[CITASA] "Taken Out of Context" (my dissertation)
I'm responding to Andrea's questions and building on Jeremy's at times,
below. Steve
jeremy hunsinger wrote:
So, I pose a few questions back to the list...
- Is the sociology of technology an umbrella term? discipline? That
others
fit inside? If so, what fits inside?
sociology is the discipline, technology is the field, many other
disciplines, interdisciplinary areas, take technology as a field. so
we have a simple venn diagram of two circles with 'sociology of
technology' as the overlap.
I'd argue that the sociology of technology is a perspective, a way of
seeing -- much as Andrea laid out. There are few firm boundaries in this
space. You can "be" a sociologist by paying dues. You may read every
work written in every sociology outlet yet never take on the
perspective. Similarly you can join one of the number of technology
societies and "be" a technologist and you can read but never take on the
perspective. As a perspective, it has attributes that distinguish it,
but there is no orthogonality test.
I've always looked to sociologists of technology for insights into the
structural aspects of design and uses, and for insights that more
agentic perspectives (such as HCI/psychology, economics or information
science) cannot offer.
As an aside, these other perspectives have been much more visible in the
intellectual spaces that I find myself in.
- If the sociology of technology is just sociology applied to
technical
things--then does the sociology of technology offer anything that
overall
sociology doesn't in terms of theories/methods/etc.?
Here I profess to an abiding interest in information and communication
technologies, acknowledging that these are types of a broader concept.
Framed this way, sociologists of technology have lots of opportunity to
argue for collective technological action (and deferring to the
brilliant work of Castells can't sustain this line of possible
inquiry). Saskia Sassen's piece on this is a wonderful addition.
the problem here is that... there are very few non-technical things in
fact, looking around southern virginia, a fairly rural area, i see
virtually nothing that does not fit into the regimes of technology,
even the nature is 'produced', 'managed', 'designed' etc.
In terms of different methods, I think that like all specializations,
there is a tendency of the smaller group to accept the validity of
different methods. I wouldn't call 'actor-network theory' a method,
but I would call much of sociologist John Law's books methodological,
and some sociologists of technology might be working within a set of
theories and methods that are not recognized outside. As an sts'er, i
recently sent a piece in that left the editor 'befuddled' 'perhaps
disciplinary clash'... They were in comm, weren't really paying much
attention to current debates in philosophy of social science, weak
ontologies, and related matters, so the text was lost to them. Small
fields, specialization, might have things in them that they debate
about, that aren't recognized by the larger fields. One topic that is
becoming somewhat big in 'sociology of technology' is 'thing theory',
which spun out of questions of materiality and objects in society, I
saw a blog post with 5 or 6 syllabi titled 'thing theory' being
taught, not all were sociology of technology courses, but all had some
sociology of technology readings.
- One author suggested that the sociology of technology exists only
in the
overlap of other things. I think this is an intriguing idea. Do you
think it
hold water?
Nope. Overlap spaces are often transient, sociology is not. As an aside,
technology is not transient, its forms may be. Theorizing on the
sociological nature of technology is useful, describing passing
technologies in sociological terms is of passing use.
- Imagine that you found yourself on a six person team. The other
members
of the team were an HCI (human-computer interaction) scholar, a
scholar of
communications, an STS (science and technology studies) scholar, a
sociologist of science/knowledge, and a philosopher of technology.
After a
few beers and some good pizza they all look at you and ask you what
you add
to the team that they don't already have.
From the HCI person I'd want to hear their thoughts on design aspects
of the technology and I'd argue with their more agentic insights. From
the philosopher I'd want to hear how the could contribute to the debates
I'd have with the comm. scholar and the HCI scholar on the structural v.
agentic nature of computing. I'd debate the material nature of
technology with the STS scholar, and the differences between knowledge
and technology with the SKAT scholar. I'd expect to mediate among all
of them regarding how to approach the multi-method research project we
would do together.
don't think this is a valid question. the reason is that each of
these people could be in a subfield in the discipline /
interdisciplinary area that pretty much makes them unable to work
together. I can easily imagine an hci person working on ubiqitous
computing, a communications scholar working on interpersonal
dialogues, an sts scholar working on nanotechnological ethics,
sociologist of science mapping scientific conflicts, a philosopher of
technology concerned with biological engineering. they might have
nothing in common at all. (I've been in such crowds, the weather is a
popular topic...)
