digitalSTS: A Field Guide for Science & Technology Studies

by Janet Vertesi, David Ribes, Laura Forlano (Contribution by), Alexandre Camus (Contribution by), Dominique Vinck (Contribution by)

Overview

New perspectives on digital scholarship that speak to today's computational realities

Scholars across the humanities, social sciences, and information sciences are grappling with how best to study virtual environments, use computational tools in their research, and engage audiences with their results. Classic work in science and technology studies (STS) has played a central role in how these fields analyze digital technologies, but many of its key examples do not speak to today’s computational realities. This groundbreaking collection brings together a world-class group of contributors to refresh the canon for contemporary digital scholarship.

In twenty-five pioneering and incisive essays, this unique digital field guide offers innovative new approaches to digital scholarship, the design of digital tools and objects, and the deployment of critically grounded technologies for analysis and discovery. Contributors cover a broad range of topics, including software development, hackathons, digitized objects, diversity in the tech sector, and distributed scientific collaborations. They discuss methodological considerations of social networks and data analysis, design projects that can translate STS concepts into durable scientific work, and much more.

Featuring a concise introduction by Janet Vertesi and David Ribes and accompanied by an interactive microsite, this book provides new perspectives on digital scholarship that will shape the agenda for tomorrow’s generation of STS researchers and practitioners.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691187075
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	05/07/2019
Pages:	568
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Janet Vertesi is assistant professor of sociology at Princeton University and the author of Seeing Like a Rover: How Robots, Teams, and Images Craft Knowledge of Mars. David Ribes is associate professor in the Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering and director of the Data Ecologies Lab at the University of Washington.

Table of Contents

Preface: The digitalSTS Community ix

Introduction 1

Introduction / Materiality Laura Forlano 11

Unfolding Digital Materiality: How Engineers Struggle to Shape Tangible and Fluid Objects Alexandre Camus Dominique Vinck 17

The Life and Death of Data Yanni Loukissas 42

Materiality Methodology, and Some Tricks of the Trade in the Study of Data and Specimens David Ribes 43

Digital Visualizations for Thinking with the Environment Nerea Calvillo 61

Introduction / Gender Daniela K. Rosner 77

If "Diversity" Is the Answer, What Is the Question? Understanding Diversity Advocacy in Voluntaristic Technology Projects Christina Dunbar-Hester 81

Feminist STS and Ubiquitous Computing: Investigating the Nature of the "Nature" of Ubicomp Xaroula (Charalampia) Kerasidou 99

Affect and Emotion in digitalSTS Luke Stark 117

The Ambiguous Boundaries of Computer Source Code and Some of Its Political Consequences Stéphane Couture 136

Introduction / Global Inequalities Steven J. Jackson 157

Venture Ed: Recycling Hype, Fixing Futures, and the Temporal Order of Edtech Anita Say Chan 161

Dangerous Networks: Internet Regulations as Racial Border Control in Italy Camilla A. Hawthorne 178

Social Movements and Digital Technology: A Research Agenda Carla Ilten Paul-Brian McInerney 198

Living in the Broken City: Infrastructural Inequity, Uncertainty, and the Materiality of the Digital in Brazil David Nemer Padma Chirumamilla 221

Sound Bites, Sentiments, and Accents: Digitizing Communicative Labor in the Era of Global Outsourcing Winifred R. Poster 240

Introduction / Infrastructure Janet Vertesi 263

Infrastructural Competence Steve Sawyer Ingrid Erickson Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi 267

Getting "There" from the Ever-Changing "Here": Following Digital Directions Ranjit Singh Chris Hesselbein Jessica Price Michael Lynch 280

Digitized Coral Reefs Elena Parmiggiani Eric Monteiro 300

Of "Working Ontologists" and "High-Quality Human Components": The Politics of Semantic Infrastructures Doris Allhutter 326

The Energy Walk: Infrastructuring the Imagination Brit Ross Winthereik James Maguire Laura Watts 349

Introduction / Software Carl DiSalvo 365

From Affordances to Accomplishments: PowerPoint and Excel at NASA Janet Vertesi 369

Misuser Innovations: The Role of "Misuses" and "Misusers" in Digital Communication Technologies Guillaume Latzko-Toth Johan Söderberg Florence Millerand Steve Jones 393

Knowing Algorithms Nick Seaver 412

Keeping Software Present: Software as a Timely Object for STS Studies of the Digital Marisa Leavitt Cohn 423

Introduction / Visualizing the Social Yanni Loukissas 447

Tracing Design Ecologies: Collecting and Visualizing Ephemeral Data as a Method in Design and Technology Studies Daniel Cardoso Llach 451

Data Sprints: A Collaborative Format in Digital Controversy Mapping Anders Kristian Munk Axel Meunier Tommaso Venturini 472

Smart Artifacts Mediating Social Viscosity Juan Salamanca 497

Actor-Network versus Network Analysis versus Digital Networks: Are We Talking about the Same Networks? Tommaso Venturini Anders Kristian Munk Mathieu Jacomy 510

Acknowledgments 525

Contributors 529

Index 539

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"This delightful collection of thought-provoking essays, case studies, and research findings creates a coherent story out of the disparate threads that have helped animate digital science and technology studies. digitalSTS is an essential volume, helping junior scholars get their bearings while also enabling reflexivity among those deeply immersed in this field."—danah boyd, principal researcher at Microsoft Research, founder of Data & Society, and author of It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens

"A dazzling collection of STS writing and thinking—an indispensable handbook for the next generation of science and technology studies."—Paul N. Edwards, author of A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming

"Science and technology studies (STS) is one of the most exciting new interdisciplinary fields in the academy. This indispensable collection by leading young STS scholars examines digital technologies, methods, and networks. Global in scope, well-crafted with introductions to different sections, and brimming with deep insights, this timely book is set to become a classic."—Trevor Pinch, Cornell University

"This volume addresses the growing intersections of STS with sites and practices shaped by digital technologies, assembling a diverse but concentrated collection of researchers and approaches in a single source. It will be a tremendously valuable starting place for readers interested in the field and a continuing resource for research and teaching."—Lucy Suchman, Lancaster University, UK

Editorial Reviews

Winner of the Olga Amsterdamska Award, European Association for the Study of Science and Technology

From the Publisher