CCN: 42575 (3 units)
I203 is NOT a pre-req for this course. |
This page last updated 4/30/09
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About the course: The goal is to look at a variety of ways of understanding how people use, adapt, and domesticate information and communication technologies, and how these might affect HCI and ICT design. We will look at a lot of both theoretical literature and practical studies. This is *not* a technical class, but will instead focus on how to motivate and evaluate design from many perspectives. It'll be useful for technology designers, but especially for students interested in expanding their understanding of the relevant literature and theoretical perspectives. In this class, we'll define both HCI and STS loosely. HCI is concerned with the interaction between people and technology, and design that fits people's practices and needs. HCI has gradually expanded its scope to include more and more of the human sciences. Reflective HCI seeks to surface the often-unstated assumptions and values embedded inn HCI. Science and Technology Studies (STS) is a multi-disciplinary field rooted mostly in the social sciences, but also history and philosophy, that addresses the relationship between society and technology. Much of reflective HCI is rooted in STS. We'll look at alternative theories from STS and HCI but also from communications studies and related fields. Exact topics will depend on who's in the class and what our collective interests are. Past offerings of this class have included students from computer
science and other engineering departments, education, architecture, and other
departments as well as the iSchool. |
Requirements: Your primary tasks: (1) keep up on the readings and come prepared to tak about them, and (2) write a term paper applying one or more of these topics and to a subject of interest to you. Most people take something they are working on and ask how some topic or set of readings illuninates their concerns.
Pre-requisites: Graduate standing unless you can make an awfully good case for being included; a willingness to be engaged and to be challenged; an interest in some are related to technology design and/or information in society.
| Topic |
Readings |
Notes/Related readings in applications areas |
| 1 |
Intro to the course |
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| 2 - Feb 2 Intro to STS & to Reflective HCIlinks fixed 1/29 |
Langdon Winner, Do Artifacts Have Politics? Nancy A. Van House (2003). "Science and Technology Studies and Information Studies." Annual Review of Information Science and Technology vol. 38, pp. 3-86, ed. by Blaise Cronin. Information Today, Inc. for the American Society for Information Science and Technology. HTML Sengers, P., McCarthy, J., and Dourish, P. 2006 Reflective HCI: HCI: articulating an agenda for critical practice. In CHI '06 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Montréal, Québec, Canada, April 22 - 27, 2006). CHI '06. ACM, New York, NY, 1683-1686. Nancy A. Van House (2006). Boundary Crossings. Position paper for Reflective HCI: A workshop at CHI 2006.
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Winner's most-remembered example never happened: Joerges, B. (1999).
Do Politics Have Artefacts? Social Studies of Science,
29, 411-431. |
3 -- FEB 9 Configuring users; cross-disciplinary design workfirst two emailed to class |
CONFIGURING USERS (these were emailed 2/6) Woolgar, S.and Law, J. (1991) Configuring the User: The Case of Usability Trials. A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology, and Domination, pp. 57-99 London: Routledge. (A classic.) Oudshoorn, N.and Pinch, T. (2003) Introduction: How Users and Non-Users Matter. How Users Matter: The Co-Construction of Users and Technology, pp. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Also a good overview of theories of tech adoption) CROSS-DISCIPLINARY DESIGN Suchman, L. A. (2001) 'Located Accountabilities in Technology Production'. online Strathern, Marilyn Anthropology and Interdisciplinarity
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4 - Feb. 16 |
President's day holiday |
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5 - Feb. 23 Social Construction of Technology |
Bijker, W. E. (2004) Technology, Social Construction of. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. (requires campus IP address or proxy) Pinch, T. J. & Bijker, W. E. (1987). The social construction of facts and artifacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. In W.E.Bijker, T. P. Hughes, & T. J. Pinch (Eds.), The social construction of technological systems : new directions in the sociology and history of technology (pp. 17-50). Cambridge: MIT Press. (scanned and emailed 2/13) Ronald Kline; Trevor Pinch. Users as Agents of Technological Change: The Social Construction of the Automobile in the Rural United States Technology and Culture, Vol. 37, No. 4. (Oct., 1996), pp. 763-795. (requires campus IP address or proxy)
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6 - March 2 SCOT cont. Each person will do a short written piece and present to the rest of us a discussion of how SCOT has been or might be applied to a topic of interest to you. |
STERNE, J. & LEACH, J. (2005) The Point of Social Construction and the Purpose of Social Critique. Social Epistemology 19: pp. 283-285 (intro to special issue on social construction of technology) HUMPHREYS, L. (2005) Refraining Social Groups, Closure, and Stabilization in the Social Construction of Technology. Social Epistemology, 19, 231-253. KHOO, M. (2005) Technologies Aren't What They Used to Be: Problematising Closure and Relevant Social Groups Recognizing the Role of the Modern Business Corporation in the Social Construction of Technology. Social Epistemology, 19, 283-285. |
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March 9 continued SCOT reports Silverstone, Domestication
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HADDON, L. (2007) Roger Silverstone's legacies: domestication. New Media Society, 9, 25-32. (link fixed) SILVERSTONE, R. & HADDON, L. (1997) Design and domestication of information and communication techologies: technical change and everyday life. IN MANSELL, R. & SILVERSTONE, R. (Eds.) Communication by design : the politics of information and communication technologies. Oxford, Oxford University Press. (will be scanned and emailed)
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March 16 Domestication, cont.
