Modern software systems are characterized by ever-changing goals and requirements. Such systems operate in an environment that is dynamic, open, partly known, unpredictable. New goals arise and others are dropped, due to changes in stakeholders' needs and priorities, government regulations, technology. Despite this dynamism, systems should meet their goals and comply with the evolving requirements. While several self-adaptation mechanisms have been proposed in the literature, they cannot be fully applied for socio-technical systems that involve autonomous (thus, non-controllable) components. This project aims at designing and developing a runtime requirements supervision framework that monitors the execution of socio-technical systems, evaluates their behavior against the overall goals and intervenes by deciding how to revise requirements when adaptation is not possible.
This article's objective is to explore the interrelations between social media technology and users in order to assess whether and how actors drive innovation. I am interested in understanding how social media technology configure users, how users reconfigure technologies to meet their needs and what users do with social media technology. The mainstream perspective on politicians who use social media has been based on the premise that social media technology is, by nature, an innovative tool and that politicians are not using it to its full potential. However I argue that technology is not innovative by nature and further that emerging practices are actually accompanying the use of social media by political actors but that those practices are related to the collaborative production of speech and rearrangement of editorial rules in political communication. Thus the bulk of the paper is devoted to showing that, through the use of social media technology, media and political communication are converging. The article builds upon examples from the use of social media technology by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). I provide empirical insights into how Members of the European Parliament and their staff adapt to social media technology while using it in a creative way and how uses contribute to changes in the technology itself. This article is empirically grounded and aims at providing examples to highlight the role of actors in defining and developing innovation in the field of media technology. The argument of the paper is that innovation in media technology takes place at the level of practices. Yet new and old practices are interfering as more established practices meet social media technology, challenging the notion of newness and pointing out to the role and influence of the institutional context on innovation. This article finally outlines some of the existing claims made for the innovative potential of social media regarding politics and lays out a number of issues and questions that should lead us to be wary about celebratory accounts.
This article's objective is to explore the interrelations between social media technology and users in order to assess whether and how actors drive innovation. I am interested in understanding how social media technology configure users, how users reconfigure technologies to meet their needs and what users do with social media technology. The mainstream perspective on politicians who use social media has been based on the premise that social media technology is, by nature, an innovative tool and that politicians are not using it to its full potential. However I argue that technology is not innovative by nature and further that emerging practices are actually accompanying the use of social media by political actors but that those practices are related to the collaborative production of speech and rearrangement of editorial rules in political communication. Thus the bulk of the paper is devoted to showing that, through the use of social media technology, media and political communication are converging. The article builds upon examples from the use of social media technology by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). I provide empirical insights into how Members of the European Parliament and their staff adapt to social media technology while using it in a creative way and how uses contribute to changes in the technology itself. This article is empirically grounded and aims at providing examples to highlight the role of actors in defining and developing innovation in the field of media technology. The argument of the paper is that innovation in media technology takes place at the level of practices. Yet new and old practices are interfering as more established practices meet social media technology, challenging the notion of newness and pointing out to the role and influence of the institutional context on innovation. This article finally outlines some of the existing claims made for the innovative potential of social media regarding politics and lays out a number of issues and questions that should lead us to be wary about celebratory accounts.
This article's objective is to explore the interrelations between social media technology and users in order to assess whether and how actors drive innovation. I am interested in understanding how social media technology configure users, how users reconfigure technologies to meet their needs and what users do with social media technology. The mainstream perspective on politicians who use social media has been based on the premise that social media technology is, by nature, an innovative tool and that politicians are not using it to its full potential. However I argue that technology is not innovative by nature and further that emerging practices are actually accompanying the use of social media by political actors but that those practices are related to the collaborative production of speech and rearrangement of editorial rules in political communication. Thus the bulk of the paper is devoted to showing that, through the use of social media technology, media and political communication are converging. The article builds upon examples from the use of social media technology by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). I provide empirical insights into how Members of the European Parliament and their staff adapt to social media technology while using it in a creative way and how uses contribute to changes in the technology itself. This article is empirically grounded and aims at providing examples to highlight the role of actors in defining and developing innovation in the field of media technology. The argument of the paper is that innovation in media technology takes place at the level of practices. Yet new and old practices are interfering as more established practices meet social media technology, challenging the notion of newness and pointing out to the role and influence of the institutional context on innovation. This article finally outlines some of the existing claims made for the innovative potential of social media regarding politics and lays out a number of issues and questions that should lead us to be wary about celebratory accounts.
