefacts through design.