Technology and Social Change

Research group

Technology and Social Change

About the research group

About the research group

The latest decade, we have witnessed a new wave of digitalization characterized by phenomena such as big data, machine learning, smart algorithms, artificial intelligence and advanced network solutions. “Semi-autonomous» digital infrastructures have been delegated increasingly more tasks, responsibility and autonomy in society, at the same time as they have become less opaque and transparent for the public. This effects social life in a wide range of areas: e.g. how we communicate and establish social networks, how we experience our workplace and conduct our work, how we access media and culture, and our relations to public agencies both as citizens and costumers/clients.

The research group «Technology and Social Change» is working with such research questions and is a leading social science research milieu om the relation between digitalization and processes of social change.

Digitalization are challenging the social sciences thematically, theoretically and methodically. A central concern for our research group is to open the new digital technologies and infrastructures as a thematic field and objects of study by researching how they are developed and put into use in an interplay between social and technological factors. It is easy to get seduced by the seemingly neutral, efficient and intelligent performance of modern computer systems. However, they are created for purposes that are often far from neutral: to create capital and profit, to nudge behavior and preferences in certain directions, and to identify, sort and classify people. To investigate and follow this encoding of social values through all phases of the development of modern computer systems – the establishment of big and small data archives, the development of algorithmic assemblages, and the design of human-computer interfaces – are one of the major tasks ahead for the social sciences. At the same time, more research are needed on how digital infrastructures are implemented and appropriated in social contexts, the negotiations taking place, the accept or resistance they face, and how users are transforming the technologies in various ways and employing them for other means than intended.

Our research group are also concerned with the development of theory and methods. Digitalization demand rethinking of established theories in sociology and social science more generally (e.g. theories in media sociology about filter mechanisms and gatekeepers, theories in cultural sociology about the establishment of cultural preferences, democracy theories about the constitution of the public sphere, interactionist perspectives of interaction orders and society building from below). Conceptual development is a prioritized area for the research group. Furthermore, digitalization demands and renders possible the development of new, both qualitative and quantitative methods and analytical tools. Members of the research group are working e.g. with new approaches to ethnography and text- and content analysis.

The members of the research group have a long-lasting and broad experience with research on the development of digital technologies and the interplay between technology and society. Examples of recent publications are found below. The group are engaged in several on-going, exiting research projects in the field.

Tema: Digitalization and Social Life

Activities

All meetings are in meeting room Velferdsstaten on campus Dragvoll (see map)

Monday, January 8, 2024, 11.30-12.30 (internal)

Semester start; planning of activities; discussion of NTNU strategy work input on “technology development” 

Thursday, February 15, 14.15-15.15 (internal)

Heidrun – “Governance of and through AI in Norway” – discussion of research proposal.

Monday, February 26, 11.30-12.30 (open) 

Local network meeting of the research school “Digitalization, Culture, and Society” DIGIT, discussion of research school members’ wishes related to PhD course portfolio. 

Wednesday, March 6, 10.15-12.15 (open) 

Social science research on the Health platform”: What do we know, what needs to be done?

Guests: Line Melby, Sintef; Dag Svanæs, IDI, NTNU. 

We have invited Line Melby (SINTEF) and Dag Svanæs (NTNU, Department of Computer Science) to join us and talk about their current research projects on helseplattformen—Trøndelag’s recently implemented IT-system for health information and services. 

The presentations will be 30 minutes each with an additional hour for discussion and exchange on own related projects. After this we can continue the discussion over lunch. (We plan to order something from the cantina. Details tba.)

Thursday, April 4, 12.15-14.00 (internal) 

Discussion about textbook project for SOS6501 Digitalization in Society and Working Life. The book shall also be relevant for the master's degree in Organization, Digitalization, Administration and Work (MODAA).

Tuesday, April 23, 12.15-14.00 (semi-open*)

Reading group – We read the new book of Kristin Asdal and Tone Huse “Nature-Made Economy.” 

*Each participant presents a chapter. Everybody welcome. Please contact Heidrun before Easter holidays if you want to participate. 

This is a joint meeting with the research group Environment, Sustainability, and Governance.

Beginning of May (tbc)

Meeting with students (focus 2nd term master students’ sociology, ODA, MKI), the research group presents itself; get to know each other. 4th term masterstudents some words on their work (?) (if yes, supervisors recruit). Pizza

Tuesday, June 11, 12.15-13.30     

Gunhild will present a paper (work in progress) on “Body, home, and the state: Goffman and the invisible roar of the re-invented total institution.”

Do not hesitate to initiate a meeting or send a suggestion to the group, if you want to discuss a paper draft or research proposal, if you want to read and discuss an article together, if you would like to invite a guest lecturer, or if you would like to go on a research visit together. This meeting plan is not set in stone.
 

Projects

  • «DICE: Digital infrastructures and citizen empowerment» – om utviklingen av «smarte» digitale infrastrukturer og deres innflytelse på fire sentrale sosiale felt: betingelsene for sosial interaksjon, tilgang til medier og kultur, innflytelse og autonomi i arbeidslivet, og relasjoner mellom det offentlige og borgerne  (Spilker, Tjora, Røyrvik)
  • «STREAM: Streaming the Culture Industries» – ser på utviklingen av strømmeløsninger innenfor musikk-, film-, tv- og bokindustriene, med fokus på teknologiutvikling, endring i verdikjeder og dannelsen av nye brukerpraksiser (Spilker)
  • «Evolving Society as Social Interaction» - tar utgangspunkt i forholdet mellom materielle strukturer (blant annet teknologi) for å studere hvordan slike strukturer former og formes av sosial interaksjon (Tjora).
  • Plattform economy’s implications for work life and the welfare state (Almklov, Stuvøy, Valestrand)
  • Res publica. Responsiblity, practice, and the public good across Digital Life Norway  (Åm)
  • MASQ – Measuring quality: Exceeding the limitations of quality management in municipal health and care services (Tøndel)
  • Fritidsbåtplattformen-en digitalt støttet plattform for tverrsektorielt samarbeid mot fritidsbåtulykker (Almklov)
  • Digital Election Campaigning Worldwide (DigiWorld) (Magin)

Publications

See the researchers' NTNU profiles for more publications.

person-portlet

Coordinator

person-portlet

Researchers