Abstract Grassroots digital fabrication workshops (such as FabLabs), and associated technologies (such as 3D printers), are attracting increasing attention as a potential source for addressing a variety of social and environmental challenges. Through an analysis of an in-depth case study on FabLabs, this paper aims to provide insights into the practices emerging in these workshops and realities of the relationship between its members and technologies that are currently under-researched. It does this by drawing upon the domestication literature that concerns itself with how people use, adapt and reject technologies and integrate them into their life. The paper examines the significance of the interactions between people and technologies in FabLabs and offers concluding reflections on the role of these relationships within broader social and environmental changes.
Ekoinovācijas iniciatīva tika izstrādāta kā viens no galvenajiem stūrakmeņiem ilgtspējīgai, viedai un integrētai izaugsmei kā atbildes reakcijas uz finansiālo lejupslīdi un arvien jaunām sociālām problēmām. Tomēr eksperti arvien biežāk norāda, ka viena svarīga saikne joprojām iztrūkst – kamēr, galvenokārt, visa uzmanība tiek koncentrēta uz tehniskajiem jauninājumiem un apkārtējās vides aizsardzību, sociālie aspekti pārsvarā netiek ņemti vērā. Šie sociālie aspekti ietver cilvēkus, ekonomikas, politikas, organizatoriskās un citas mijiedarbības sistēmā. Apvienojot šīs trīs jomas – sociālo, tehnisko un apkārtējās vides – autore pētīja tā saucamās sociotehniskās sistēmas. Pašlaik izpēte, izmantojot sociālos un tehniskos aspektus, lai studētu pārejas procesus, ir sadrumstalota, gan starp dažādām gadījumu izpētēm, gan dažādām izmantotajām metodēm, gan zinātnes jomām. Jo īpaši enerģētikas izpētes jomā lielākā daļa pētniecības darbu aplūko sistēmu tehnoloģiski ekonomiskos aspektus, līdz šim tikai dažos darbos ir mēģināts iekļaut arī sociotehniskās perspektīvas. Ir konstatēts, ka trūkst skaidras holistiskas metodoloģijas, tāpēc šī darba galvenais mērķis ir saistīt inženierzinātņu un sociālo zinātņu izpētes jomas, lai radītu šādu holistisku modelēšanas pieeju. Tāpēc promocijas darbs fokusējas uz metodoloģijas veidošanas gaitu. Kā gadījuma izpētes objekts šajā darbā ir izmantots mājsaimniecību sektors. Laika gaitā tika attīstīta izmantoto metodiku sarežģītība, lai atbilstu pieaugošās sarežģītības pētniecības jautājumiem. Autore šajā darbā apskata sociotehniskos pārejas procesus, raugoties no dažādu nozaru, piemēram, enerģijas izmantošanas, pārveides un pārvaldības, inovāciju difūzijas un citu Pārejas procesi tika aplūkoti arī no dažādu izmantoto metodiku skatupunkta, pētot šo metodiku kombinācijas. Un pēdējais, bet ne mazāk svarīgais – darbā pārejas procesi tiek aplūkoti no dažādu zinātnes nozaru – gan inženierzinātņu, gan sociālo zinātņu – viedokļa. Promocijas darba pamatā ir sešas tematiski vienotas zinātniskās publikācijas, kas publicētas dažādos zinātniskajos žurnālos, pieejamas zinātniskajās informācijas krātuvēs un ietvertas starptautiskās datubāzēs. Šo publikāciju mērķis ir pārnest un aprobēt sociotehniko pāreju izpētes ietvaru. Šis darbs sastāv no ievada un trīs nodaļām. Darba ievads definē tā mērķi un uzdevumus, apraksta darba struktūru un sniedz īsu pārskatu par promocijas darba aprobāciju (publikācijas un līdzdalība starptautiskajās zinātniskajās konferencēs). Pirmā nodaļa izklāsta pētījumos risinātos jautājumus attiecībā uz katru no definētajiem pētījuma segmentiem. Otrā nodaļa apraksta metodiku, kas tiek izmantota sociotehnisko pāreju pētījumos, savukārt izvēlēto metožu izmantošanas rezultāti ir apkopoti darba trešajā nodaļā. Iegūtie secinājumi ir apkopoti darba noslēgumā.
The blockchain technology promises to transform finance, money and even governments. However, analyses of blockchain applicability and robustness typically focus on isolated systems whose actors contribute mainly by running the consensus algorithm. Here, we highlight the importance of considering trustless platforms within the broader ecosystem that includes social and communication networks. As an example, we analyse the flash-crash observed on 21st June 2017 in the Ethereum platform and show that a major phenomenon of social coordination led to a catastrophic cascade of events across several interconnected systems. We propose the concept of "emergent centralisation" to describe situations where a single system becomes critically important for the functioning of the whole ecosystem, and argue that such situations are likely to become more and more frequent in interconnected socio-technical systems. We anticipate that the systemic approach we propose will have implications for future assessments of trustless systems and call for the attention of policy-makers on the fragility of our interconnected and rapidly changing world.
