Midterm

Question 1

Define Social Informatics

Answer 1

the interdisciplinary study of the relationship between information technology and society

Question 2

Define Interdisciplinary

Answer 2

combining or involving two or more things–in the case of social informatics: technology and society

Question 3

What are social actors?

Answer 3

a term that describes those who “do things,” “cause things,” or have agency. They are usually human (but it SI are often not)–institutions and things can also have agency and be social actors.

Question 4

Define agency

Answer 4

the ability to cause or do things

Question 5

Define Socialtechnical Network

Answer 5

describes something that is both social and technical but it is so intertwined that the words are put together

Question 6

What is context-dependancy?

Answer 6

Information and Communication Technologies (ITCs) are always situated in a particular context. In order to talk about the “use” of and ITC, you must talk about the context of use.

Question 7

What is the first finding of social informatics?

Answer 7

Uses of ICT lead to multiple and sometimes paradoxical effects. Ex) sometimes technology doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would. TBMUI

Question 8

What is the second finding of social informatics?

Answer 8

Uses of ICT shape thought and action in ways that benefit some groups more than others. Ex) Cell phones were trending to be smaller and smaller but that turned out to be bad for a majority of elderly. TBMUI

Question 9

What is the third finding of social informatics?

Answer 9

The differential effects of the design implementation and uses of ICTs often have moral and ethical consequences. Ex) Facebook invading privacy. TBMUI

Question 10

What is the fourth finding of social informatics?

Answer 10

The design, implementation, and uses of ICTs have reciprocal relationships with the larger social context. Ex) Technologies often have multiple uses…compare laptops for doctors and DJs. TBMUI

Question 11

What is the fifth finding of social informatics?

Answer 11

The phenomenon of interest will vary by the level of analysis. Ex) Some technologies interest people in different ways. TBMUI

Question 12

What is an evocative object?

Answer 12

It’s an object that can evoke a certain feeling, memory, story, etc. from it’s owner. They describe what a technology can do TO us rather than for us.

Question 13

Define Intimate Ethnography

Answer 13

A way of listening that adds new dimension to our understanding of how technologies affect our relationships and sensibilities and illuminates the subject side of technological experience, how what we have made is woven into our ways of seeing and being the world.

Question 14

What is ethnography?

Answer 14

A method of anthropology that studies human cultures and communities with focus on everyday life and insider point of view.

Question 15

Define Thick Description

Answer 15

social analysis and interpretation from the direction of exceedingly extended acquaintances and extremely small matters. Ex) What is a wink? and how it changes!

Question 16

Define Technological Affordances

Answer 16

parts of technology that provide strong clues to the operations of things making i easy for the user to interact.

Question 17

What is the Technology Triad? and who made these claims?

Answer 17

Pervasive sensors, automated reasoners, and lethal robots–Bringsjord.

Question 18

Define Technological Determinism

Answer 18

The development of new technologies seen as the means of achieving the goals of rationality and efficiency. The idea that technologies only impact society.

Question 19

What is Moore’s Law

Answer 19

the idea that technology will grow every year/ is constantly growing. Now, it has kind of turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 20

What is SCOT

Answer 20

Social Construction of Technology is

Question 21

What is presentism

Answer 21

assumes that the inevitable today means that the technology was always inevitable. Technological change is just progress and technologies progress simply because they are the best and most efficient.

Question 22

What is a Black Box?

Answer 22

a device which is viewed solely in terms of its input and output, without any knowledge of its internal workings (in reference to the lone inventor myth)

Question 23

Define “the romantic author”

Answer 23

a view of authorship that emphasizes the transformation of raw materials and individual originality as the basis of intellectual and artistic production, and thus a form of property

Question 24

Define Public Domain

Answer 24

the entirety of the things that are not copyrighted, thus are free for the public use

Question 25

Define Copyright

Answer 25

a form of protection provided to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatics, musical artistic, and certain other intellectual works, both published and unpublished. It prohibits the making of unauthorized copies or derivative works. Facts, ideas, concepts, processes and methods are NOT copyrightable.

Question 26

What is a patent?

Answer 26

something that gives a set of exclusive rights to an inventor for a fixed period of time, typically 20 years after the filing date, in exchange for the regulated, public disclosure of certain details of a device. method, process or composition of matter. The idea must be new, inventive, and useful or industrially applicable.

Question 27

Define First Sale

Answer 27

an exception to U.S. copyright law that allows you to resell a used version of a copyrighted work. Ex) books, dvds, etc.

Question 28

Define Fair Use

Answer 28

an exception to U.S. copyright law that may allow people to reproduce copyrighted work depending on: *the purpose and character of use. Ex) academic, commercial. *the nature of the copyrighted work *the amount of portion used *the effect of the use on the value of the work or its potential market

Question 29

What is a patent troll

Answer 29

a derogatory term for an organization (non-practicing entity or NPE) that uses its patents to generate revenue without manufacturing the products that the patents pertain to.

Question 30

What are the four categories surrounding Lessigs dot diagram

Answer 30

Norms, Market, Architecture, Law