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Finish discussion of Silverstone; find articles by or citing Silverstone and/or Haddon and using domestication, related to topics of interest to you. |
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March 23 - Spring Break |
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March 31 Actor-Network Theory ANT is (along with SCOT) one of the pre-eminent theoretical approaches within STS. We see less and less research that is explicitly rooted in ANT (and SCOT), but its basic approach and concepts are highly useful in considering knowledge development (and thus IT and ICTD), technology and other artifacts, and power. |
Law, J. (1992). Notes on the theory of the actor-network: Ordering, strategy, and heterogenity, published by the Centre for Science Studies, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YN Latour, Bruno (Jim Johnson). (1995). Mixing humans and nonhumans together: The sociology of door-closer. In S.L.Star (Ed.), Ecologies of knowledge: work and politics in science and technology (pp. 257-277). SUNY Press. Online in Social Problems, Vol. 35, No. 3, Special Issue: The Sociology of Science and Technology, Jun., 1988 (Other articles in this issue are also valuable) Pay most attention to the topic of delegation. Classic examples of ANT in action: Read to discuss in class: Callon, M. Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St. Brieuc Bay. In Law J. (ed.). Power, Action, and Belief: a New Sociology of Knowledge? Routledge and Kegan Paul: London, 1986.
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URLs fixed 3/31
Optional: Law, J. (1992). On the Methods of Long-Distance Control: Vessels, Navigation, and the Portuguese Route to India. http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/sociology/papers/law-methods-of-long-distance-control.pdf |
April 6 ANT cont. |
Find one or more readings purporting to use ANT in an area of interest to you. Many who claim to be using ANT are only using some of its ideas -- how well is your reading actually using ANT? What's the (potential) value of ANT for this topic? Plus - ANT on texts, grant proposals, and patends: LAW, J., (1986) The heterogeneity of texts. In CALLON, M., LAW, J., & RIP, A., eds. Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology: Sociology of Science in the Real World. London, Macmillan Press. RIP, A., (1986) Mobilizing Resources through Texts. In In CALLON, M., LAW, J., & RIP, A., eds. Mapping the Dynamics of Science and Technology: Sociology of Science in the Real World.London, Macmillan Press. |
readings emailed |
April 13 Gender and Technology |
Readings TBA |
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April 20 Discussion of paper topics |
Send descriptions/outlines/abstracts/whatever to the class by April 15. |
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April 27 Activity Theory |
KAPTELININ, V. & NARDI, B. A. (1997) Activity theory: basic concepts and applications. CHI '97 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems: looking to the future. Atlanta, Georgia, ACM. Short; good place to begin. KUUTTI, K. (1996) Activity theory as a potential framework for human-computer interaction. IN NARDI, B. (Ed.) Context and consciousness: activity theory and human-computer interaction. Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press. Focus on the intro to AT; don't worry so much about the discussion of HCI. [This whole book is online; same URL, changing chapter #s.] SUCHMAN, L. (2000) Embodied Practices of Engineering Work. Mind Culture and Activity, 7:1/2 p. 4-18
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Also useful: NARDI, B. A. & NARDI, B. (1996) Studying context: A comparison of activity theory, situated action models, and distributed cognition. Context and consciousness: activity theory and human-computer interaction. Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press. |
Representation |
LATOUR, B. (1986) Visualization and cognition: Thinking with eyes and hands. Knowledge and Society: Studies in the Sociology of Culture Past and Present, 6, 1-40. (probably won't use again)
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May 4 Distributed Cognition & Representation (cont) |
Latour, Bruno (1999). "Circulating Reference: Sampling the Soil in the Amazon Forest." From Pandora's Hope, Harvard University Press. James Hollan, Edwin Hutchins, and David Kirsh.Distributed cognition: toward a new foundation for human-computer interaction research. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, Volume 7, Issue 2 (June 2000)
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May 11 Wrap up |
HARAWAY, D. J. (1991) A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century. From Simians, cyborgs, and women : The reinvention of nature. New York, Routledge. |
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Papers due May 13, 5pm |
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DesignThe relationships between designers and social scientists, and among all the participants in the process, including users. |
Selections from: Suchman, L. Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions 2nd edition, Cambridge Univ Press, 2006. (Available as an eBook PDF for $24.) Dourish, P. 2006. Implications for design. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Montréal, Québec, Canada, April 22 - 27, 2006). R. Grinter, T. Rodden, P. Aoki, E. Cutrell, R. Jeffries, and G. Olson, Eds. CHI '06. ACM, New York, NY, 541-550. Likely one or more of these:
