The relationship between technology and human capabilities is an ambivalent one. The same technology can expand capabilities for some users under certain circumstances, whilst diminishing capabilities for others situated differently. In this paper we analyse human capabilities in relation to digital design and fabrication technologies as configured, sociotechnically, in makerspaces in the UK. Through a combination of methods, the study identifies how some of the capability benefits claimed for makerspaces are experienced in practice, whilst noting that other capabilities claimed appear absent. Q-method in particular enables the study to examine systematically the plurality in these expansions and absences. We discuss how capabilities might be expanded, how our methods might be of wider use, and we draw some conclusions for theory regarding sociotechnical configurations and human capabilities.
The following report summarises the activities and discussions at the workshop coordinated by the ESRC Nexus Network at the UCL Institute of Global Prosperity on 1 May 2018. It offers some conclusions and recommendations drawn from the insights provided by the participants, who were all researchers with experience of working on transdisciplinary research projects.
Craft's relationship with industrial design, production and manufacturing seems to be coming full circle. Where once craft was the refuge of pr oductive skills lost to industrialisation, recent innovations in distributed digita l fabrication technologies hav e contributed to a rise in small batch production, and a decline or devaluing of the homogenous, ma ss produced — indicating new craft relations and sensibilities between designers, producers, consumers and things (Cardoso, 2010). Digital design and fabrication technologies, and their non-industrial use in community settings such as hackerspaces and makerspaces attract considerable attention in this regard and offer a site for empirical research. Enthusiasts celebrate a widening appropriation of tools such CAD/CAM, 3D printers, laser cutters and routers. Yet it is curious how technologies that deskilled machinists and damaged worker c ommunities in the past, are now celebrated as equipping m akers with new skills and capabilities. Perhaps the real picture is somewhat ambiguous?
In telling technology’s stories of social progress, we are right to celebrate unprecedented advances in health and education, transport and computation. But we must point out hidden costs, uneven distributions, and unequal access. We must open our stories to a wider cast of characters, be they heroes, villains, or those with ambiguous intent, and we must confront the individuals, interests, and institutions that propel technological change for better or worse.
For better or worse, science and technology are both deeply entangled in “social progress”. This is the case equally in discourse and practise around the world. In areas such as health, wealth, energy, mobility, and communications, it is widely recognized that remarkable historical improvements— at least for some— all owe much to science and technology. However, it is equally important to acknowledge that not all consequences of research and innovation are positive. Nor do any benefits unfold automatically — especially if they are to be fairly distributed.
Since its launch in June 2014, the ESRC Nexus Network has worked to support transdisciplinary research at the food-water-energy-environment nexus, and to create meaningful links between communities of researchers, policymakers, business leaders and practitioners. Through its activities, the Network has shown that social science is vital. The language of the nexus highlights the need for interconnected thinking between natural and social sciences, and between the research community and decision makers. This report summarises and reflects on those activities.
This thesis is about the processes of creating renewable electricity systems in new locations. Specifically it addresses the challenges and drivers of building-up renewable energy system in a `fast follower' country, Ireland. With increasing scientific, political, civil society and private sector agreement on the need to reduce green-house gas emissions from the provision of electricity, the rolling out of complex, renewable electricity systems from countries in which initial system building activities have taken place to others is an important issue. The primary research question posed is `what explains the growth of the wind electricity system in Ireland?' This question is reflected upon by asking `what does the Irish experience tell us about why and how these systems spread to new locations?'
The thesis addresses an innovation studies audience, making a theoretical contribution to the field of sustainability transitions. It contributes to recent research integrating theories from human geography by offering new insights on how location influences building of large scale renewable electricity systems in new jurisdictions. It contributes findings about the rapid development of the Irish wind system that challenge two dominant perspectives; roll-out in Ireland has been driven by EU policy push and the development of the industry is fundamentally about the extent of national subsidies. We find both perspectives are partial; what they omit is likely to be essential to reproducing the Irish experience.
This thesis takes as its unit of analysis the wind energy system itself, and using a `technological innovation system' framework, examines and evaluates the structure of the system; the complex arrangement of institutions, actors and technologies; and the dynamic innovation processes or `functions' of the system. An inquiry into the substantive historical contexts of the development of the system make possible insights into the locational characteristics and relations within and between the system; drivers, barriers and influences of direction of the system processes; and the contexts in which decisions are made and technological change takes place. The thesis finds the development of a renewable electricity system in new locations is simultaneously heavily influenced by transnational dimensions of system actors relations and institutions, and shows that while the direction of the emergent technological pathway is influenced at multiple spatial and governance levels, legitimation of the technology is highly localised.
At the heart of the government’s White Paper on the future of the BBC is an implicit accusation that the broadcaster is ‘crowding out’ the market through the scale and quality of its services. This chapter assess the utility of this 'crowding out' argument and suggests instead an alternative framework with which to assess the BBC's ability to de-risk the private sector as well as to create new market landscapes.
The maker movement in the UK, and globally, has grown rapidly over recent years. Hundreds of maker spaces, equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters, design software, as well as old-fashioned hand tools, have popped up in cities, towns and on university campuses, potentially promising new forms of redistributed and community based manufacturing. But who gets to be a maker, where does making happen and what gets made? And what is the wider social significance of this phenomenon? These questions were put to a group of makers and the public during Power to the people, a workshop jointly organised by the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) and London’s Science Museum on Friday 21 October 2016.
The role of science and technology in social progress will be drawn out as a special cross- cutting theme in the final 'Rethinking Society for the 21st Century' report. Uniquely, this theme has been subject to special co-ordination amongst report contributors, led by Helga Nowotny and Johan Schot and co-ordinated from SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex. In January of this year Science, Technology and Society (STS) authors met at the Volkswagenstiftung in Herrenhausen, Hannover to reflect on chapter work so far, and consider emergent themes. Following on from that workshop, in this blog we reflect on five perspectives on science, technology and innovation which are deeply implicated not only with social progress, but how we frame and assess progress in the first place. These perspectives will be embedded directly in a large number of the report chapters.
In recent years, the notion of the nexus has gained traction in the domain of natural resource governance. It has become the defining vocabulary to understand the interlinkages between land, water, food and climate. Since the 2008 World Economic Forum pushed key players to be concerned about water, food and energy security and their interlinkages, the nexus has become a strong policy metaphor to address the ‘world in crises’. This report provides a synthesis of ideas and cases discussed at the Nexus Network Resource Conflicts workshop, held in the Institute of Development Studies on Monday 29 February 2016.
Global new investment in green energy technologies hit $329 billion in 2015 says Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That’s a good thing right? Well, not necessarily. Knowledge is always partial, and despite impressive breadth of data gathering, some fundamentals remain unclear. That’s where Mariana Mazzucato and Gregor Semieniuk came in, organising a special workshop on Financing Innovation in Renewable Energy hosted by Bloomberg NEF which asked, who is doing what, where and when? This short blog discusses highlights from the workshop