Suchergebnisse

Users adapt infrastructures materially to fit their needs, they engage in maintenance and repair, and they learn about the inner workings of infrastructures. Different degrees of user engagement with infrastructures are empirically analysed using the case of user-developed alternative mobile operating systems. Some observations of user agency made already in early studies of the appropriation of media and technology were found to be still relevant: moral considerations motivate users to engage in infrastructuring and users actively negotiate their infrastructural attachments. But 'acting on' infrastructures is also different from 'acting on' devices: the users' experiments with infrastructures require redundancy and they are inherently collective. Moreover, certain designs of infrastructures can enable and demand user-driven infrastructures, while others block it.

The main aim of this article is to rephrase good and bad performance of built environments as good or bad interplay of spaces, building technologies, and users. To support this perspective, two conceptual tools broadly used within the social study of technology are introduced. These concepts, the semiotic pair "script/antiprogram" and the study of "domestication of media and technology in everyday life," were originally developed in the search for a better understanding of the mutual shaping of culture/society and technology. In this contribution, these concepts are applied in an empirical study of two nonresidential buildings. Through an extension of these concepts, consequences for the creation and maintenance of better built environments are proposed.

"Thomas Berkers Beitrag über den Alltag transnationaler Wissensarbeit rückt das Phänomen transnationaler Mobilität in den Kontext der alltäglichen Nutzung von Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IuK-Technologien). Transnational agierende Wissenschaftler, nicht anders als ihre daheim gebliebenen Kollegen, verfügen in der Regel über privilegierten Zugang zu einer breiten Palette von Kommunikations- und Informationswerkzeugen und arbeiten unter außerordentlich flexiblen raum-zeitlichen Bedingungen. Hinzu kommt, dass sie als Migranten in räumlich weit ausgreifende soziale Netzwerke eingebunden sind. Sie sind damit ideale Untersuchungsobjekte für den oft vorausgesetzten und selten analysierten Zusammenhang zwischen neuen IuK-Technologien und dem Alltag extremer raum-zeitlicher Entgrenzung. Das hier analysierte Material besteht im Kern aus Interviews mit 22 transnationalen Wissensarbeitern in Norwegen (Trondheim) und Deutschland (Darmstadt), in denen sie nach ihren alltäglichen Arbeits-, Kommunikations- und Informationsroutinen befragt wurden. Das Ergebnis sind detaillierte Inventare alltäglicher Mediennutzung und dichte Beschreibungen transnationalen Alltags. In der Analyse zeigt sich, dass die Schraube der fortschreitenden Entkopplung von Raum und Zeit, die Giddens zu den zentralen Tendenzen der Moderne zählt, bei den hier Befragten tatsächlich ein Stückchen weiter gedreht ist. Das Ergebnis ist ein eigenständiger Alltagstypus mit neuen Freiheiten und Zwängen. Er ist charakterisiert durch die ständige Verhandlung zwischen Ent- und Reterritorialisierung, in der traditionale Grenzen (z. B. zwischen on- und offline, zwischen Arbeit und Leben usw.) verwischt und neu gezogen werden. IuK-Technologien sind dabei gleichzeitig 'verkörperter' und unbefragter Teil alltäglicher Routinen, sie sind Elemente der Destabilisierung und sind Werkzeuge des instrumentellen Managements neuer Ordnungen." (Autorenreferat)

