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Full-Text Articles in Science and Technology Studies

Making On The Margins: Why Do Resource-Constrained Users Practice Frugality And Openness During Grassroots Innovation?.Pdf, Prashant Rajan Dec 2018

Making On The Margins: Why Do Resource-Constrained Users Practice Frugality And Openness During Grassroots Innovation?.Pdf, Prashant Rajan

Prashant Rajan

Interventionist human–computer interaction for development (HCI4D) research universalizes diverse non-Western sites as marginalized contexts that justify researcher involvement yet function as barriers to methodology and praxis. In contrast, reflexive HCI scholarship decenters universalizing narratives of (good) design, (for) development, and (peripheral) innovation, by valorizing user practices in rural, low-income, low-text literacy settings. Reflexive HCI has demonstrated how innovators working with advanced technologies in elite non-Western spaces of privilege produced non-Western culture and innovation in ways that resist mainstream interpretations of innovation. This study extends reflexive HCI perspectives to critique HCI4D and study innovation in marginalized settings. Findings from multisited ethnographic …


Algorithmic Legal Reasoning As Racializing Assemblage, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Ama Nyame-Mensah, Allison R. Russell Dec 2017

Algorithmic Legal Reasoning As Racializing Assemblage, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Ama Nyame-Mensah, Allison R. Russell

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

This paper critically examines the use of predictive analytics in U.S. criminal justice policy and practice, with a particular focus on the ways in which these technological practices are reproducing and reinforcing structural relations of difference. Adopting a new materialist lens, which posits algorithms as more-than-human ontologies, the paper explores the process by which algorithms become racializing assemblages through their encounters with administrative data generated at various stages of criminal justice, and guided by choices made by decision makers and researchers. It addresses the following questions: In what ways do the algorithms become part of a larger sociotechnical apparatus of …


Enhancing The Epistemological Project In The Rhetoric Of Science: Information Infrastructure As Tool For Identifying Epistemological Commitments In Scientific And Technical Communities., Nathan Johnson Nov 2017

Enhancing The Epistemological Project In The Rhetoric Of Science: Information Infrastructure As Tool For Identifying Epistemological Commitments In Scientific And Technical Communities., Nathan Johnson

Nathan R. Johnson

Enhancing the Epistemological Project in the Rhetoric of Science: Information Infrastructure as Tool for Identifying Epistemological Commitments in Scientific and Technical Communities. Article discusses how the STS concept of infrastructural provides a mesolayer approach to understand global issues in science with rhetorical methodology.


The Computational Turn In Education Research: Critical And Creative Perspectives On The Digital Data Deluge, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román Dec 2016

The Computational Turn In Education Research: Critical And Creative Perspectives On The Digital Data Deluge, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

In his exceptional survey of current big data methods in the social sciences, Kitchin (2014) describes the current state of affairs as a “data deluge”. Indeed, the diluvian metaphors of flood and deluge abound in our current computational culture, as we surf the dynamic surface of a seemingly inhuman quantity of data. Kitchin (2014) emphasizes the challenges and opportunities for researchers in the social sciences as they delve into this deluge. In the digital datafication of life and learning, the impact on education can already be felt, but has yet to be adequately theorized; there is a growing need for …


Modeling Intermediary Satisfaction With Mandatory Adoption Of E-Government Technologies For Food Distribution, Shweta Chopra, Prashant Rajan Jan 2016

Modeling Intermediary Satisfaction With Mandatory Adoption Of E-Government Technologies For Food Distribution, Shweta Chopra, Prashant Rajan

Prashant Rajan

We report quantitative measures of factors that inºuence technology acceptance among intermediaries delivering
government-supplied essential commodities to citizens in Chhattisgarh, India. Using the method of partial least
squares, we validate and extend the Uniªed Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, ªnding evidence for
the effect of social inºuence, performance expectancy, and effort expectancy on salespersons’ satisfaction with the
adoption of point-of-sale machines mandated by the Chhattisgarh government. Further, the moderating effects of
age, experience with technology, work experience, and educational attainment on the factors that inºuence satisfaction are assessed. Key recommendations are drawn for research and practice on intermediation …


Algo-Ritmo: More-Than-Human Performative Acts And The Racializing Assemblages Of Algorithmic Architectures, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román Dec 2015

Algo-Ritmo: More-Than-Human Performative Acts And The Racializing Assemblages Of Algorithmic Architectures, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

What happens when more-than-human digital acts tell us something about ourselves? This article examines the ways in which the algorithms of data analytics function in relation to other ontologies and assemblages and how they are shaping and forming our lives. Beginning by critically questioning the ontology of data, data are argued to be an assemblage that is materially and discursively produced from a multiplicity of apparatuses including sociopolitical relations of power and “difference.” The concept of algo-ritmo—that is, the repetition of data with alterity—is introduced as a way of understanding how the performative acts of the “soft(ware) thinking” of algorithms …


Alternative Ontologies Of Number: Rethinking The Quantitative In Computational Culture, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Patti Lather Dec 2015

Alternative Ontologies Of Number: Rethinking The Quantitative In Computational Culture, Elizabeth De Freitas, Ezekiel J. Dixon-Román, Patti Lather

Ezekiel J Dixon-Román

Introduction to special issue.