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| 5 ClassificationThis may not seem like a key topic, but Bowker and Star (among others) have shown how the ways that we name and classify experiences, objects, and people are critical to understanding. Information system (including databases but even how we organize the content of our own computers) rely heavily on abstraction and classification. These decisions have long-term consequences for individual and collective memory. |
Geoffrey Bowker and Susan Leigh Star (1999), Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences, MIT Press. Selections. Available in read-only version via UCB library at: http://cognet.mit.edu/library/books/book.tcl?isbn=0262024616
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| SCOT (probably 2 weeks)
SCOT is (along with ANT) one of the pre-eminent theoretical approaches within STS. SCOT has its limitations, but its basic approach and concepts are highly useful in looking at adoption, adaptation, and re-interpretation of technology by users and for varied uses. |
Pinch, T. J. & Bijker, W. E. (1987). The social construction of facts and artifacts: Or how the sociology of science and the sociology of technology might benefit each other. In W.E.Bijker, T. P. Hughes, & T. J. Pinch (Eds.), The social construction of technological systems : new directions in the sociology and history of technology (pp. 17-50). Cambridge: MIT Press. Pinch, T. (1996). The social construction of technology: a review. In R.Fox (Ed.), Technological change (pp. 17-35). Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers. Ronald Kline; Trevor Pinch. Users as Agents of Technological Change: The Social Construction of the Automobile in the Rural United States Technology and Culture, Vol. 37, No. 4. (Oct., 1996), pp. 763-795. (requires campus IP address or proxy) Recommended: Rosen, P. (1993). The social construction of mountain bikes: technology and postmodernity in the cycle industry. Social Studies of Science, 23, 479-513. (requires campus IP address or proxy) Trevor J. Pinch; Wiebe E. Bijker. The Social Construction of Facts and Artefacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other ; Social Studies of Science ,Vol. 14, No. 3 (Aug., 1984), pp. 399-441 (longer version of the chapter of the same name, above) |
We'll look for examples of SCOT in domains of interest in this class. Possibilities: Palen, L. and Salzman, M. 2002. Beyond the handset: designing for wireless communications usability. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 9, 2 (Jun. 2002), 125-151. Rust, R. T. and Miu, C. 2006. What academic research tells us about service. Commun. ACM 49, 7 (Jul. 2006), 49-54. Poole, E. S., Le Dantec, C. A., Eagan, J. R., and Edwards, W. K. 2008. Reflecting on the invisible: understanding end-user perceptions of ubiquitous computing. In Proceedings of the 10th international Conference on Ubiquitous Computing (Seoul, Korea, September 21 - 24, 2008). UbiComp '08, vol. 344. ACM, New York, NY, 192-201. Paul-Brian McInerney. Technology Movements and the Politics of Free/Open Source Software Science Technology Human Values published on December 19, 2007 Articles from Science, Technology, and Human Values
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Law's Actor-Network Resources is useful but out of date -- last updated 2004. We'll look for examples of ANT in domains of interest in this class. Possibilities: Roel Nahuis and Harro van Lente Raul P. Lejano Technology and Institutions: A Critical Appraisal of GIS in the Planning Domain Science, Technology & Human Values 2008 33: 653-678. Gene Rowe, Lynn J. Frewer Public Participation Methods: A Framework for Evaluation Jan 01, 2000; 25: 3-29. |
| 7 Activity TheoryActivity theory and distributed cognition are not STS , but they are theoretical approaches relevant to this class. Much of the work in HCI, in particular, appears to be theory-free but is grounded in unexamined assumptions. AT and DC are explicit about their theoretical grounding -- and introduce useful theoretical approaches to activity and cognition, and the artifacts and technologies that support them. |
Kaptelinin, Victor, and Bonnie A. Nardi. Acting with Technology: Activity Theory and Interaction Design, MIT Press, Intro , chs. 1-4 Halverson, C. A. 2002. Activity Theory and Distributed Cognition: Or What Does CSCW Need to DO with Theories?. Comput. Supported Coop. Work 11, 1-2 (Apr. 2002), 243-267. Engeström, Y. 2008. Discussion: Enriching activity theory without shortcuts. Interact. Comput. 20, 2 (Mar. 2008), 256-259. Yrjö Engeström, Expansive Visibilization of Work: AnActivity-Theoretical Perspective, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, v.8 n.1-2, p.63-93, Feb. 1999
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We'll look for relevant readings in areas of interest, such as: Sherlock, L. M. 2007. When social networking meets online games: the activity system of grouping in world of warcraft. In Proceedings of the 25th Annual ACM international Conference on Design of Communication (El Paso, Texas, USA, October 22 - 24, 2007). SIGDOC '07. ACM, New York, NY, 14-20. Ashok, A. and Beck, C. 2007. Using activity theory to develop a design framework for rural development. In CHI '07 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (San Jose, CA, USA, April 28 - May 03, 2007). CHI '07. ACM, New York, NY, 2255-2260. |
| 8 Distributed Cognition |
James Hollan, Edwin Hutchins, and David Kirsh.Distributed
cognition: toward a new foundation for human-computer interaction research.