If we grant the possibility that they are all working on web 2.0, then
they might have a conversation. The question then becomes for me,
what does the sociologist of technology do.... here i would suspect
they would bring a stronger sense of separation between the social and
the technology than say the STS scholar, and more of a concern for the
'things' or 'objects' in the world than the sociologist of knowledge.
For the rest, the spectrums are too huge to posit a possibility. I
know of several hci scholars who are indistinguishable from
philosopher's of technology, except for where they publish, similar
communications is a 'field' that has somehow become a discipline, and
some of them are sociologists of technology, etc.
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
Sorry to be so blunt, but its really sad that our fellow sociologists dont
know what weve been up to particularly since many of us have been
studying and have published extensively articles - re: the new politics
of community, re: race, class, gender, since the mid-1990s....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
"We are better than we think
And not yet quite what we want to be
We are alive to imagination
And open to possibility
We will continue
To invent the future" - Nikki Giovanni, "We are Virginia Tech," April 17,
2007
"We were given everything we need to know
at birth...
We just need to find the courage to grab it
and rise up into this world
expanded" - Carlos Andrés Gómez, "tipping point" from Finding the Music
(2006)
"True compassion is more than throwing a coin to a beggar. It demands of
our humanity that if we live in a society that produces beggars, we are
morally commanded to restructure that society." - Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Emily Noelle Ignacio
Associate Professor of Sociology, Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences
Box 358436, 1900 Commerce Street
Tacoma, WA 98402
VM: 253/ 692-4542; Fax: 253/ 692-5718
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org [mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org]
On Behalf Of Jessie Daniels
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 7:36 AM
To: citasa@list.citasa.org
Subject: Re: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies
standup?
Just seconding Tracy's comment about the 'disconnect' within sociology
around studying Internet technology, but I remain hopeful that this may
change.
I was recently asked by Patricia Hill Collins, incoming ASA president, to
organize a thematic session for the 2009 meetings about race, gender and the
'new politics of community' on the Internet. I could pretty easily think
of lots of scholars doing interesting work in these areas, but in order to
be included on the panel the people needed to be current ASA members and
that requirement narrowed the pool of rather dramatically. I ended up
including 2 current ASA members, 1 person from outside the field (political
science) and 1 person from outside the U.S. (UK) - (and, offered to sponsor
the membership of the 2 non-ASA members).
In part, I think this disconnect reflects the fact that the field is
international and interdisciplinary - both good things in my view. And
yet, there's still this 'lag' in terms of sociology's participation in this
area of study. As Paul DiMaggio and colleagues pointed out in their 2001
Annual Review of Sociology article, "sociologists have been slow to take up
the challenge of studying the Internet." It was true in 2001 and, from my
view, it continues to be true. Still, I remain hopeful it's changing.
~ Jessie
--
http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com
http://www.racismreview.com
http://www.homelessyouthservices.org
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 9:06 AM, T. Kennedy tkennedy@netwomen.ca wrote:
What about creating a wiki for this discussion? would be interesting to
create a knowledge base for all these interesting tid-bits.
I find the discussion interesting, useful & timely. As a PhD candidate in
Sociology, I've been wondering about my place in the discipline; I teach all
of my - cyberculture, digital culture, virtual culture, gaming, info/network
society etc etc - in communications, popular culture, film or media studies
depts (for the last 7 years). I have yet to find a 'home' in sociology for
my research or teaching interests. The courses I have taught in socio - tech
& society (co-taught with Barry Wellman) and women & IT (mostly work
related) and have a different slant/focus than my other courses.
This is not to say that I don't use soci theories in these
communications/media classes - I certainly do (and there is overlap) - so I
wonder why sociology (and many depts across the US & Canada) seem so distant
to me (and certainly don't call out to me in job postings)....I've stopped
going to soci conferences (except for citasa & depending on distance &
funding) and have looked to other disciplines when thinking about a future
tenure position.
Is it just me - or do others feel this same disconnect with sociology?
Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
Tracy L. M. Kennedy
PhD Candidate
Dept of Sociology
University of Toronto
Course Instructor
Dept of Communications, Popular Culture & Film Brock University
Research Coordinator
NetLab
University of Toronto
Second Life: Professor Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
-----Original Message-----
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org [mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org]
On Behalf Of Andrea Tapia
Sent: February 3, 2009 8:47 AM
To: gustavo@soc.haifa.ac.il; citasa@list.citasa.org
Subject: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies stand up?
Wow. Double wow.
These questions of mine have generated a lot of discussion yesterday and
today, both on and off the list.
Thank you! This has spurred me on to think in new ways about what we do and
find new ways to translate it to others!
I think the discussions have been very interesting. So much so, that I think
I'm going to anonymize and aggregate them for everyone to read. I think more
than myself might benefit from the responses.
One line of questions keep popping up.
Why did I exclude this or that? Why did I draw artificial boundaries between
sociology of technology and other things? Wouldn't if be better if "X" were
included?
So, I pose a few questions back to the list...
-
Is the sociology of technology an umbrella term? discipline? That others
fit inside? If so, what fits inside? -
If the sociology of technology is just sociology applied to technical
things--then does the sociology of technology offer anything that overall
sociology doesn't in terms of theories/methods/etc.? -
One author suggested that the sociology of technology exists only in the
overlap of other things. I think this is an intriguing idea. Do you think it
hold water? -
Imagine that you found yourself on a six person team. The other members
of the team were an HCI (human-computer interaction) scholar, a scholar of
communications, an STS (science and technology studies) scholar, a
sociologist of science/knowledge, and a philosopher of technology. After a
few beers and some good pizza they all look at you and ask you what you add
to the team that they don't already have.
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
Thought I would add my two cents. I'm a sociologist with interest in a variety of areas including technology. I also do research on the labor process in the software industry, and in the role of technology incubators in the development of entrepreneurs and technology firms in Brazil.
A few years ago I introduced a course on "The Sociology of the New Economy" which including readings from Alcaly's The New Economy to Katz and Aakhus, eds Perpetual Contact (on cell phone use). The fact is that there is no one way to teach such a course and I found it useful to draw material from a variety of sources and disciplines.
Unlike, say psychology, sociologists take on almost any subject matter; and if there are enough individuals interested they might be able to organize a Section in the American Sociological Association. So there are a plethora of "Sociology of....."
I think there's no facile answer to the question "What is the Sociology of X?" It takes time to develop some consensus about the relevant QUESTIONS and ISSUES. It takes a lot more time to develop theoretical perspectives, new concepts, hypotheses, and "theories". This is not easy, and I believe one can begin almost anywhere. I think all of us have the experience or revising courses a number of times before we are reasonably satisfied. In new areas with scant disciplinary literature it's uphill work and maybe pioneering
work. But I think it is probably better to attempt to put boundaries around "Sociology of X" rather than making it too broad. Think of some key questions to answer.
The next time I teach The Sociology of the New Economy I hope to focus more on the search for key concepts around which to hang discussions. The last time it was examining the impact of "the new economy" on society at the macro level and individual communication (more or less). I attach the syllabus for anyone who's interested.
Bart Landry
Prof. Bart Landry
Department of Sociology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-6416
I am new to the section in ASA and have to say this discussion is very
useful for me as a PhD candidate. I am working out of Oklahoma State
as a sociologist of technology in a department that is predominantly
focused on environmental sociology.
I agree with the previous responses that technology is a great overlap
field. I do work with virtual worlds, social movements, community,
consumption, environmental impact, and sociological theory. And to
adequately have a discussion about these areas, technology must be
considered.
Just as an example research in social movements, with issues of
framing, resource mobilization and political process must take into
account the changing nature of the discourse field, (i.e youtube,
facebook, myspace, internet news sources) changes in resource
generation (economic, social, and cultural capital transmission
through IT) , the changes in the very process of political
participation and policy formation. a great example is the 08 Obama
campaign and the new approach his administration has taken with
information dissemination.