The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition Dec 2015

The Digital Dionysus: Nietzsche & The Network-Centric Condition

Dan Mellamphy

No abstract provided.


Intermediary’S Technology Satisfaction And Performance In Chhattisgarh Public Distribution System: Research Note, Varun Chhabra, Prashant Rajan, Shweta Chopra Dec 2015

Intermediary’S Technology Satisfaction And Performance In Chhattisgarh Public Distribution System: Research Note, Varun Chhabra, Prashant Rajan, Shweta Chopra

Prashant Rajan

Centralized online real-time electronic Public Distribution System (COREPDS) is one of the various technological and administrative reforms introduced by state government of Chhattisgarh to empower beneficiary. COREPDS allows the beneficiary to choose fair price shop where they can purchase subsidized commodities. Salespersons’ working in the fair price shops are the primary operators of point-of-sale (POS) devices introduced in COREPDS. The fact that adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is mandatory in egovernance makes it important to study technology satisfaction. In this research note, we propose to investigate the relationship between fair price shop performance after the implementation of point-of-sale …


Exploring Bridge-Engine Control Room Collaborative Team Communication, Aditi Kataria, Eric Holder, Gesa Praetorius, Michael Baldauf, Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs Oct 2015

Exploring Bridge-Engine Control Room Collaborative Team Communication, Aditi Kataria, Eric Holder, Gesa Praetorius, Michael Baldauf, Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs

Michael Baldauf

The EC funded CyClaDes research project is designed to promote the increased impact of the human element in shipping across the design and operational lifecycle of ships. It addresses the design and operation of ships and ship systems. One of the CyClaDes’ tasks is to create a crew‐centered design case‐study examination of the information that is shared between the Bridge and Engine Control Room (ECR) that helps the crew coordinate to ensure understanding and complete interconnected tasks. This information can be provided in various ways, including communication devices or obtained from a common database, display, or even the ship environment …


Exploring Bridge-Engine Control Room Collaborative Team Communication, Aditi Kataria, Eric Holder, Gesa Praetorius, Michael Baldauf, Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs Oct 2015

Exploring Bridge-Engine Control Room Collaborative Team Communication, Aditi Kataria, Eric Holder, Gesa Praetorius, Michael Baldauf, Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs

Gesa Praetorius

The EC funded CyClaDes research project is designed to promote the increased impact of the human element in shipping across the design and operational lifecycle of ships. It addresses the design and operation of ships and ship systems. One of the CyClaDes’ tasks is to create a crew‐centered design case‐study examination of the information that is shared between the Bridge and Engine Control Room (ECR) that helps the crew coordinate to ensure understanding and complete interconnected tasks. This information can be provided in various ways, including communication devices or obtained from a common database, display, or even the ship environment …


Games Are Not Coffee Mugs: Games And The Right Of Publicity, 29 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 1 (2012), William K. Ford, Raizel Liebler Jul 2015

Games Are Not Coffee Mugs: Games And The Right Of Publicity, 29 Santa Clara Computer & High Tech. L.J. 1 (2012), William K. Ford, Raizel Liebler

William K. Ford

Are games more like coffee mugs, posters, and T-shirts, or are they more like books, magazines, and films? For purposes of the right of publicity, the answer matters. The critical question is whether games should be treated as merchandise or as expression. Three classic judicial decisions, decided in 1967, 1970, and 1973, held that the defendants needed permission to use the plaintiffs' names in their board games. These decisions judicially confirmed that games are merchandise, not something equivalent to more traditional media of expression. As merchandise, games are not like books; instead, they are akin to celebrity-embossed coffee mugs. To …


Ambivalence And The Decision Tree, Kirby Farrell Aug 2012

Ambivalence And The Decision Tree, Kirby Farrell

kirby farrell

We are insolubly ambivalent creatures. Traditionally cultures have managed ambivalence by focusing on character and morality in motives. Freudian psychology recognized that cognitive conflict is insoluble and stressed equilibrium and grace in adaptation. Today technology's binary structure is complicating and sometimes superseding the traditional trope of character by organizing cognition around the trope of the decision tree.


