[Air-L] Seeking a short introduction text on technological determinism vs. SCOT

[Thomas Ball]

There are more than a few wiki pieces on technological determinism and SCOT
that qualify as introductory, e.g.,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_determinism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_construction_of_technology

On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 11:05 AM, Tarleton L. Gillespie <tlg28 at cornell.edu>
wrote:

> I was particularly impressed by Leah Lievrouw's chapter in a collection I
> co-edited, which was intended to bring together some of the theoretical
> tools about technology and society drawn both from STS and from pockets of
> Communication. It gestures to and digests a lot of the classic takes that
> have been mentioned in this thread. I think it teaches very well.
>
> = = =
>
> Lievrouw, Leah. 2014. “Materiality and Media in Communication and
> Technology Studies: An Unfinished Project.” In Media Technologies: Essays
> on Communication, Materiality, and Society, edited by Tarleton Gillespie,
> Pablo Boczkowski, and Kirsten Foot, 21–51. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
> http://mitpress.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.7551/mitpress/
> 9780262525374.001.0001/upso-9780262525374-chapter-2
>
> Abstract: A newly materialist approach to the study of media technologies
> is emerging in several fields, including cultural studies, digital
> humanities, and science and technology studies (STS). Yet most technology
> scholarship in the communication field, informed by classical media
> research, still follows a broadly constructivist line focused on the
> meanings, appropriations, representations and semiology of communication
> technology and its uses. This chapter explores the conceptualization of
> communication and media technologies at the intersection of STS and
> communication studies, surveying and comparing key concepts or schools of
> thought in each field. A framework for mediation is proposed as a way to
> theorize material artifacts, communication practices, and social
> arrangements or structures as mutually-constitutive elements of
> communication and media technology.
>
> = = =
>
> Tarleton
>
>
>
>
> On 2/19/18, 10:53 AM, "Air-L on behalf of Brice L Nixon" <
> air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org on behalf of bln222 at nyu.edu> wrote:
>
>     I have had success using the first two sections (p. 1-7) of the chapter
>     "The Technology and the Society" from Raymond Williams' *Television:
>     Technology and Cultural Form* as a short introduction to those two
> basic
>     perspectives.
>
>     Williams uses television to illustrate the different views of the
>     relationship between technology and society (the book is from 1974). In
>     addition to explaining the debate between the views of  technological
>     determinism and what he calls symptomatic technology, Williams also
> argues
>     that this debate is a dead end because each view abstracts technology
> from
>     society. The rest of the book is meant to offer an alternative
> approach —
>     and one that I think remains an important alternative to consider in
>     relation to the more recent theoretical approaches to technology and
>     society.
>
>     Brice Nixon, PhD
>     Visiting Scholar, Annenberg School for Communication, University of
>     Pennsylvania
>     Adjunct Instructor, Department of Media Studies and Production, Temple
>     University
>     bricenixon.wordpress.com
>     www.asc.upenn.edu/people/faculty/brice-nixon
>
>     On Sun, Feb 18, 2018 at 10:02 AM, Carmel Vaisman <carmelv at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>     > Dear fellows,
>     >
>     > I have been struggling with the task of finding a simple short text
> for
>     > undergraduates that introduces the approaches of technological
> determinism
>     > (including utopia and dystopia) versus social construction of
> technology.
>     > Since the theoretical terrain has since been enriched with actor
> network
>     > theories and post phenomenology and so forth, it has become very
> hard to
>     > find a text that doesn't complicate this basic framework which fits a
>     > sophomore introductory level course. Any ideas?
>     >
>     > Thanks in advance,
>     >
>     >
>     > Carmel Vaisman, PhD.
>     > The Multidisciplinary Program in the Humanities
>     > The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and
> Ideas
>     > Tel Aviv University
>     > http://www.absolutecarmel.com
>     > Twitter: @carmelva
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