Introduction
In short, Social Informatics is the “field of research focusing on the relationships between information and communication technologies and the larger social context in which these ICTs exist” (Sawyer & Eschenfelder 2002, p. 428). It emerges as a necessary trans-disciplinary study, as computerization becomes more prolific and, what this digital scrapbook will demonstrate, technology has become an essential component of society and vice versa. This digital scrapbook seeks to record a personal journey with existing and up-and-coming technologies, and relating these ideas to key issues in social informatics. By focusing on four broad themes, this scrapbook highlights the important relationship that exists between society and information, analyses the trends in technology that exists at present, and predicts important phenomenon that will change society in the future. Overall, it will conclude that technology is not just scientific marvels, but they are culturally significant elements of modern society.
Foundational theorist Robert Kling (1999) highlights the relationship of technology with society by emphasising the role of ‘social context’ in influencing the “consequences for work, organisations, and other social relationships” (Kling 1999, para. 42). Technological development and use have socio-technical implication on all areas of society from the economy and politics to education and sport. Kling’s idea proposes that technology and society are intertwined in such a way that their effects and developments are dependent and influence on one another. His formulation of social informatics supports the view that technology are not merely objects, but are necessary cultural artefacts.
Similarly, Sawyer & Eschenfelder (2002) also summarise the study of social informatics and believes social context plays an integral role in examining socio-technical effects in society. However, they highlight that “Social informatics research often leads to discussion of how context shapes ICTs or ICT uses, and how these ICTs and ICT uses shape their context” Sawyer & Eschenfelder 2002, p. 446). This bidirectional approach is a more comprehensive idea that exists in social informatics, and suggests that society not only influences the design and use of technology, but technology also has a profound effect on society.
This idea reflects the metaphor of an ‘information ecology’ (Nardi & O’Day 1999), where technologies are information products in a social context. This information system will be constantly “changing together according to the relationships in the system” (Nardi & O’Day 1999, p. 51), emphasising the importance of both technology and society to each other. Thus, technology cannot be understood without the context of society, and modern society is inseparable from the technologies of which it is accustomed to. In demonstrating this idea, this digital scrapbook has been classified into four broad themes as a way of communicating meaning. Some of these artefacts don’t fit perfectly into one category, and some fit in more than one category, resulting in a classification system based on themes, which form a framework to describe each artefact.
Games are an important feature in the technological sphere being a highly profitable industry and pervasive piece of technology. On the surface, video games are viewed as purely entertaining computer technologies. However, with a more comprehensive eye, video games boasts a wide variety of effects, affecting cognition and learning, and consumer interaction, which will be explored in this scrapbook. By looking at how these technologies are used, and the social effects of these applications, the cultural significance of video games is discovered.
Digital convergence has evolved as more devices allow its users to access more applications. One of these technological marvels is the smartphone, which has reduced the mobile phone from large overbearing devices, to sleek touch screen phones. Being a necessity in modern life, mobile phones have been found to have profound effects on our communication practices. For example, Humphries (2011) points to the change in social relations that mobile usage creates in a public space. These artefacts will exhibit how society affects the development and use of technology, demonstrating that these devices are generational milestones as well as technological advances.
With Sawyer’s premise that “Social informatics will become even more important as computerization continues to engage our society” (Sawyer 2005, p. 9), it is vital to analyse the significance of emerging technologies to envisage the future of society. What was interesting about these technologies is that they have the potential to proliferate and become cultural objects. The focus of this theme is to look at different areas of robotics research to decide what areas of society will be affected in the future. This theme will demonstrate that advancements in robots are measured in terms of how effective they are to society, which supports the view that technology and society are important to one another.
Lastly, a unique element of social informatics rarely acknowledged in many other social or technological studies, is the idea of a marginalised item, or ‘monster’. These have been included in this digital scrapbook to show the importance of methodology in the field of social informatics. According to Haraway (1992), “a monster occurs when an object refuses to be neutralised”, meaning artefacts that cannot be carved into existing moulds. In terms of this digital scrapbook, these artefacts fit into none like the Posse and 3M and IBM examples, or more than one theme like the Brain Reading Device example.