Emp And Geomagnetic Storm Protection Of Critical Infrastructure, George H. Baker Iii May 2012

Emp And Geomagnetic Storm Protection Of Critical Infrastructure, George H. Baker Iii

George H Baker

EMP and solar storm wide geographic coverage and ubiquitous system effects beg the question of “Where to begin?” with protection efforts. Thus, in addressing these “wide area electromagnetic (EM) effects,” we must be clever in deciding where to invest limited resources. Based on simple risk analysis, the electric power and communication infrastructures emerge as the highest priority for EM protection. Programs focused on these highest risk infrastructures will go a long way in lessoning societal impact. Given the national scope of the effects, such programs must be coordinated at the national level but implemented at local level. Because wide-area EM …


Comments On The Verizon-Spectrumco Deal, Scott J. Wallsten Jan 2012

Comments On The Verizon-Spectrumco Deal, Scott J. Wallsten

Scott J. Wallsten

No abstract provided.


Leisure Divide: Can The Third World Come Out To Play?, Payal Arora Dec 2011

Leisure Divide: Can The Third World Come Out To Play?, Payal Arora

Payal Arora

As billions of dollars are invested in mitigating the digital divide, stakes are raised to gain validity for these cost-intensive endeavors, focusing more on online activities that have clear socio-economic outcomes. Hence, farmers in rural India are watched closely to see how they access crop prices online, while their Orkuting gets sidelined as anecdotal. This paper argues that this is a fundamental problem as it treats users in emerging markets as somehow inherently different from those in the West. After all, it is now commonly accepted that much of what users do online in developed nations is leisure-oriented. This perspective …


Sex Trafficking & The Internet, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Sep 2011

Sex Trafficking & The Internet, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

No abstract provided.


Precaution And Privacy Impact Assessment As Modes Towards Risk Governance, David Wright, RaphaëL Gellert, Serge Gutwirth, Michael Friedewald Aug 2011

Precaution And Privacy Impact Assessment As Modes Towards Risk Governance, David Wright, RaphaëL Gellert, Serge Gutwirth, Michael Friedewald

Michael Friedewald

No abstract provided.


Media Evolution And Public Understanding Of Climate Science, Ann Williams Dec 2010

Media Evolution And Public Understanding Of Climate Science, Ann Williams

Ann E Williams

This paper employs public opinion data from a nationally representative probability sample to examine how information encounters and exposure to different media sources relate to individuals' beliefs about global warming. The analyses indicate that media source exposure (i.e., exposure to news and information about science presented through different media outlets), intentional information exposure (i.e., deliberate exposure to global warming news coverage), and inadvertent information exposure (i.e., unplanned exposure to news and information about science that is encountered online while searching for other forms of information) relate to beliefs about global warming, in significant and meaningful ways. Namely, the findings show …


The Future Of Digital Communications Research And Policy, Scott J. Wallsten Nov 2010

The Future Of Digital Communications Research And Policy, Scott J. Wallsten

Scott J. Wallsten

No abstract provided.


Residential And Business Broadband Prices Part 2: International Comparisons, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso Nov 2010

Residential And Business Broadband Prices Part 2: International Comparisons, Scott J. Wallsten, James Riso

Scott J. Wallsten

For this project, we assemble a new dataset consisting of more than 25,000 residential and business broadband plans from all OECD countries from 2007–2009. We explore three issues: the relationship between plan components—such as metering—and consumer prices, price changes over time, and how broadband prices vary across countries.

This paper, part 2 of the project, studies prices and price changes over time in the United States and other OECD countries. We find that residential prices in the U.S. remained fairly stable overall in this time period for both standalone and triple play (voice, video, and data) plans, though prices for …


Mother Earth "Speaks": Change Yourself, Change The World, Use The Archetypal Energy "Harmony" As A Guide, Carroy U. Ferguson Jun 2010

Mother Earth "Speaks": Change Yourself, Change The World, Use The Archetypal Energy "Harmony" As A Guide, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

In relation to the Cosmos, we all, as human beings, live on this tiny planet we call Earth, a planet that supports and sustains life, as we know it. There are many different kinds of people, plants, and animals functioning in harmony with soil, air, and water--all linked to one another in a complex web of life to form one Earth community. Unfortunately, we often take this miracle and ecosystem of life for granted. When, however, we take the ecosystem of life too much for granted, Mother Earth "speaks," reflecting imbalances and dis-harmonies. When Mother Earth "speaks," her message is …


Ssrn As An Initial Revolution In Academic Knowledge Aggregation And Dissemination, David Bray, Sascha Vitzthum, Benn Konsynski Jan 2010

Ssrn As An Initial Revolution In Academic Knowledge Aggregation And Dissemination, David Bray, Sascha Vitzthum, Benn Konsynski

Sascha Vitzthum

Within this paper we consider our results of using the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) over a period of 18 months to distribute our working papers to the research community. Our experiences have been quite positive, with SSRN serving as a platform both to inform our colleagues about our research as well as inform us about related research (through email and telephoned conversations of colleagues who discovered our paper on SSRN). We then discuss potential future directions for SSRN to consider, and how SSRN might well represent an initial revolution in 21st century academic knowledge aggregation and dissemination. Our paper …


