Rob Kling In Search of One Good Theory

Rob Kling's legacy is a corpus of work that exemplifies the craft of inquiry and the social enterprise of science. This article examines his contribution to social informatics through an analysis of the multiple theories, methods, and sources of evidence he relied on to make his arguments about the social life of computing and the consequences of computerization. His citation identity demonstrates that he transcended disciplinary boundaries but grounded his analysis of the political and social order in interpretive theory and critique. Kling created a working vocabulary for theorizing about computerization and social life. His sustained inquiry and critique, a very public record of his work, enthusiasm, and charisma, contributed to the penetration of his ideas and the fostering of a world-wide community of interest for a domain of study called social informatics.     

Going Critical: Perspective and Proportion in the Epistemology of Rob Kling

One foundational element of Rob Kling's research and writing is his critical perspective on the nature, role, and dynamics of computerization. His main argument was that one should view as dubious any statements that are not grounded in empirical evidence or theoretical analysis. Rob's work was replete with critical refutation, in which he challenged assumptions or statements about computerization and provided alternative interpretations. Much of his work delivered indictments against hyperbolic statements that claimed either utopian or dystopian outcomes from computerization. However, some of his own writings on emerging technologies tended to be dismissive and marginalizing, revealing in his own work some of the weaknesses he pointed out in others' rhetoric and writing. This article identifies intellectual traps inherent in critical perspectives that can catch even the most acute practitioners. The objective is to help elucidate and stabilize the epistemological foundations for Rob's critical perspective on the role of computerization.     

Going Critical: Perspective and Proportion in the Epistemology of Rob Kling 1

One foundational element of Rob Kling's research and writing is his critical perspective on the nature, role, and dynamics of computerization. His main argument was that one should view as dubious any statements that are not grounded in empirical evidence or theoretical analysis. Rob's work was replete with critical refutation, in which he challenged assumptions or statements about computerization and provided alternative interpretations. Much of his work delivered indictments against hyperbolic statements that claimed either utopian or dystopian outcomes from computerization. However, some of his own writings on emerging technologies tended to be dismissive and marginalizing, revealing in his own work some of the weaknesses he pointed out in others' rhetoric and writing. This article identifies intellectual traps inherent in critical perspectives that can catch even the most acute practitioners. The objective is to help elucidate and stabilize the epistemological foundations for Rob's critical perspective on the role of computerization.     

社会信息学引论

社会信息学是考察计算机化的社会方面问题的研究领域,本文介绍了社会信息学的产生背景、研究内容、研究特点以及社会信息学的信息源等。     

From Findings to Theories: Institutionalizing Social Informatics

We focus here on the history, status, and future of social informatics. In doing this we build on the visionary work of the late Rob Kling. Social informatics research contributes insights and perspectives to the study of computing in our society that other approaches do not. We make the case that social informatics is on its way to becoming a scholarly institution: accepted as one of the several approaches to study computing, and in particular, the approach best suited to engage on computerization. In making this case, we highlight the value of social informatics, summarize its principles and common findings, point to current work and issues, illustrate the three perspectives through which to pursue this scholarship, and identify several current activities remaining for social informatics to institutionalize.     

Technological Change and the Form of Science Research Teams: Dealing with the Digitals

Abstract

During the late 1990s, photography moved from being a primarily analogue medium to being an almost entirely digital medium. The development of digital cameras and software for working with photographs has led to the wholesale computerization of photography in many different domains. This paper reports on the findings of a study of the social and organizational changes experienced by marine mammal scientists who have changed from film‐based photography to digital photography. This technical change might be viewed as a simple substitution of a digital for an analogue camera, with little significance for how scientists do what they do. However, a perspective anchored in social informatics leads to the expectation that such incremental technical changes can have significant outcomes, changing not only how scientists work, but also the outcomes of their research. This present study finds that key consequences of this change have been the composition of the personnel working on the scientific research teams for marine biology projects and the ways in which these scientists allocate their time.     

