[CITASA] Will the real sociology of technologies stand up?

[Nathaniel Poor]

Technology changes, people don't. (To quote sociologist Russ Neuman.)

In 10 years, we may study different technological forms, but the  
people will be the same (same motivations, desires, etc.). Therefore I  
would think that the sociological theories would be pretty much the  
same. I don't mean that in a defeatist way, I mean that I hope our  
theories are pretty good today and stand the test of time (and peer- 
review!).

However I am not actually a sociologist, fwiw. (comm studies)

^_^  ndp...


On Feb 2, 2009, at 1:43 PM, Ron Anderson wrote:

> Andrea,
> You have raised some very interesting and useful questions that  
> deserve an answer, but keep in mind that the historical context will  
> shape the answer, perhaps more than anything. For a historical  
> perspective from the point of view of the CITASA community you  
> should re-read the articles in the Summer 2006 issue of the SOCIAL  
> SCIENCE COMPUTER REVIEW, pages 139-171, "Symposium on the history of  
> CITASA." They show how drastically the technology, as well as the  
> sociology of technology, changed in less than 20 years. In 10 to 20  
> years from now, the technology, as well as the sociology of  
> technology, will be dramatically different, perhaps something like  
> Gibson's Neuromancer. But in the present age of the Internet, i  
> think no one has done a better job at showing us what the sociology  
> of technology is than Manuel Castells in his many books. If you can  
> find a good condensation of one of more of his books, it might  
> provide you with something close to defining the essential elements  
> of the "field."
> Defining the skills is a different and more difficult task. I have  
> followed the social movement to define "21st century skills" and  
> some of it has a very relevant emphasis upon critical thinking about  
> the technology itself, although most of the literature is oriented  
> toward changing K-12 learning. I think you will find some useful  
> ideas from the point of view of computer scientists in a 10 year old  
> report from the National Academy Press, Being Fluent with  
> Information Technology:
> http://www.amazon.com/Fluent-Information-Technology-Committee-Literacy/dp/030906399X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1233599513&sr=1-3
> in the section on being analytical about the complexity of  
> technology and its impact. It's not much, but it is more than you'll  
> find in the sociological literature in terms of analytical skills.
> All the best,
> Ron
>
>
> At 11:28 AM 2/2/2009, Andrea Tapia wrote:
>> Hello CITASA folks.
>>
>> As many of you know, I work in an I-school (Information school) and  
>> am the
>> only sociologist on the faculty.
>>
>> Recently I have been asked to define the "sociology of technology/ 
>> ies" This
>> has been a surprisingly difficult task.
>> What I have been doing is staking out boundaries, stating what it  
>> is not,
>> therefore, what I'll have left is what it is, right?
>>
>> So far I have removed the following, Sociology of Technology/ies  
>> may overlap
>> with--but is NOT science and technology studies, not the sociology of
>> science, not the sociology of knowledge, not the sociology of
>> communications, not social informatics, not a bunch of theories like
>> Structuration/Actor Network/SCOT/SST/Institutionalism/network  
>> science etc.
>>
>> So, I ask you, what is left? What do we do that is unique? What are  
>> our core
>> competencies?
>>
>> I've found a couple readings that have helped a bit, but I am  
>> hoping some of
>> you can aid me in my quest.
>>
>>
>> 1.     Shields, Mark A. 1997. ³Reinventing Technology in Social  
>> Theory.²
>> pages 187-216. Is a book chapter in...Current Perspectives in  
>> Social Theory:
>> 1997 By Jennifer M. Lehmann, Ben Agger Published by Emerald Group  
>> Pub Ltd,
>> 1997
>>
>>
>> 2.    Saskia Sassen ³Towards a Sociology of Information  
>> Technology,² Current
>> Sociology, May 2002, Vol. 50(3): 365 388 SAGE Publications
>>
>>
>>
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> Ronald E Anderson, Professor Emeritus, U. of Minnesota, Mpls, MN  
> 55455 <rea at umn.edu>
> Web site: http://www.soc.umn.edu/~rea/          Blog: http://contexts.org/eye/
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-------------------------------
Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D.
http://natpoor.blogspot.com/