Science and technology studies
Our research investigates one of the pressing questions of our time: What does human-centredness mean in a technologically de-centred world?
Technological innovation can change people's lives, their experience of the world and themselves radically. In turn, people also shape technologies by appropriating and adapting them to their wants and needs. At the heart of our research lies the question of why certain technologies fit into human beings' lives and others do not, and why some groups welcome innovation and others resist or avoid it. In providing answers to these questions, the section contributes with research on human experience of innovation to include the concerns and needs of those living with new technologies and infrastructures.
We study this by taking a socio-technical approach. Rooted in the field of Science and Technology Studies we study societal challenges as constituted by both social and technical elements. Technologies are designed in certain ways to achieve certain goals; however, these goals often change as the technologies are embedded into society. While such appropriation processes are crucial to making technology useful and societies liveable, they also can create tension and even exclusion from use or citizenship. We therefore explore both the potential and actual advantages and harmful effects.
Our approach is explorative. We use qualitative methods such as ethnography, video analysis and diary studies to create a rich picture of the sometimes rather messy and unexpected ways and circumstances in which people and technology co-exist. For a technology to become human-centred, it is not enough to study pre-determined refusal or acceptance, but also requires capturing and monitoring the concrete and ever-changing process of how humans interface with and are impacted by technology. This includes attention to the wider political context and welfare systems in which innovation happens.
Finally, our approach to innovation is experimental. We study and cocreate innovation processes in which users and citizens take an active role in development and implementation. Simultaneously, we feed our findings back to practitioners and decision makers in civil society, government institutions and companies. Thus, we seek to help develop new ways of bringing together engineers, policymakers, case workers, caregivers, NGOs and patients to work jointly towards technology that is useful and societies that are liveable.
Technological innovation can change people's lives, their experience of the world and themselves radically. In turn, people also shape technologies by appropriating and adapting them to their wants and needs. At the heart of our research lies the question of why certain technologies fit into human beings' lives and others do not, and why some groups welcome innovation and others resist or avoid it. In providing answers to these questions, the section contributes with research on human experience of innovation to include the concerns and needs of those living with new technologies and infrastructures.
We study this by taking a socio-technical approach. Rooted in the field of Science and Technology Studies we study societal challenges as constituted by both social and technical elements. Technologies are designed in certain ways to achieve certain goals; however, these goals often change as the technologies are embedded into society. While such appropriation processes are crucial to making technology useful and societies liveable, they also can create tension and even exclusion from use or citizenship. We therefore explore both the potential and actual advantages and harmful effects.
Our approach is explorative. We use qualitative methods such as ethnography, video analysis and diary studies to create a rich picture of the sometimes rather messy and unexpected ways and circumstances in which people and technology co-exist. For a technology to become human-centred, it is not enough to study pre-determined refusal or acceptance, but also requires capturing and monitoring the concrete and ever-changing process of how humans interface with and are impacted by technology. This includes attention to the wider political context and welfare systems in which innovation happens.
Finally, our approach to innovation is experimental. We study and cocreate innovation processes in which users and citizens take an active role in development and implementation. Simultaneously, we feed our findings back to practitioners and decision makers in civil society, government institutions and companies. Thus, we seek to help develop new ways of bringing together engineers, policymakers, case workers, caregivers, NGOs and patients to work jointly towards technology that is useful and societies that are liveable.
Contact
Brit Ross Winthereik Professor, Head of Division Department of Technology, Management and Economics Phone: +45 45254550 Mobile: +4561793261 browi@dtu.dk