Sociology of technology in this sense should be an important keystone
for sociology as a whole. Theory generation, and methodological
insights that we develop ( and have developed) will guide others in
the discipline to incorporate IT into their dialogue about more
traditional areas.
I feel at home as a sociologist and would like to see the
sociology of technology area grow more broadly in the discipline. I
think we have a strong contribution to offer the entire field not just
in the areas that concern us directly such as virtual worlds, or web
2.0.
Also, it would be nice to have a job. :)
Joseph M. Simpson M.S.
College of Arts & Sciences
Sociology
Oklahoma State University
josephmsimpson@hotmail.com
P to conserve our natural resources, consider the environment before
printing this email.
On Feb 3, 2009, at 9:36 AM, Jessie Daniels wrote:
Just seconding Tracy's comment about the 'disconnect' within
sociology around studying Internet technology, but I remain hopeful
that this may change.
I was recently asked by Patricia Hill Collins, incoming ASA
president, to organize a thematic session for the 2009 meetings
about race, gender and the 'new politics of community' on the
Internet. I could pretty easily think of lots of scholars doing
interesting work in these areas, but in order to be included on the
panel the people needed to be current ASA members and that
requirement narrowed the pool of rather dramatically. I ended up
including 2 current ASA members, 1 person from outside the field
(political science) and 1 person from outside the U.S. (UK) - (and,
offered to sponsor the membership of the 2 non-ASA members).
In part, I think this disconnect reflects the fact that the field is
international and interdisciplinary - both good things in my view.
And yet, there's still this 'lag' in terms of sociology's
participation in this area of study. As Paul DiMaggio and
colleagues pointed out in their 2001 Annual Review of Sociology
article, "sociologists have been slow to take up the challenge of
studying the Internet." It was true in 2001 and, from my view, it
continues to be true. Still, I remain hopeful it's changing.
~ Jessie
--
http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com
http://www.racismreview.com
http://www.homelessyouthservices.org
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 9:06 AM, T. Kennedy tkennedy@netwomen.ca
wrote:
What about creating a wiki for this discussion? would be interesting
to
create a knowledge base for all these interesting tid-bits.
I find the discussion interesting, useful & timely. As a PhD
candidate in
Sociology, I've been wondering about my place in the discipline; I
teach all
of my - cyberculture, digital culture, virtual culture, gaming, info/
network
society etc etc - in communications, popular culture, film or media
studies
depts (for the last 7 years). I have yet to find a 'home' in
sociology for
my research or teaching interests. The courses I have taught in
socio - tech
& society (co-taught with Barry Wellman) and women & IT (mostly work
related) and have a different slant/focus than my other courses.
This is not to say that I don't use soci theories in these
communications/media classes - I certainly do (and there is overlap)
- so I
wonder why sociology (and many depts across the US & Canada) seem so
distant
to me (and certainly don't call out to me in job postings)....I've
stopped
going to soci conferences (except for citasa & depending on distance &
funding) and have looked to other disciplines when thinking about a
future
tenure position.
Is it just me - or do others feel this same disconnect with sociology?
Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
Tracy L. M. Kennedy
PhD Candidate
Dept of Sociology
University of Toronto
Course Instructor
Dept of Communications, Popular Culture & Film Brock University
Research Coordinator
NetLab
University of Toronto
Second Life: Professor Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
-----Original Message-----
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org [mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org
]
On Behalf Of Andrea Tapia
Sent: February 3, 2009 8:47 AM
To: gustavo@soc.haifa.ac.il; citasa@list.citasa.org
Subject: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies
stand up?
Wow. Double wow.
These questions of mine have generated a lot of discussion yesterday
and
today, both on and off the list.
Thank you! This has spurred me on to think in new ways about what we
do and
find new ways to translate it to others!
I think the discussions have been very interesting. So much so, that
I think
I'm going to anonymize and aggregate them for everyone to read. I
think more
than myself might benefit from the responses.
One line of questions keep popping up.
Why did I exclude this or that? Why did I draw artificial boundaries
between
sociology of technology and other things? Wouldn't if be better if
"X" were
included?
So, I pose a few questions back to the list...
-
Is the sociology of technology an umbrella term? discipline?