This text discusses controversies surrounding theoretical, practical, and political implications of "actor-network theory" ("ANT"). Since its inception around 1980, "ANT" has been applied in an immense number of empirical studies, both within and outside the field of science and technology studies. But it was also rejected as radical chic without substance and/or as theoretically and politically unacceptable in perhaps as many instances as it was accepted. Implicit in both the application and critique of "ANT" is the assumption that it can be treated as a "black-boxed" set of notions and rules containing certain strengths and weaknesses. Proposing to treat black-boxed "ANT" as useful provocation, I discuss what this kind of "ANT" can and cannot do for me in my own empirical research on energy efficiency in buildings. In the second part of the text I turn from "black boxed" and well-defined "ANT" to "ANT in the making". In recent and ongoing work Bruno Latour, John Law, Annemarie Mol, Vicky Singleton, and others (in alphabetic order) answer to critiques of "ANT"s" political implications. The authors share an interest in the development of a non-essentialist foundation of politics, which neither turns into crude functionalism nor into hollow relativism. Concluding this text, two of the proposals made here, "political ecology" and "ontological politics", are compared and discussed in the context of my own research.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the relevance and use of the concept "reverse salient" in ambitious infrastructural change. Thomas Hughes, in his seminal study of socio-technical system building, observed that the elimination of "reverse salients", i.e. subsystems that because of their limited performance hold back further development, was a central driver for creativity and innovation. It is argued that in sustainable infrastructural transformations, however, reverse salients that resist change are more often neglected than addressed.Design/methodology/approachHigher education institution campuses combine laboratory-like conditions and sufficient internal complexity to be used as test-beds for ambitious sustainable change in the built environment. In this article, a neglected barrier to the transformation of a small campus into a zero emission campus is revealed, described and addressed.FindingsIn terms of substantive findings, first, it is demonstrated how parts of infrastructures that – often for good reasons – have been neglected in efforts to reduce climate impacts can be identified with the help of a historical exploration of the site and through close collaboration with local facilities managers. Second, a temporary low-tech intervention is presented that addressed the critical problems related to these "reverse salients".Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of a case study approach apply to this study. Particular caution has to be exercised in terms of generalisation. Moreover, the intervention would benefit greatly from stricter control and additional iterations of the intervention which have not yet been performed.Practical implicationsIn addition to technology-focussed, top-down initiatives, which often struggle with actually reaching their ambitious goals in routine operation, neglected parts of campuses can contribute greatly to energy and emissions reductions. Moreover, it is demonstrated that and how local technical personnel has an important part to play in infrastructural transformations.Originality/valueConcepts developed in the study of socio-technical system building have not yet been applied in the study and practice of sustainable infrastructural transformation. Their contribution is demonstrated. Moreover, living labs are notoriously difficult to evaluate. In this case study, processes and effects of an innovative living lab intervention are described and analysed. This enables a better understanding of restrictions and possibilities of experimenting in real-life settings.

Large scale energy efficient renovation of buildings is one of the most important tools to realize the society's need of a more sustainable building stock. Most Norwegians own their own homes. Therefore private homeowners are a focus group for the government urging to accelerate the dwelling energy efficiency rates. Success factors were identified in the in-depth study of the decision process of eleven homeowners. Large differences in energy use due to the building's condition and the occupants' behavior was encountered in the sample. Only homeowners who were conscious consumers and did not trust expert advice or that had special knowledge due to their professions succeeded in realizing energy efficiency by renovation. Lack of knowledge, bad advice from craftsmen or priority to work that they can do themselves stopped other homeowners from implementing energy efficiency. Increased knowledge on all the gains from energy efficiency, the availability of attractive products and services as well as easy access to reliable advice on the better renovation solutions have a large potential to get more homeowners to make energy efficient choices in the process of renovation. Coordination of more of policy strategies including specific information and incentives are needed to facilitate this. ; acceptedVersion ; © 2013. This is the authors' accepted and refereed manuscript to the article. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

This book provides an overview of a key concept in media and technology studies: domestication. Theories around domestication shed light upon the process in which a technology changes its status from outrageous novelty to an aspect of everyday life which is taken for granted. The contributors collect past, current and future applications of the concept of domestication, critically reflect on its theoretical legacy, and offer comments about further development. The first part of Domestication of Media and Technology provides an overview of the conceptual development and theory of domestication

Purpose
This study aims to convey lessons learned from two sustainability initiatives at Norway's largest university. This contributes to knowledge-based discussions of how future, sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs) infrastructures should be envisioned and planned if the fundamental uncertainty of the future development of learning, researching and teaching is acknowledged.


Design/methodology/approach
This study was submitted on 24 January 2023 and revised on 14 September 2023. HEIs, particularly when they are engaged in research activities, have a considerable environmental footprint. At the same time, HEIs are the main producers and disseminators of knowledge about environmental challenges and their employees have a high awareness of the urgent need to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. In this study, the gap between knowledge and environmental performance is addressed as a question of infrastructural change, which is explored in two case studies.


Findings
The first case study presents limitations of ambitious, top-down sustainability planning for HEI infrastructures: support from employees and political support are central for this strategy to succeed, but both could not be secured in the case presented leading to an abandonment of all sustainability ambitions. The second case study exposes important limitations of a circular approach: regulatory and legal barriers were found against a rapid and radical circular transformation, but also more fundamental factors such as the rationality of an institutional response to uncertainty by rapid cycles of discarding the old and investing in new equipment and facilities.


Research limitations/implications
Being based on qualitative methods, the case studies do not claim representativity for HEIs worldwide or even in Norway. Many of the factors described are contingent on their specific context. The goal, instead, is to contribute to learning by presenting an in-depth and context-sensitive report on obstacles encountered in two major sustainability initiatives.


