Rethinking the Social Construction of Technology Through 'Following the Actors': A Reappraisal of Technological Frames

In this paper, I summarize case study research on an information system called Connected Kids. This case study was guided by an approach to technology studies called the \'Social construction of technology\' or SCOT Bijker (1984). In discussing Connected Kids, I illustrate many of SCOT\'s main tenents, e.g. the various social interactions that surround and influence technology design. As the paper progresses, however, I focus on one concept in particular, i.e. SCOT\'s notion of a \'technological frame,\' which is used as a catch-all concept for handling the structural influences in technology design. My discussion and illustration of this concept shows that – whilst technological frames help an analyst understand, in general terms, the role structure(s) play in shaping technology – the \'heterogeneity\' of technological frames can cloak the more obvious, and potentially most influential, forces at work in technology design. In the case of Connected kids, the role of resources, and which actors had access to these resources, was critical in pointing Connected Kids down a particular trajectory. Further, this discovery emerged from listening carefully to respondents\' comments on the role of resources in their community. These comments, and my own observations on how resource-access propelled certain actors into a leadership position, led to my developing an alternative method for analyzing technological frames. The implications of this analysis are then discussed within the context of SCOT and technology studies more generally.Social Construction of Technology, Technological Frames, Information Technology

Damien Summation

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film Blackfriars Theatre Damien summation from Until Tomorrow Productionshttps://digitalcommons.providence.edu/damien_pubs/1004/thumbnail.jp

Exploring Takfir, Its Origins and Contemporary Use: The Case of Takfiri Approach in Daesh’s Media

Muslims have been the primary targets of Daesh’s attacks since 2014 in different countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. These attacks were based on its takfiri ideology. As Daesh official media and documents indicate, kufr (unbelief, infidelity) in Daesh’s approach is not limited to non-Muslims (original disbelievers), but Muslims are the most significant parts of kuffar (unbelievers) in its view and defined as incidental disbelievers. Through studying Daesh’s official documents and various Arabic, English, and Persian media productions, in an explanatory research, this article attempts to display Daesh’s takfiri approach toward Muslims and explains its historical and ideological roots, difference with Al-Qaeda’s takfiri approach, different approaches to takfir inside Daesh, main targets of Daesh’s takfir, and the reasons behinds its takfiri view. This article displays that for Daesh, the Muslims are limited only to Sunni Muslims who are accepting and following its approach. Other Sunni and non-Sunni Muslims are thus kuffar. This study also shows that the assertion of takfir has become a method for Daesh to discredit its opponents, such as Shi’a Muslims and other Muslim groups

Entitlement Project

Looks at behavioral differences between deservingness, psychological entitlement and social entitlemen

Damien Summation

Providence College Department of Theatre, Dance & Film Blackfriars Theatre Damien summation from Until Tomorrow Productionshttps://digitalcommons.providence.edu/damien_pubs/1004/thumbnail.jp

WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

and WHO can be obtained from the UNAIDS Informatio