Towards Self-Organizing, Smart Business Networks: Let’S Create ‘Life’ From Inert Information, David Bray, Benn Konsynski Nov 2008

Towards Self-Organizing, Smart Business Networks: Let’S Create ‘Life’ From Inert Information, David Bray, Benn Konsynski

David A. Bray

We review three different theories that can inform how researchers can determine the performance of smart business networks, to include: (1) the Theory of Evolution, (2) the Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm, and (3) research insights into computers and cognition. We suggest that each of these theories demonstrate that to be generally perceived as smart, an organism needs to be self-organizing, communicative, and tool-making. Consequentially, to determine the performance of a smart business network, we suggest that researchers need to determine the degree to which it is self-organizing, communicative, and tool-making. We then relate these findings to the Internet and …


Reverse Auctions And Universal Telecommunications Service: Lessons From Global Experience, Scott J. Wallsten Mar 2008

Reverse Auctions And Universal Telecommunications Service: Lessons From Global Experience, Scott J. Wallsten

Scott J. Wallsten

The United States now spends around $7 billion on universal service programs—subsidies intended to ensure that the entire country has access to telecommunications services. Most of this money supports telecommunications service in “high cost” (primarily rural) areas, and the High Cost fund is growing quickly. In response to this growth, policymakers are considering using reverse auctions, or bids for the minimum subsidy, as a way to reduce expenditures. While the U.S. has not yet distributed funds for universal service programs using reverse auctions, the method has been used widely. First, reverse auctions are akin to standard government procurement procedures, which …


UbiquitäRes Computing Und Seine Auswirkungen Auf Die Industriearbeit, Ralf Lindner, Michael Friedewald Dec 2007

UbiquitäRes Computing Und Seine Auswirkungen Auf Die Industriearbeit, Ralf Lindner, Michael Friedewald

Michael Friedewald

Ubiquitäres Computing (UbiComp) bezeichnet eine alles durchdringende Informatisierung und Ver- netzung u.a. auch im Arbeitsleben. Es fügt sich in der industriellen Fertigung in die seit langem zu beobachtenden Trends der Rationalisierung und Flexibilisierung ein, beschleunigen diese und ver- stärken zum Teil deren Auswirkungen auf innerbetriebliche Prozesse. Mit Blick auf Tätigkeitsprofile und Qualifikationsanforderungen sind zwei gegenläufigen Folgen von UbiComp zu erwarten: Einer- seits werden bestimmte Tätigkeiten in der industriellen Fertigung eine qualitative Anreicherung und Erweiterung erfahren, während andererseits erweiterte Möglichkeiten zur Automatisierung von einfa- chen Kontroll-, Überwachungs- und anderen manuellen Tätigkeiten bestehen. Für die Mehrzahl der verbleibenden Beschäftigten in der industriellen …


Privacy, Identity And Security In Ambient Intelligence: A Scenario Analysis, Michael Friedewald, Elena Vildjiounaite, Yves Punie, David Wright Dec 2006

Privacy, Identity And Security In Ambient Intelligence: A Scenario Analysis, Michael Friedewald, Elena Vildjiounaite, Yves Punie, David Wright

Michael Friedewald

The success of Ambient Intelligence (AmI) will depend on how secure it can be made, how privacy and other rights of indi- viduals can be protected and how individuals can come to trust the intelligent world that surrounds them and through which they move. This article addresses these issues by analysing scenarios for ambient intelligence applications that have been developed over the last few years. It elaborates the assumptions that promotors make about the likely use of the technology and possibly unwanted side effects. It concludes with a number of threats for personal privacy that become evident.


The Blogosphere And The New Pamphleteers, Donald J. Kochan Dec 2005

The Blogosphere And The New Pamphleteers, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

The future of the free dissemination of information lies in the blog, some may say. The internet has entirely transformed how we receive and consume information. It’s the newest incarnation of information dissemination. From the insights of Alexis de Tocqueville, “Feelings and opinions are recruited, the heart is enlarged, and the human mind is developed only by the reciprocal influence of men upon one another.” Bloggers are a powerful force in the distribution of information and ideas and the creation of communities of conversation. Throughout history, the dissemination of information, news, opinions, and ideas has continuously transformed. In the 18th …


Broadband Penetration: An Empirical Analysis Of State And Federal Policies, Scott J. Wallsten May 2005

Broadband Penetration: An Empirical Analysis Of State And Federal Policies, Scott J. Wallsten

Scott J. Wallsten

No abstract provided.


Whose Life Is Worth More? (And Why Is It Horrible To Ask?), Scott J. Wallsten May 2003

Whose Life Is Worth More? (And Why Is It Horrible To Ask?), Scott J. Wallsten

Scott J. Wallsten

No abstract provided.