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, Volume 7, Issue 2 (June
2000) (ACM Dig Lib - accessible from UC IP addresses) Kaptelinin, Victor, and Bonnie A. Nardi. Acting with Technology: Activity Theory and Interaction Design, MIT Press, ch. 9. |
We'll look for relevant readings in areas of interest, such as: Carmien, S., Dawe, M., Fischer, G., Gorman, A., Kintsch, A., and Sullivan, J. F. 2005. Socio-technical environments supporting people with cognitive disabilities using public transportation. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 12, 2 (Jun. 2005), 233-262. Kaptelinin, V. 1996. Distribution of cognition between minds and artifacts: augmentation of mediation? AI Soc. 10, 1 (Aug. 1996), 15-25. Patel, V. L., Zhang, J., Yoskowitz, N. A., Green, R., and Sayan, O. R. 2008. Methodological Review: Translational cognition for decision support in critical care environments: A review. J. of Biomedical Informatics 41, 3 (Jun. 2008), 413-431. |
| 9 Research Methods |
Christine Hine, Multi-sited Ethnography as a Middle Range Methodology for Contemporary STS, Science, Technology, and Human Values: Nov 01, 2007; 32: 652-671. Boehner, K., J. Vertesi, et al. (2007). How HCI interprets the probes. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems. San Jose, California, USA, ACM. Other discussions of STS and methods; and of Critical Technical Practice and methods.
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| 10 Representation and VisualizationSTS pays a attention to inscriptions and representations -- how knowledge gets condensed and abstracted, and how seemingl-objective representations depend on context (and serve interests).
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Excerpts from: Lynch, M. and Woolgar, S. (1990). Representation in Scientific Practice. The MIT Press. Janet Vertesi, Mind the Gap: The London Underground Map and Users' Representations of Urban Space; Social Studies of Science, Feb 01, 2008; 38: 7-33. Morana Alac. Working with Brain Scans: Digital Images and Gestural Interaction in fMRI Laboratory. Social Studies of Science, Aug 01, 2008; 38: 483-508.
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11 Design Methods |
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| Possible topics, if there's interest: |
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STS and ICTD |
???? This is a topic that often appears at the 4S conference (Society for the Social Study of Science), which meets every fall. We should be able to track down readings. |
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Alternative theories of technology use |
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Gender and Technology |
Wajcman, J. (2004). TechnoFeminism. Cambridge: Polity. Lohan, M. (2000). Constructive Tensions in Feminist Technology Studies. Social Studies of Science, 30, 895-916. Suchman, L. Agencies in technology design: feminist reconfigurations. In Schiebinger L. (ed.). Gendered Innovations in Science and Engineering. Stanford University Press: 2007. |
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Epistemic communities |
Excerpts from: Karen Knorr-Cetina, Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press 1999) |
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Haraway |
Gaule, N. and Haraway, D. Gane, N. (2006). When we have never been human, what is to be done?: Interview with Donna Haraway. Theory, Culture & Society 23, 7-8 (2006) 135-158. Haraway, D. J. A cyborg manifesto: Science, technology, and socialist-feminism in the late twentieth century. In: Simians, Cyborgs, and Women : The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge: New York, 1991. Haraway, D. Situated knowledges: The science question in feminism and the privilege of partial perspective. Feminist Studies 14, 3 (2003) 575-600.online via campus. |
Probably best to read Gaule first. In interview Haraway references Bowker & Star, so read them first. Ditto Latour. |
Good places to look for possible readings:STS: Journal: Science, Technology, and Human Values Less likely to be relevant for our purposes, but another major STS journal: Social Studies of Science Reflective HCI: ACM Digtal Library: look for articles that cite some of the key readings in an STS area of interest to you. Also look for papers that are indexed as reflective HCI, critical design, critical technical practice, critical theory, reflection-in-practice, reflective design, value-sensitive design; or that cite some of the readings and/or authors on this list.
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