Originality/value
Research reporting on sustainability initiatives too often focuses descriptively on the plans or reports the successes while downplaying problems and failures. This study deviates from this widespread practice by analysing reasons for failure informed by a theoretical frame (infrastructural change). Moreover, the juxtaposition of two cases within the same context shows the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to infrastructural change particularly clearly.

Es wird die These entwickelt, dass die Informatisierung der Arbeit ein wesentliches Merkmal einer Gesellschaft im Umbruch ist. Dieser strukturelle Zusammenhang findet seinen Ausdruck in dem von Manuel Castells geprägten Begriff des "informational capitalism". Zusammen mit einem erweiterten qualitativen Verständnis des Prozesses der Informatisierung als Schaffung einer verdoppelten Welt der "zweiten Natur" kann ein sozialwissenschaftlicher theoretischer Rahmen entwickelt werden: Der gegenwärtige gesellschaftliche Umbruch ist nicht nur mit einer deutlichen quantitativen Ausdehnung der Informationsarbeit verbunden. Spürbarer noch sind die qualitativen Veränderungen, die sich in der Arbeit selbst, in ihren Organisationsformen und auf gesellschaftlicher Ebene zum "social digital divide" (digitale Spaltung der Gesellschaft) beobachten lassen. Informatisierung ist jedoch keine lineare Tendenz, sondern in sich widersprüchlich. Sie bedarf ausgedehnter, sich jeweils neu definierender Zutaten und Interpretationsleistungen, um Information zu Wissen und damit für zielgerichtete Praxis nutzbar zu machen. Die allmähliche Ablösung des Begriffs der "Informationsgesellschaft" durch den der "Wissensgesellschaft" signalisiert das zunehmende Bewusstsein für diese Verschiebung. Information und Wissen, Wissen und Nicht-Wissen bilden eine innere Einheit. Aus dem Spannungsverhältnis von Information und Wissen, von Formalisierung und Subjektivität resultieren schließlich Spielräume für das Subjekt und damit Gestaltungsspielräume für Technik und Organisation. (GB)

The transition to a circular economy (CE) remains an anticipated future with alternative pathways for its fulfillment. Most research on CE is normative about technological approaches and interpretations for production and sustainable development. However, critical reviews of CE help understand that CE's emergence is constrained to current dominant goals. As a set of imagined futures, the visions of CE are produced and shared in discursive practices. We hypothesize that the existence of alternative discourses about CE originates from alignment with or divergence from current dominant goals. Green growth holds the dominant position as a goal in the European discourse about CE. In this study, we present an empirical case of an emerging CE in the region of Trøndelag in Norway. This case uses qualitative data collected through interviews with informants in the public and private sectors (profit and non-profit organizations). The analysis of these interviews involved the use of a discourse coalition framework as a method. We identified three discourse coalitions: 1) Waste as resources: a vision of better product design and waste sorting technologies making recycling more efficient. 2) Sharing economy: a vision of industrial symbiosis, and new business models for local commercial offerings in sharing, reuse, repair of products. 3) Reduction of individual consumption: a vision of individual changes in lifestyle, coupled with local services and skill acquisition/transfer for reuse and repair. The first two operate in alignment with the political goal of green growth. The third one diverges by questioning it and setting focus on individual consumption reduction. We found discursive competition in CE when the focus is on the goal underlying its enactment. From this finding, we raise the question of which kinds of technological implementation and political challenges would come from shifting CE's policy goal to reducing individual consumption. To illustrate an alternative CE that emerges from consumption reduction, we discuss its implications based on the insights from our empirical case. The main contribution of the article is to provide evidence and an example of an emerging aspect that can be integrated more prominently in CE and that requires a stance that is not based on economic growth. ; publishedVersion ; © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Es wird gezeigt, dass die in dem Sammelband wiedergegebenen Diskurse der Tagung "Informatisierung der Arbeit - Gesellschaft im Umbruch" in breiter und interdisziplinärer Weise zwei zentrale Ergebnisse des Projekts "Kooperationsnetz Prospektive Arbeitsforschung" bestätigen: Zum einen kann in einem umfassenden - qualitativen und quantitativen - Sinne von einer neuen Qualität der Informatisierung von Arbeit gesprochen werden. Zum anderen wird deutlich, dass mit Blick auf die realen Entwicklungen die Perspektive der Informatisierung eine sinnvolle und notwendige konzeptionelle Erweiterung der Arbeitsforschung darstellt. Mit der neuen Qualität von Informatisierungsprozessen ändert sich der Informatisierungsmodus in der Gesellschaft grundlegend. Arbeitsforschung muss mithin wieder einen stärkeren Bezug zu Ökonomie und Gesamtgesellschaft herstellen. (GB)