Week 5
Lecture 5.1 The technological challenge: setting the scene
Role of technology is not only limited to healthcare => we live in a technological culture.
High expectations vs intense debate about new technologies.
Implementing and disseminating promising technologies is notoriously difficult.
This makes it important to become acquainted with different perspectives on technologies in general.
Many positive stories about new technologies; optimism and high expectations as a recurring trend.
Alternative voices are also often heard; technology presented in highly negative terms, critical
perspectives on technology (oppressive, dehumanizing).
2 theoretical perspectives on technology:
- Linguistic perspective (rhetorical analysis of technological prophecies)
- Cultural perspective (anthropological theory on purity and monsters)
Lecture 5.2 The technological challenge: a linguistic perspective
Long history of predictions of technological developments that lead to 'radical change'. Historical
analysis of 'future industry': prophecies made by trendwatchers, futurologists and journalists. Rhetorical
analysis of literary 'genre’ of technological prophecies: common rhetorical figures, metaphors,
paradoxes
Technological prophecies as literary 'genre’
- 3 questionable patterns of reasoning
o The idea of a total revolution (technology will radically change our lives)
o The idea of social continuity (new technology will solve old problems)
o The notion of a technological 'fix’ (technology as a panacea for societal and political
problems). 'fix’ as 'fixing something’ or 'fix’ as 'fixed meaning’
- Symbolic meanings and metaphors of cultural genres
o The beckoning future: future as new start, always positive in tone, promise of more
autonomy, sharp opposition between present and future
o The rushing future: the future is approaching fast, rhetoric of hurry, prepare for the
future or become redundant
- Paradox
o Knowledge paradox: the smarter, the less we understand
o Convenience paradox: promise of less work, while work demands increase
o Interaction paradox: the more intelligent, the more indifferent we become
o Expansion paradox: overcoming natural limitations while neglecting importance of
boundaries
Lecture 5.3 The technological challenge: a cultural perspective
Public reactions on new technologies often characterized by extremes: sense of fascination and
discomfort. Cultural-anthropological theories about 'purity’ and 'monsters'.
, Technologies as 'matter out of place': cultural categories
Cultural anthropology: every society is organized by means of classifications (cultural categories)
Classification means the activity of placing judgments into categories. Primary way of making
sense and generating a coherent image of the world. Classification schemes are culturally shared
and conservative (hard to change). Primary way in which we organize our experiences (including
most fundamental ones (time and space)).
Categories are not neutral but normative: they simultaneously tell us what the world is and
what it should be like
Role of cultural categories in the public perception of technologies
Technologies as 'matter out of place': dirt and garbage
Dirt or garbage: that which is not in the right place in the social/cultural order and therefore
violates this order. Place does not refer to actual location, but to a symbolic place in the order of
things. What is considered 'dirt/garbage/waste’ is context specific. Every classification creates its
own dirt/garbage as a byproduct.
Temporary /matter out of place’ (annoyance) vs longitudinal/unsolvable matter out of place
(monster)
Technologies as 'matter out of place': monsters
Monster as an ambivalent creature: it unites certain elements that seem to be irreconcilable
(and it therefore matter out of place)
Because of this ambivalence and interdeterminacy a monster often evokes fear and uncertainty
Frankenstein is a human built from dead materials, genetically modified foods
Lecture 5.4 Interview with Maxime Westendorp (guest speaker)
Literature
Ash (2003). Some unintended consequences of information technology in health care: the nature of
patient care information system-related errors. 104-112.
Smits (2006). Taming monsters: the cultural domestication of new technology. 489-504.
As a reading guide for the literature, please answer the following questions for yourself:
1. Why is this literature relevant for this problem and for the course as a whole?
2. Where in the texts (e.g. at what page) did you discover this relevance?
3. Ash, Berg & Coiera focus on the ‘silent errors’ of patient care information systems (PCIS).
Lecture 5.1 The technological challenge: setting the scene
Role of technology is not only limited to healthcare => we live in a technological culture.
High expectations vs intense debate about new technologies.
Implementing and disseminating promising technologies is notoriously difficult.
This makes it important to become acquainted with different perspectives on technologies in general.
Many positive stories about new technologies; optimism and high expectations as a recurring trend.
Alternative voices are also often heard; technology presented in highly negative terms, critical
perspectives on technology (oppressive, dehumanizing).
2 theoretical perspectives on technology:
- Linguistic perspective (rhetorical analysis of technological prophecies)
- Cultural perspective (anthropological theory on purity and monsters)
Lecture 5.2 The technological challenge: a linguistic perspective
Long history of predictions of technological developments that lead to 'radical change'. Historical
analysis of 'future industry': prophecies made by trendwatchers, futurologists and journalists. Rhetorical
analysis of literary 'genre’ of technological prophecies: common rhetorical figures, metaphors,
paradoxes
Technological prophecies as literary 'genre’
- 3 questionable patterns of reasoning
o The idea of a total revolution (technology will radically change our lives)
o The idea of social continuity (new technology will solve old problems)
o The notion of a technological 'fix’ (technology as a panacea for societal and political
problems). 'fix’ as 'fixing something’ or 'fix’ as 'fixed meaning’
- Symbolic meanings and metaphors of cultural genres
o The beckoning future: future as new start, always positive in tone, promise of more
autonomy, sharp opposition between present and future
o The rushing future: the future is approaching fast, rhetoric of hurry, prepare for the
future or become redundant
- Paradox
o Knowledge paradox: the smarter, the less we understand
o Convenience paradox: promise of less work, while work demands increase
o Interaction paradox: the more intelligent, the more indifferent we become
o Expansion paradox: overcoming natural limitations while neglecting importance of
boundaries
Lecture 5.3 The technological challenge: a cultural perspective
Public reactions on new technologies often characterized by extremes: sense of fascination and
discomfort. Cultural-anthropological theories about 'purity’ and 'monsters'.
, Technologies as 'matter out of place': cultural categories
Cultural anthropology: every society is organized by means of classifications (cultural categories)
Classification means the activity of placing judgments into categories. Primary way of making
sense and generating a coherent image of the world. Classification schemes are culturally shared
and conservative (hard to change). Primary way in which we organize our experiences (including
most fundamental ones (time and space)).
Categories are not neutral but normative: they simultaneously tell us what the world is and
what it should be like
Role of cultural categories in the public perception of technologies
Technologies as 'matter out of place': dirt and garbage
Dirt or garbage: that which is not in the right place in the social/cultural order and therefore
violates this order. Place does not refer to actual location, but to a symbolic place in the order of
things. What is considered 'dirt/garbage/waste’ is context specific. Every classification creates its
own dirt/garbage as a byproduct.
Temporary /matter out of place’ (annoyance) vs longitudinal/unsolvable matter out of place
(monster)
Technologies as 'matter out of place': monsters
Monster as an ambivalent creature: it unites certain elements that seem to be irreconcilable
(and it therefore matter out of place)
Because of this ambivalence and interdeterminacy a monster often evokes fear and uncertainty
Frankenstein is a human built from dead materials, genetically modified foods
Lecture 5.4 Interview with Maxime Westendorp (guest speaker)
Literature
Ash (2003). Some unintended consequences of information technology in health care: the nature of
patient care information system-related errors. 104-112.
Smits (2006). Taming monsters: the cultural domestication of new technology. 489-504.
As a reading guide for the literature, please answer the following questions for yourself:
1. Why is this literature relevant for this problem and for the course as a whole?
2. Where in the texts (e.g. at what page) did you discover this relevance?
3. Ash, Berg & Coiera focus on the ‘silent errors’ of patient care information systems (PCIS).
