Suchergebnisse

How should we understand the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and sustainability? Generally, it is assumed that while ICT products contribute to many environmental and social problems as they are produced and disposed of, the potential of using ICT to achieve a more sustainable society is immense. However, despite the fact that such a discourse is favored not only in the industrial but also in the political and academic spheres, we have yet to see this presumed sustainability-related potential of ICT fully exploited. This thesis argues that conventional assumptions and understandings related to three abstractions in sustainable ICT research and practice – namely the technological, the social, and the sustainable – contribute to an overly optimistic discourse of sustainable ICT, which favors certain research approaches and practical applications. Adhering to such a discourse risks reinforcing, rather than breaking loose from, an unsustainable status quo. Through problematization, this thesis aims to unveil and challenge such underlying assumptions and understandings, based on insights from the social sciences and philosophy. New assumptions and understandings of sustainable ICT research and practice are suggested, and contribute with a perspective that among other things emphasize the ontological inseparability of the technological and the social, implying an anti-essentialist position embracing the value-ladenness and value and meaning mediatory aspects of such phenomena. The normative contributions include theoretical and methodological approaches to sustainable ICT design and sustainable ICT entrepreneurship – identified as two central practices for sustainable ICT to promote sustainability – that aim to mobilize politically charged discourses of our being together with each other, technologies and nature in order to facilitate collaborative action towards sustainable futures. This thesis should be seen as a critical contribution to fields interested in sustainable ICT, such as ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S) and Sustainable Human-Computer Interaction (SHCI).

AbstractIn another paper in this special issue, we explored how the sharing economy was understood and promoted by researchers in Japan and Sweden, respectively. In this second paper, which is based on two separate archival studies, we proceed by focusing on how the concept is used and understood in the political sphere by politicians and policymakers in the two contexts. On a general level, the sharing economy is understood as an economic model based on the acquisition, provision, and sharing of goods and services, facilitated by digital platforms. This study concludes that within the political spheres in Japan and Sweden there are, however, many different more specific understandings of and assumptions related to the concept. For example, the sharing economy is primarily promoted as a tool for economic revitalization and growth in Japan, while in Sweden its environmental benefits are emphasized. In Japan, there seems to be more consensus around what the sharing economy is, what its main effects are, and how it should be promoted. In Sweden, political parties instead advance different understandings of, and assumptions related to, the sharing economy to advance their political agendas. While the concept has been successfully translated in Japan by powerful political institutions and actors, we argue that the concept remains open to many different interpretations in Sweden.

In another paper in this special issue, we explored how the sharing economy was understood and promoted by researchers in Japan and Sweden, respectively. In this second paper, which is based on two separate archival studies, we proceed by focusing on how the concept is used and understood in the political sphere by politicians and policymakers in the two contexts. On a general level, the sharing economy is understood as an economic model based on the acquisition, provision, and sharing of goods and services, facilitated by digital platforms. This study concludes that within the political spheres in Japan and Sweden there are, however, many different more specific understandings of and assumptions related to the concept. For example, the sharing economy is primarily promoted as a tool for economic revitalization and growth in Japan, while in Sweden its environmental benefits are emphasized. In Japan, there seems to be more consensus around what the sharing economy is, what its main effects are, and how it should be promoted. In Sweden, political parties instead advance different understandings of, and assumptions related to, the sharing economy to advance their political agendas. While the concept has been successfully translated in Japan by powerful political institutions and actors, we argue that the concept remains open to many different interpretations in Sweden.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of information and communication technology (ICT) for promoting environmental sustainability in a changing society. Isolated studies exist, but few take a holistic view. Derived from a Marxian tradition, the authors propose Ecological World Systems Theory (WST) as a holistic framework to assess the environmental impact of ICT. The theory is adapted responding to theoretical critiques of absence of change, namely state-centrism and structuralism.Design/methodology/approach– Theoretical study. Empirical examples derived from already published literature.Findings– Ecological WST focuses on the unequal distribution of environmental degradation, sees technological development as a zero-sum game rather than cornucopia and holds that technology is often seen as a fetish in today ' s society. The findings are that popular discourses on ICT and sustainability are since the 1990s becoming increasingly cornucopian, while conditions in the ICT value chain are less cornucopian.Research limitations/implications– Theoretical contributions to Marxian critiques of ICT, with more environmental focus than earlier Marxian critiques, for example Fuchs' work. Develop a theoretical framework for ICT and sustainability which could be compared with works of e.g. Hilty, Patrignani and Whitehouse. The work is mostly based on existing empirical studies, which is a limitation.Practical implications– This theoretical framework implies that unequal environmental degradation in different parts of the world should be taken into account when assessing environmental impact, for example by means of LCA.Social implications– The framework brings together questions of environmental effects of ICT and global justice.Originality/value– The authors apply a rarely discussed theoretical framework to ICT and environmental sustainability. By doing this the authors suggest how the discourses and the value chain of ICT is intrinsically tied to the world system.