That others
fit inside? If so, what fits inside? -
If the sociology of technology is just sociology applied to
technical
things--then does the sociology of technology offer anything that
overall
sociology doesn't in terms of theories/methods/etc.? -
One author suggested that the sociology of technology exists
only in the
overlap of other things. I think this is an intriguing idea. Do you
think it
hold water? -
Imagine that you found yourself on a six person team. The other
members
of the team were an HCI (human-computer interaction) scholar, a
scholar of
communications, an STS (science and technology studies) scholar, a
sociologist of science/knowledge, and a philosopher of technology.
After a
few beers and some good pizza they all look at you and ask you what
you add
to the team that they don't already have.
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
OMG, PUBLIC APOLOGIES to Jesse Daniels!!!
Jessie ~ I'm sorry if my blunt email sounded like it was directed at you! It
wasn't at all - I was just upset and overwhelmed by all the emails relaying
stories of academics (including people in our own discipline) claiming that
the "good" work on internet communities have been done outside our
discipline. sigh Obviously, it's untrue given all the great work CITSA
members (and others who may not have yet joined) are doing.
Anyway - thanks to all who have contributed and brought this to our
attention! I truly appreciate it!
Take good care,
Emily (who will be much more careful with her words next time!)
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org [mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org]
On Behalf Of Joseph Simpson
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 10:26 PM
To: Communication and Information Technologies ASA
Subject: Re: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies stand
up?
I am new to the section in ASA and have to say this discussion is very
useful for me as a PhD candidate. I am working out of Oklahoma State as a
sociologist of technology in a department that is predominantly focused on
environmental sociology.
I agree with the previous responses that technology is a great overlap
field. I do work with virtual worlds, social movements, community,
consumption, environmental impact, and sociological theory. And to
adequately have a discussion about these areas, technology must be
considered.
Just as an example research in social movements, with issues of framing,
resource mobilization and political process must take into account the
changing nature of the discourse field, (i.e youtube, facebook, myspace,
internet news sources) changes in resource generation (economic, social, and
cultural capital transmission through IT) , the changes in the very process
of political participation and policy formation. a great example is the 08
Obama campaign and the new approach his administration has taken with
information dissemination.
Sociology of technology in this sense should be an important keystone for
sociology as a whole. Theory generation, and methodological insights that we
develop ( and have developed) will guide others in the discipline to
incorporate IT into their dialogue about more traditional areas.
I feel at home as a sociologist and would like to see the sociology of
technology area grow more broadly in the discipline. I think we have a
strong contribution to offer the entire field not just in the areas that
concern us directly such as virtual worlds, or web 2.0.
Also, it would be nice to have a job. :)
Joseph M. Simpson M.S.
College of Arts & Sciences
Sociology
Oklahoma State University
P to conserve our natural resources, consider the environment before
printing this email.
On Feb 3, 2009, at 9:36 AM, Jessie Daniels wrote:
Just seconding Tracy's comment about the 'disconnect' within sociology
around studying Internet technology, but I remain hopeful that this may
change.
I was recently asked by Patricia Hill Collins, incoming ASA president, to
organize a thematic session for the 2009 meetings about race, gender and the
'new politics of community' on the Internet. I could pretty easily think
of lots of scholars doing interesting work in these areas, but in order to
be included on the panel the people needed to be current ASA members and
that requirement narrowed the pool of rather dramatically. I ended up
including 2 current ASA members, 1 person from outside the field (political
science) and 1 person from outside the U.S. (UK) - (and, offered to sponsor
the membership of the 2 non-ASA members).
In part, I think this disconnect reflects the fact that the field is
international and interdisciplinary - both good things in my view. And
yet, there's still this 'lag' in terms of sociology's participation in this
area of study. As Paul DiMaggio and colleagues pointed out in their 2001
Annual Review of Sociology article, "sociologists have been slow to take up
the challenge of studying the Internet." It was true in 2001 and, from my
view, it continues to be true. Still, I remain hopeful it's changing.
~ Jessie
--
http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com
http://www.racismreview.com
http://www.homelessyouthservices.org
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 9:06 AM, T. Kennedy tkennedy@netwomen.ca wrote:
What about creating a wiki for this discussion? would be interesting to
create a knowledge base for all these interesting tid-bits.
