Extending the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) Framework to the Digital World

The rapid rise of digital technologies forces us to re-think our current conceptualization of Information Technologies (IT) where recent theoretical approaches like complexity, evolutionary and network theories tend to remain silent on human (managerial and organizational) choices underlying the development of digital technologies. In this Research-in-Progress paper, we first describe the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework, originating in the 1980s. We then propose extending the SCOT framework along four dimensions in order to ensure its suitability for the digital world: (1) Technology – focus towards digital technologies, (2) Interaction – focus on interpersonal, person-technology, technology-technology and technology-physical environment interactions (3) Social Groups – focus on networked individualism, and (4) Context – focus on socio-digital context. We conclude by proposing to co-develop and -test the extended framework as a joint effort across several academic disciplines in order to use it when conducting research on the social construction of digital ecosystems

The meaning of materiality: reconsidering the materiality of Gramscian IR

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Social construction of innovation and the role of innovation brokers in the construction sector

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to re-visit social construction of technology (SCOT) framework in understanding of innovation in the construction sector and unpack the role of innovation brokers in this context. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH This is a conceptual paper adopting SCOT framework to understand innovation in the context of the construction sector. The role of innovation brokers is unpacked in the paper, currently under-explored in the construction innovation studies. FINDINGS The authors suggest SCOT framework as a useful overarching frame through which to understand construction innovation. The authors argue that innovation brokers should be positioned to oversee the interface of multiple social groups. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS Further empirical research is proposed to test the theoretical assumptions outlined in the paper. The research agenda is to conduct further empirical research adopting a socio-technical theoretical lens and appropriate qualitative or mixed-design methodologies. There are other socio-technical theoretical frameworks that could be used to explore socio-technical interactions in different ways, e.g. socio-technical systems theory, sociomateriality, actor-network theory, etc. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Three propositions are developed regarding the position of an innovation broker from the perspectives of multi-social-groups interfaces, shifting significance of the roles of innovation broker and the collaboration with government. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The authors outline the value of SCOT framework for innovation study within project-based construction sector. The authors contribute to better understanding of the role of innovation brokers in the system of construction innovation

Governing Techno-Futures:OECD Anticipation of Automation and the Multiplication of Managerialism

How do international organisations (IOs) govern the present based on claims about the coming impacts of technological change? Drawing on primary documents and participant observation, this article traces how the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) anticipates automation emanating from the growing integration of blockchain technologies in global governance. We find that promises of radical, rapid, and reckless automation advanced by promoters of Bitcoin and other ‘defiant’ applications of the technology are steered by this IO towards more incremental and carefully managed forms of automation. The OECD relies on two managerialist practices to anticipate “reckless automation” through the promotion of what we identify as “responsible disruption”. In combination, OECD practices of scenario building and shared orientation framework construction deepen and extend managerial forms of global governance today whose technocratic and expert-led nature limits democratic possibilities and perpetuates global inequalities

Cultural Contradictions of the Anytime, Anywhere Economy: Reframing Communication Technology

Technology-aided ubiquity and instantaneity have emerged as major goals of most information technology providers and of certain classes of users such as “road warriors”. New mobile technologies promise genie-in-a-bottle type near-magical qualities with anytime, anywhere access to information and services. While the complex science, systems, and economics of such technologies receive considerable attention from industry executives and researchers, the social and cultural aspects of these technologies attract less attention. This paper explores the oft-contradictory promises and pitfalls of anytime, anywhere technologies from a cultural standpoint. It makes suggestions for reinterpreting these technologies for greater human good

Climate change, contemporary society and engineering practice: a sustainability journey

[Abstract]: Climate change, Contemporary Society and engineers share an indivisible pathway towards sustainability through the means of technology. Climate change and sustainability are now new domains that require a better understanding by engineers. Ten years ago sustainability was a development for the future however the absence of climate certainty in contemporary society has raised sustainability awareness to the forefront of societal debate. While sustainability in theory is defined as the capacity to maintain a certain process or state indefinitely. However the literal meaning of “indefinitely” in sustainability definition poses a set of intriguing questions, is indefinite human survival a plausible proposition in a finite world. For this reason efforts in the fight against climate change are becoming a global effort, since it requires global cooperation and greater scientific consensus to reduce carbon emissions and consequently the planet’s energy footprint. We recognize that Sustainability ought to be economically viable, ecologically sound and sensitive; socially responsible and culturally appropriate. Surrounded by this realm of thinking all these mentioned definitions are equal measures that fail to address the importance of “technology” as a subject in the climate change and sustainability debate. Since this generation had inherited the historical legacy of nonrenewable energy technologies. The term “technology” in this context implies any technical system that can result in and/or be well described in terms of a process by which humans modify nature to meet their needs and wants. This paper seeks to investigate the underlying philosophical frames and the nature of the issues of sustainability present to engineers. It explores the notion of “Sustainability” and “technology “in engineering practice. Further, we argue that in order to establish a clear, measurable, actionable, and universally accessible working definition of sustainable engineering practices. climate change and technology life cycle need to be inclusive to sustainability

Sociología de la innovación: construcción social de la perspectiva tecnológica

This theoretical paper describes the effect of social action on technological artifacts and explores how innovation may flourish or be diminished in  society. Using the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) perspective, three main elements namely, flexibility of interpretation, relevant social groups and technological frame are described and their impact on innovation is discussed. The paper proposes that in developing societies,  flexibility is hardly pressed by technological frames and concrete social norms do not allow the alternative designs and the useage of artifacts. This paper proposes that innovation might  flourish in a society if technological frame change, and entrepreneurship become technological frames that can change the fixed meaning of artifacts and create a path for alternative designs and interpretations.Este artículo académico de tipo teórico describe el efecto que tiene la acción social sobre los artefactos tecnológicos y explora cómo la innovación puede florecer o reducirse en la sociedad. Utilizando la perspectiva del modelo de Construcción Social de la Tecnología (SCOT, por sus siglas en inglés), se describen y se discute el impacto que tienen en la innovación tres importantes elementos, a saber: flexibilidad de la interpretación, grupos sociales relevantes y marco tecnológico. Este artículo propone que en las sociedad en desarrollo, la flexibilidad es difícilmente motivada por los marcos tecnológicos y las normas sociales concretas no admite diseños alternativos ni el uso de artefactos. Este artículo propone que la innovación puede surgir en una sociedad donde se presente un cambio en el marco tecnológico y el emprendimiento se convierta en el marco tecnológico que puede modificar el significado fijo que tienen los artefactos y crear una ruta para diseños e interpretaciones alternativas

Creativity and Culture in Copyright Theory

Creativity is universally agreed to be a good that copyright law should seek to promote, yet copyright scholarship and policymaking have proceeded largely on the basis of assumptions about what it actually is. When asked to discuss the source of their inspiration, individual artists describe a process that is intrinsically ineffable. Rights theorists of all varieties have generally subscribed to this understanding, describing creativity in terms of an individual liberty whose form remains largely unspecified. Economic theorists of copyright work from the opposite end of the creative process, seeking to divine the optimal rules for promoting creativity by measuring its marketable byproducts. But these theorists offer no particular reason to think that marketable byproducts are either an appropriate proxy or an effective stimulus for creativity (as opposed to production), and more typically refuse to engage the question. The upshot is that the more we talk about creativity, the more it disappears from view. At the same time, the mainstream of intellectual property scholarship has persistently overlooked a broad array of social science methodologies that provide both descriptive tools for constructing ethnographies of creative processes and theoretical tools for modeling them