Assignment Description
- Choose a social informatics topic that you are already familiar with. The topic could be a current event or a personal experience with an information and communication technology (ICT) (e.g., a topic/problem from your previous discussion board postings). In the current events category, maybe you are curious about cyberbullying issues, the development of the Apple Watch
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. Or the diversification of emoji
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. On the personal experience side, perhaps you recently decided to delete your Facebook account and switch to another social media platform (personal experience). Or you have recently witnessed a decision being made about software or technology at your workplace and have seen it (or predict that it will) succeed wildly or fail disastrously.
All of these are topics ripe for a social informatics perspective because our understanding of the topic benefits from analyzing the interactions between the technical/technological and the social/sociological.
If you are having a hard time thinking of a topic, browse the technology section of any major newspaper (e.g., New York Times) or journal (e.g., Communications of ACM) to see if any recent technology-related news stories spark your interest, then consider whether and how it can be analyzed from a social informatics perspective. Or look for articles about technology in magazines and other media that offer social and cultural commentary about technology (i.e., The Atlantic, Slate, Wired, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, etc.). To think of a topic related to personal experience, make a list of all the ICTs that you use or are familiar with, particularly those that you have strong positive or negative feelings about or experiences with, and consider whether you can explain those feelings from a social informatics perspective.
TIP: The more specific the topic, the easier it will be to analyze it; this is why the assignment specifies that the topic should be a current event or personal experience rather than a type or category of ICT. Instead of "virtual reality," your topic might be the New York Times' decision to use VR
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to enhance readers' experiences of their news stories. Instead of "blogs," your topic might be your experience starting your own personal blog (personal experience).
- Examine your chosen topic according to the social informatics perspectives offered in the course readings from Week 1 through 4. Some of the perspectives that you may take include:
Kling (2007) - the productivity paradox; how social contexts matter for adoption of new technologies
Sanfillipo & Fichman (2010) - institutional and organization contexts for implementation, use, and technological outcomes; impact of politics and interests on technological outcomes; unintended consequences of ICTs; ICT users as social actors; ICTs as socio-technical network systems; technology as affecting identity
Norman (1997) - humans (analog) vs. machines (digital); the ever-increasing pace of change; treating people like machines; "human error," humans and computers as cooperating systems
Tenner (1997) - revenge effects, technology "biting back"
Baym (2010) - technological determinism; utopian and dystopian narratives of new technologies
Pinch & Bijker (1987) - social construction of technology; multidirectional model of technological development (aka variation and selection); interpretive flexibility of technological artifacts
Tatnall & Gilding (1999) - actor networks; technology as hybrid (socio-technical) entity; innovation as actor-network
Heidemann, Klier, & Probst (2012); Anderson (2015); Perrin & Duggan (2015) - development and adoption/diffusion of new technologies - Write a 8-12 pages paper that:
Introduces your topic/problem/event and why you choose it/why it is of interest.
Explain the topic/problem (e.g., why happened? what are the impacts of the problem/phenomenon) according to at least two different perspectives or theories you learned in course readings (cite at least 4 readings. you can use theories and cite papers that are NOT included in our existing reading lists).
Compare different theories or perspectives within the context (e.g., topic/problem/event) you described. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses/limitations of different perspectives.
Sample Outline
Introduction
Topic: The recent crackdown on Airbnb
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by city governments around the world
Thesis statement: The crackdown by city governments on Airbnb is a product of its interpretive flexibility. The various relevant social groups, including the company itself, owners, renters, neighbors, city governments, and the hotel industry, have conflicting interpretations of Airbnb that result in a continuing battle between the traditional economic interests and emerging sharing economy.
(Social Construction of Technology) SCOT perspective
Describe SCOT
Describe relevant social groups of Airbnb - the company itself, owners, renters, neighbors, city governments, and the hotel industry
Describe the social problems and solutions that Airbnb represents for each group
The current event in more detail
Describe the crackdown in more detail
Explain how it is a product of the conflicting interests of the relevant social groups
Apply SCOT's concept of "interpretive flexibility"
Conclusion
Restate thesis
Explain what the SI perspective offers, in terms of understanding the crackdown as an inevitable part of teh multidirectional development of Airbnb as a technological artifact.
Sample Solution