Suchergebnisse

This paper reflects on the change of relations among participants in nanotechnology governance through their participation in governance processes such as stakeholder dialogues. I show that policymaking in practice—that is, the practice of coming and working together in such stakeholder dialogues—has the potential for two-fold performative effects: it can contribute to the development of trust and mutual responsibility on the part of the involved actors, and it may bring about effects on the formation of boundaries of what is sayable and thinkable in nanotechnology governance. Three vignettes about the work of the German NanoKommission indicate the development of new relations of trust, recognition and mutual responsibility among actors. It is concluded that governance in practice can assemble new collectives in which relations of trust are the glue holding the complex structure together. While such a consensus-based progress may be favourable for smooth technology development, it can be considered problematic if evaluated against the ideals of deliberative democracy, which often form the premises on which public engagement is based. Stakeholder forums were set in place with the intention of including various actors, but this is Janus-faced: if a dialogue becomes encapsulated in new governance networks, new exclusions can arise. For example, a policing of which information is released to a wider audience can occur.

In this article, we use the COVID-19 pandemic to study governance through digital technologies. We investigate 'digital contact tracing' (DCT) apps developed in Austria and Norway and find their emergence, contestation and stabilisation as moments in which norms and values are puzzled through, and distributions of power change. We show that debates on DCT apps involved disputes on 'digital citizenship', that is, on the scope and nature of data that authorities are allowed to collect from citizens. Remarkably, these disputes were settled through the enrolment of a framework developed jointly by Apple and Google. Software became akin to a constitution that enshrined understandings of good citizenship into technological design, while also being a means through which geographies of power materialised. This article contributes to literature on technological governance by showing how the rising salience of technologies in governance transform political geographies and, as a consequence, democratic lives.

AbstractTransdisciplinarity is a much-used concept in research policy to emphasize a need for new collaborations beyond scientific disciplines to solve societal challenges. However, how do scientists interpret transdisciplinarity and what do transdisciplinarity policies mean for their work? This paper focuses on researchers' definitions of transdisciplinarity. It is based on an empirical study of a Norwegian biotechnology centre founded to stimulate a transition in biotechnology research towards transdisciplinarity. Drawing on interpretive methods, we identify three interpretations of transdisciplinarity. In our case, the science policy idea of 'transdisciplinarity' faded away in practice in terms of collaboration with non-academic actors, but boosted the establishment of new interdisciplinary teams. By pointing to the multiplicity of ways in which policy recipients can interpret science policy, this study contributes to scholarship analysing the relation between transdisciplinarity in policy and practice.

Innovations create new possibilities for the welfare state. Digital technologies, however, can create a range of surprising and unintended effects. Lost in Digital Translations: Studies of Digital Resistance and Accommodation to the Welfare State in Practice is an exploration of what happens when digital technologies intersect with welfare state practices.

This book seeks to develop a creative critique of digital welfare. Digitalising welfare runs the risk of undermining or suppressing knowledge dimensions that are central in the distribution of welfare – in short, knowledge can be 'lost in digital translation'. The universal welfare state is intended for all citizens. By sensitizing us to what is lost in digital translation, we are made aware of some of the exclusionary mechanisms that impact our digital society.

In this anthology a group of researchers investigate how digitalisation influences the most ambitious welfare state in the world: Norway. Given Norway's extensive welfare system, the process of digitalisation has had a profound impact. Digital technologies are used to enhance cooperation and coordination between health trusts and municipalities, standardizing communication between frontline workers and citizens, and even altering the architectural design of public buildings, all of which influences the quality of welfare services. At the same time, patient security is endangered, vulnerable groups experience even more exclusion from society, and for others, the quality of welfare deteriorates.