cct 506 studying Flashcards
why fundamentals?
… in order to move beyond the “great divide”
of social vs. technical knowledge.
when we talk about social, we mean….
…. the historical, humanistic, political and
organizational circumstances “surrounding” a
technology
when we talk about technical, we mean….
…. the “inner” workings, design, and
practical applications of technology and tools
Course objective - Obtain a familiarity with the inner-workings
of computers and ICTs so that you can:
a. communicate with technical people
b. be critical about how technologies work and
how they are used
c. understand the foundational concepts of
computing
d. go on to more advanced technical work
Course objective - Use communication and design media to:
a. visualize and explain interactions in a
sociotechnical system
b. express and communicate technical ideas to
a variety of audiences
c. understand how digital tools arrange and
manipulate information
a blackbox is…
…. a thing that does a thing.
has an input and an output
Architecture
a collection of components
that make up a technical artifact
Algorithm
a series of steps that move
information from one state to another
A sociotechnical system can be described as….
….blackbox composed of other blackboxes.
“ X is a sociotechnical system for Y”
Analyzing Sociotechnical Systems steps:
- Define the system
- Identify key components of the system
- Describe interactions among the components
- Elaborate connections in order to identify
broader implications and emergent behaviors
Social relations shape….
…. technical relations…. and vice versa!
when artifacts have politics, (not Politics) they….
…. were deliberately designed and
built that way by someone who wanted
to achieve a particular social effect
sociotechnical politics
- Humans use and design technology for social
and political reasons.
Human actors work with technology. - Technology shapes social structures and
organize political interactions.
Technologies do work
alongside human actors.
ex: a consequence of nuclear weapons….
b/c they were deliberately designed and the decisions made will continue to shape the world.
delegation (shifting out)
the assignment of work to another actant
door example: we have delegated non-human grooms (door stop example) to do the work of closing doors.
Delegation to technology has both intended and unintended sociotechnical consequences.
a blackbox HAS….
an architecture that helps it execute an algorithm*
*it can also be part of larger-scale and smaller-scale architectures and algorithms
(“blackboxes all the way up and down”)
Actant
characters that do things
- Can be human or nonhuman *
Script
what actants do and how they do it. scenarios played out by actants
Transcription
translating a script from one actant or system to another
Prescription
what a script presupposes or asks from other actants in the system
Inscription
upstream work that supports or “programs” a technical script
Kashmir Hill:
“Life Without the Tech Giants” summary / statement
Critics of the big tech companies are often told, “If you don’t like the company, don’t use its products.” I did this experiment to find out if that is possible, and I found out that it’s not—with the exception of Apple.
These companies are unavoidable because they control internet infrastructure, online commerce, and information flows. Many of them specialize in tracking you around the web, whether you use their products or not. These companies started out selling books, offering search results, or showcasing college hotties, but they have expanded enormously and now touch almost every online interaction.
What work are computers doing?
Representation
Interpretation
Manipulation
… of information.
I.D.E.
integrated development environments. provide services that speed up development.
examples: Xcode