I find the discussion interesting, useful & timely. As a PhD candidate in
Sociology, I've been wondering about my place in the discipline; I teach all
of my - cyberculture, digital culture, virtual culture, gaming, info/network
society etc etc - in communications, popular culture, film or media studies
depts (for the last 7 years). I have yet to find a 'home' in sociology for
my research or teaching interests. The courses I have taught in socio - tech
& society (co-taught with Barry Wellman) and women & IT (mostly work
related) and have a different slant/focus than my other courses.
This is not to say that I don't use soci theories in these
communications/media classes - I certainly do (and there is overlap) - so I
wonder why sociology (and many depts across the US & Canada) seem so distant
to me (and certainly don't call out to me in job postings)....I've stopped
going to soci conferences (except for citasa & depending on distance &
funding) and have looked to other disciplines when thinking about a future
tenure position.
Is it just me - or do others feel this same disconnect with sociology?
Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
Tracy L. M. Kennedy
PhD Candidate
Dept of Sociology
University of Toronto
Course Instructor
Dept of Communications, Popular Culture & Film Brock University
Research Coordinator
NetLab
University of Toronto
Second Life: Professor Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
-----Original Message-----
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org [mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org]
On Behalf Of Andrea Tapia
Sent: February 3, 2009 8:47 AM
To: gustavo@soc.haifa.ac.il; citasa@list.citasa.org
Subject: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies stand up?
Wow. Double wow.
These questions of mine have generated a lot of discussion yesterday and
today, both on and off the list.
Thank you! This has spurred me on to think in new ways about what we do and
find new ways to translate it to others!
I think the discussions have been very interesting. So much so, that I think
I'm going to anonymize and aggregate them for everyone to read. I think more
than myself might benefit from the responses.
One line of questions keep popping up.
Why did I exclude this or that? Why did I draw artificial boundaries between
sociology of technology and other things? Wouldn't if be better if "X" were
included?
So, I pose a few questions back to the list...
-
Is the sociology of technology an umbrella term? discipline? That others
fit inside? If so, what fits inside? -
If the sociology of technology is just sociology applied to technical
things--then does the sociology of technology offer anything that overall
sociology doesn't in terms of theories/methods/etc.? -
One author suggested that the sociology of technology exists only in the
overlap of other things. I think this is an intriguing idea. Do you think it
hold water? -
Imagine that you found yourself on a six person team. The other members
of the team were an HCI (human-computer interaction) scholar, a scholar of
communications, an STS (science and technology studies) scholar, a
sociologist of science/knowledge, and a philosopher of technology. After a
few beers and some good pizza they all look at you and ask you what you add
to the team that they don't already have.
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org
CITASA mailing list
CITASA@list.citasa.org
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I'm surprised that you were restricted to only members for a panel. Did
you actually ask someone at the ASA, or just assume it? Here's the
policy taken from the pages of the ASA website (admittedly it took some
doing to find):
The announced Regular Session topics listed in the Call for Papers are
open to submission of full papers from members of the Association and
other interested individuals.
Admittedly, it is the policy of other sociology associations of which I
am experienced to require one to join the association if you are
presenting a paper. However, the two associations I am most familiar
with (PSA and CSA) exempt panel organizers from this requirement. Thus,
one can get a person from the government or a local charitable
organization or another discipline, without requiring them to join the
organization.
I can't find anywhere on the website whether or not one must join the
ASA if on the program, but I suspect there is no one size fits all
rule. In fact, I found a piece, for a CITASA pre-conference and grad
student conference in July 31, 2008, which says that full papers
submitted to the CITASA pre-conference do not count against the limit on
the number of papers that an author can present at the regular ASA
conference. This would seem to indicate an inclusiveness rather than
exclusiveness.
I would email the ASA on this and perhaps you can expand your
contributors next time you do this at the ASA.
Harvey
Jessie Daniels wrote:
Just seconding Tracy's comment about the 'disconnect' within sociology
around studying Internet technology, but I remain hopeful that this
may change.
