It has become so banal to talk about the role of new technologies in our everz day life. Thinking of the topic of sociology, technology and new media, I decided to re read Breton and Proulx book about the explosion of communication. One chapter i just started is about the usage of information and communication technologies and the role of the researcher.
Like the authors, I believe that a researcher needs to distance himself from his own ways of apprasing or negotiating with technologies when he/she decides to do a field work. Many people fall in the trap of determinism when talking about technologies, believing that innovation – marketing – technology automaticaly shape the users way of life; we call these technical determinism. But we should not fall in the sociological determinism either. We cannot only make a social analysis of technological innovation and discover its effect on the society. We need something in between, we need to find out the appropriation of technology and the usage been made via this appropriation. The aspect of appropriation is critical in helping us to understand how usage of technology is made, and the uses of technical and cognitive skills by individuals in order to negotiate with technologies surrounding them in their every day life.
Written on 5.30.2007
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