谭峭《化书》的社会政治批判思想

作为道教信徒的谭峭,面对唐末五代时期混乱黑暗的社会局面,发扬了道家借道论世的传统,对中国封建社会面临的社会问题与社会冲突作了深刻的揭露与批判,并提出了自己的理想社会方案。其“均贫富”的思想反映了小农阶级的要求,也把中国政治批判思想带到了新的高度,但是他并不反对封建剥削制度与君主制度,而是企图改良它,其思想套路毕竟没有突破前人窠臼。     

论托尔斯泰对井伏鳟二战争小说创作的影响

井伏鳟二在文坛独树一帜,他登上文坛的时候正值无产阶级文学风靡日本,周围的朋友大都加入到了无产阶级文学的阵营,但是井伏鳟二却保持着自己独特的个性。他的创作关注普通入的生活,幽默的笔调与其间透出的淡淡哀愁相交织,绘制出了一幅幅劳动人民努力生活的画面。二战中井伏鳟二被军部征用,成为了“日本笔部队”的一员。这也成为他将战争纳入创作的主题的契机值此,井伏鳟二开始直面战争关注社会,写出了一系列的带有强烈现实主义色彩的战争小说。托尔斯泰是有名的非暴力主义者,他提倡理想的世界应当不分阶级不分国界,以爱为准则,拒绝一切暴力,人们靠着道德来约束自己的行为。笔者经考察研究井伏鳟二在早稻田大学学习文学期间深受托尔斯泰的影响。他的战争小说中所表达的战争观和托尔斯泰的非暴力主义有着一定的相似之处。井伏鳟二的战争小说在他的文学生涯中是一个巨大转折,他对战争暴力行为持严厉批评的战争观也对后世人们对战争的认识有着深远的意义。     

Learning About Information Technologies and Social Change: The Contribution of Social Informatics

Social informatics is the body of research that examines the design, uses, and consequences of information and communication technologies in ways that take into account their interaction with institutional and cultural contexts. This article serves as a brief introduction to social informatics. Examples such as computer networks, scientific communication via electronic journals, and public access to the Internet are used to illustrate key ideas from social informatics research. Some of the key themes include the importance of social contexts and work processes, sociotechnical networks, public access to information, and social infrastructure for computing support. The article draws upon 25 years of systematic analytical and critical research about information technology and social change.     

Classifying web genres in context: A case study documenting the web genres used by a software engineer

This case study analyzes the Internet-based resources that a software engineer uses in his daily work. Methodologically, we studied the web browser history of the participant, classifying all the web pages he had seen over a period of 12 days into web genres. We interviewed him before and after the analysis of the web browser history. In the first interview, he spoke about his general information behavior; in the second, he commented on each web genre, explaining why and how he used them. As a result, three approaches allow us to describe the set of 23 web genres obtained: (a) the purposes they serve for the participant; (b) the role they play in the various work and search phases; (c) and the way they are used in combination with each other. Further observations concern the way the participant assesses quality of web-based resources, and his information behavior as a software engineer.     

"Giving body" to embryos. Modeling, mechanism, and the microtome in late nineteenth-century anatomy.

Reinvestigating the work of the anatomist Wilhelm His (1831-1904) shows how engaging with models in three dimensions can revise our accounts of scientific change. His is known to historians of biology for articulating a mechanical approach to embryology and for inventing a section cutter, or microtome. Focusing on the wax models that he also made in the late 1860s shows how the other two innovations were linked; reconstructing embryos from the sections, His claimed, provided compelling evidence for mechanical views. The next generation of embryologists appropriated His's work selectively. In the 1880s anatomists took up "plastic reconstruction" to visualize the complex forms of higher vertebrate, especially human, embryos. An increasingly dominant experimental embryology, by contrast, drew on His's mechanical approach but had little use for the waxes and effaced them from the history of his work. Recovering these models offers a fresh perspective on the transformation of a central science of animal life and enriches our understanding of the relations between representation in two dimensions and three.     

回忆父亲黄万里

黄万里的长女黄且圆回忆了她的父亲对生活的热爱,对科学和工作的热诚,以及对于祖国和人民的深情。他只讲真话,不说假话。他坚信人类的活动应当遵从自然环境的规律,而不应仅根据自己的意愿改造它。     

国外情报学理论研究的几个关键问题——以“社会公共安全”为视角

以“社会公共安全”为视角,从情报认知、情报工作模式、情报预警与失误3个方面,总结梳理了国外情报学理论研究的几个关键问题和主要成果,并对新时代背景下的情报学理论研究发展方向进行预测。     

论罗宾逊的“翻译身体学”理论

道格拉斯·罗宾逊是活跃在译界的一位重要翻译理论研究者,他在其著作《译者登场》中提出了＂翻译身体学＂这一理论,揭示在翻译过程中普遍存在的身体反应,并将其进一步划分为＂个人身体学＂和＂意识形态身体学＂两个方面。罗宾逊的＂翻译身体学＂理论使翻译成为了一个由身体主宰的动态过程,有力地说明了翻译是译者从事的一种创造性活动。     

从社会信息学角度看信息能力的评价标准

From the viewpoint d social informatics, this article discusses the evaluation criteria of information litera-cy in 3 aspects. Social informatics is the theoretical basis on which the evaluation criteria of information literacy can be for-mulated. The development of social informatics widens the connotation of the evaluation criteria of information literacy.And the evaluation criteria d information literacy have a solid sociological foundation.     

