In this topic, we shift our focus on Indigenous peoples to explore some of the ‘big picture’ questions involved in technology development more generally. We will introduce some of the theories around these issues. Science and Technology Studies is an academic field of study that explores the ways that people interact with technologies. In particular, the theory of the “social shaping of technology” offers us a way to think about these processes.
We discover that technologies are impacted by both social action and physical constraints. Critical authors like Robert McChesney show us how power is always involved in the ways that technologies are designed and used. The social shaping approach to studying technology does not reflect a level playing field. Instead, it is structured as a field of conflict and compromise between different groups, from powerful multinational corporations to local communities.
Communicating about technology- What to do?
- Introducing the social shaping of technology
- Utopian and dystopian visions of technologies
- Optimistic and pessimistic views of digital technologies
- Digital Inclusion and structural barriers
- Applying the Social Shaping Approach
- Power and digital technologies
- Moving forward – shaping technologies at the First Mile