I was recently asked by Patricia Hill Collins, incoming ASA president,
to organize a thematic session for the 2009 meetings about race,
gender and the 'new politics of community' on the Internet. I could
pretty easily think of lots of scholars doing interesting work in
these areas, but in order to be included on the panel the people
needed to be current ASA members and that requirement narrowed the
pool of rather dramatically. I ended up including 2 current ASA
members, 1 person from outside the field (political science) and 1
person from outside the U.S. (UK) - (and, offered to sponsor the
membership of the 2 non-ASA members).
In part, I think this disconnect reflects the fact that the field is
international and interdisciplinary - both good things in my view.
And yet, there's still this 'lag' in terms of sociology's
participation in this area of study. As Paul DiMaggio and colleagues
pointed out in their 2001 Annual Review of Sociology article,
"sociologists have been slow to take up the challenge of studying the
Internet." It was true in 2001 and, from my view, it continues to be
true. Still, I remain hopeful it's changing.
~ Jessie
--
http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com
http://www.racismreview.com
http://www.homelessyouthservices.org
On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 9:06 AM, T. Kennedy <tkennedy@netwomen.ca
mailto:tkennedy@netwomen.ca> wrote:
What about creating a wiki for this discussion? would be
interesting to
create a knowledge base for all these interesting tid-bits.
I find the discussion interesting, useful & timely. As a PhD
candidate in
Sociology, I've been wondering about my place in the discipline; I
teach all
of my - cyberculture, digital culture, virtual culture, gaming,
info/network
society etc etc - in communications, popular culture, film or
media studies
depts (for the last 7 years). I have yet to find a 'home' in
sociology for
my research or teaching interests. The courses I have taught in
socio - tech
& society (co-taught with Barry Wellman) and women & IT (mostly work
related) and have a different slant/focus than my other courses.
This is not to say that I don't use soci theories in these
communications/media classes - I certainly do (and there is
overlap) - so I
wonder why sociology (and many depts across the US & Canada) seem
so distant
to me (and certainly don't call out to me in job postings)....I've
stopped
going to soci conferences (except for citasa & depending on distance &
funding) and have looked to other disciplines when thinking about
a future
tenure position.
Is it just me - or do others feel this same disconnect with sociology?
Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
Tracy L. M. Kennedy
PhD Candidate
Dept of Sociology
University of Toronto
Course Instructor
Dept of Communications, Popular Culture & Film Brock University
Research Coordinator
NetLab
University of Toronto
Second Life: Professor Tracy
..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..
-----Original Message-----
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org
<mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org>
[mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org
<mailto:citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org>]
On Behalf Of Andrea Tapia
Sent: February 3, 2009 8:47 AM
To: gustavo@soc.haifa.ac.il <mailto:gustavo@soc.haifa.ac.il>;
citasa@list.citasa.org <mailto:citasa@list.citasa.org>
Subject: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies
stand up?
Wow. Double wow.
These questions of mine have generated a lot of discussion
yesterday and
today, both on and off the list.
Thank you! This has spurred me on to think in new ways about what
we do and
find new ways to translate it to others!
I think the discussions have been very interesting. So much so,
that I think
I'm going to anonymize and aggregate them for everyone to read. I
think more
than myself might benefit from the responses.
One line of questions keep popping up.
Why did I exclude this or that? Why did I draw artificial
boundaries between
sociology of technology and other things? Wouldn't if be better if
"X" were
included?
So, I pose a few questions back to the list...
1. Is the sociology of technology an umbrella term? discipline?
That others
fit inside? If so, what fits inside?
2. If the sociology of technology is just sociology applied to
technical
things--then does the sociology of technology offer anything that
overall
sociology doesn't in terms of theories/methods/etc.?
3. One author suggested that the sociology of technology exists
only in the
overlap of other things. I think this is an intriguing idea. Do
you think it
hold water?
4. Imagine that you found yourself on a six person team. The
other members
of the team were an HCI (human-computer interaction) scholar, a
scholar of
communications, an STS (science and technology studies) scholar, a
sociologist of science/knowledge, and a philosopher of technology.
After a
few beers and some good pizza they all look at you and ask you
what you add
to the team that they don't already have.
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Apologies for cross posting.
Please distribute as you see fit.
Thanks!
Andrea.