情报学理论方法与社会预警的交叉融合研究

情报学理论方法与社会预警的发展相对孤立,但二者之间有很大的相关性,情报学理论方法对社会预警理论有一定的支撑与促进作用.目前,社会预警的效度和信度还不高,其原因众多,社会预警和情报学之间的脱节可能是重要原因之一.基于这种假设,对竞争情报方法与社会预警的共生演化进行具体分析,同时就面向社会预警的竞争情报反应模式进行探讨,以强化二者深入交叉融合,为社会管理协同创新提供多元化指导.     

The Mutual Shaping of Technology and Society in Videotex Newspapers: Beyond the Diffusion and Social Shaping Perspectives

This article argues that a mutual shaping lens enables a more encompassing account of the joint processes of technological and social change in new media than the diffusion of innovations and social shaping of technology perspectives. Drawing from recent work in sociology and history of technology, organization studies, social informatics, and computer-supported cooperative work, this article suggests that the shaping and diffusion of media artifacts are so intimately tied that they should be seen as the two sides of the same innovation coin. Using examples from the history of videotex newspapers in the United States, the analysis shows that actors simultaneously pursued interdependent technological and social transformations, that this was an ongoing process in which partial outcomes in the technological domain influenced social events at a later phase—and vice versa—and that such process was influenced by historical developments.     

The Mutual Shaping of Technology and Society in Videotex Newspapers: Beyond the Diffusion and Social Shaping Perspectives

This article argues that a mutual shaping lens enables a more encompassing account of the joint processes of technological and social change in new media than the diffusion of innovations and social shaping of technology perspectives. Drawing from recent work in sociology and history of technology, organization studies, social informatics, and computer-supported cooperative work, this article suggests that the shaping and diffusion of media artifacts are so intimately tied that they should be seen as the two sides of the same innovation coin. Using examples from the history of videotex newspapers in the United States, the analysis shows that actors simultaneously pursued interdependent technological and social transformations, that this was an ongoing process in which partial outcomes in the technological domain influenced social events at a later phase—and vice versa—and that such process was influenced by historical developments.     

Man of destiny: the life and work of Fritz Haber

'The German physical chemist Fritz Haber was distinguished not only for his researches, but also for his services to industry and to his country. Haber and the research institutes he directed contributed to a wide range of advances in physical chemistry. His most outstanding scientific achievement was his synthesis of ammonia, which solved the urgent problem of meeting the world demand for nitrogen fertiliser'. So begins the entry to Haber in the 1972 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Haber was indeed a great and versatile scientist, but his was also a vigorous and complex personality that interacted in unexpected ways with the social and political circumstances of his time.     

达尔文与基督教世界的沟通他的跨洋策略

在达尔文出生的那个年代,没有人会接受关于进化和人类起源的自然主义学说,他在那个时代分享了他关于自然、上帝以及历史的观念。在“贝格尔号”航行之后,他提出的“生命始于同一祖先”理论如何能令人信服,是他面临的巨大挑战。自从达尔文开始进化论的研究之后,他对“我的理论”的推广并非一定意在反驳宗教教义,而是作为宗教和科学的进步。达尔文深信的一条教义,就是人类具有共同祖先或者说所有种族皆兄弟——这可作为废除黑奴制度的一个理论根据。英国已于1838年废除了奴隶制,世界的目光于是转向美国——该国奴隶制正如火如荼,并得到一种支持奴隶制、主张人种多元的新特创论的支持。达尔文的跨洋策略自19世纪50年代开始便深深影响着美国反奴隶制的精英博物学家,他们对共同祖先理论的支持将被用来颠覆这一人种多元特创论——比用《圣经》中那不足凭信的人种同一论更为有效。因此,他的理论可作为道德和科学领域的进步而引起美国基督教世界废奴主义者的兴趣。然而,该策略却从未完全发挥自身所有的潜力,这使特创论在20世纪萌生了新的形式。