We are excited to have been able to come back with the STS Helsinki seminar series after a hiatus this spring.
The new, now virtual programme was kicked off on 3 December with a talk by Ilpo Helén on the concept of sociotechnical. A video recording of the seminar is now available and will stay up until 18 December. If you missed the event as it happened, you can listen Helén’s talk on the University of Helsinki video service:
STS Helsinki will host the working group ‘Science, technology and society’ at The Annual conference of the Westermarck Society 2021 in Helsinki 11–12 March 2021. This year the theme of the conference is sociology of hope. Keynote speakers include Matthew Desmond and Akwugo Emejulu.
The conference will be organized partly online and partly on-campus in Helsinki, if possible. All working groups in the 2021 conference will take place online on Zoom.
Science, technology and society
Co-ordinators:
Marianne Mäkelin, University of Helsinki, marianne.makelin[at]helsinki.fi
Vera Raivola, University of Eastern Finland, vera.raivola[at]veripalvelu.fi
Jose A. Cañada, jose.a.canada[at]helsinki.fi
Science and Technology Studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the interaction between society, science, and technology. STS pays attention to how different fields, such as law, politics, and everyday life, become intertwined with science and technology. This is relevant when thinking about heatedly debated topics as diverse as climate change, the role of experts, medicine, genetics, gender, robotics or organic food. The field calls for a deeper understanding of the development, processes, practices and outcomes of such social phenomena. STS explores the mechanisms behind knowledge claims and ontological assumptions that guide our everyday. Or, as a prominent STS scholar, Steve Woolgar, has said: STS looks at how the world defined by science and technology “could be otherwise”.
STS Helsinki calls for theoretical, methodological and empirical papers on current research in social studies of science. Papers both in Finnish and English are welcome. The aim of this working group is to offer a forum to discuss the practices that contribute to the shaping of technoscientific objects and subjects. How is scientific knowledge established and negotiated, and how do historical processes contribute to the development of certain technologies? We especially welcome papers that reflect on the role of hope in the field of STS. This working group is defined as a meeting point for both Finnish and international scholars to share and discuss their work with others studying science, technology and society.
Please apply to the working group by sending your abstract to the working group coordinators. The deadline is Friday 29th January 2021. The maximum length of abstracts is 300 words and they should be in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format. Deadline has been extended until 12 February!
We are happy to continue our seminar series in December with a talk by Ilpo Helén:
3 December, 14:15–15:45
What does ”sociotechnical” imply?
Conceptual fieldwork with a case of data mining in healthcare
Ilpo Helén’s talk is about a trend in many discussions of social sciences to replace “social” with “sociotechnical” both as the subject of study and as an attribute. He elaborates what “sociotechnical” as a concept possibly implies in the context of this tendency, with focus on Bruno Latour’s critique of sociological theory and his suggestion of ‘sociology of associations’. Finally, Helén asks how the idea of ‘sociotechnical’ and Latour’s ‘sociology of associations’ would work in an empirical study, using a case of datafication-in-the-making in healthcare as an illustrative example.
Ilpo Helén is a professor of sociology in University of Eastern Finland
Join the seminar via Zoom:
Topic: STS Helsinki Seminar Series // Ilpo Helén: What does ”sociotechnical” imply?
Time: Dec 3, 2020 02:15 PM Helsinki
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Meeting ID: 623 2743 8269
Passcode: 170980
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STS Helsinki will host the working group ‘Science, technology and society’ at The Annual conference of the Westermarck Society 2020 in Rovaniemi 26–27 March 2020.The theme of the conference is community, and keynote speakers include John Clarke, Open University, Mia Liinason, University of Gothenburg, Nira Yuval-Davis, University of East London, Sanna Valkonen and Áile Aikio, University of Lapland, and Sigga-Marja Magga, University of Oulu.
Please send your abstract of maximum 300 words to the working group co-ordinators no later than 15 January. Edit: The deadline for abstracts has been extended until 31 January.
Science, technology and society
Co-ordinators:
Jose A. Cañada, University of Helsinki, jose.a.canada (at) helsinki.fi
Marianne Mäkelin, University of Helsinki, marianne.makelin (at) helsinki.fi
Vera Raivola, University of Eastern Finland, vera.raivola (at) veripalvelu.fi
Science and Technology Studies (STS) is an interdisciplinary field of study that examines the interaction between society, science, and technology. STS pays attention to how different fields, such as law, politics, and everyday life, become intertwined with science and technology. This is relevant when thinking about heatedly debated topics as diverse as climate change, the role of experts, medicine, genetics, gender, robotics or organic food. The field calls for a deeper understanding of the development, processes, practices and outcomes of such social phenomena. STS explores the mechanisms behind knowledge claims and ontological assumptions that guide our everyday. Or, how a prominent STS scholar, Steve Woolgar, has said: look at how the world defined by science and technology “could be otherwise”.
STS Helsinki calls for theoretical, methodological and empirical papers on current research in social studies of science. Papers both in Finnish and English are welcome. The aim of this working group is to offer a forum to discuss the practices that contribute to the shaping of technoscientific objects and subjects. How is scientific knowledge established and negotiated, and how historical processes contribute to the development of certain technologies? We also welcome papers that reflect on the role communities in the field of STS. This working group is defined as a meeting point for both Finnish and international scholars to share and discuss their work with others studying science, technology and society.
Sampsa Saikkonen will defend his doctoral dissertation entitled “Ability and authority? Studies on the constructedness and expansion of expertise in the contemporary public sphere” in the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, on 16 November 2019 at 12:00. The public examination will take place at the following address: Porthania, lecture hall P674, Yliopistonkatu 3, Helsinki.
Professor Stephen Turner, University of South Florida, will serve as the opponent, and Professor Esa Väliverronen as the custos.
The dissertation will be published in the series Valtiotieteellisen tiedekunnan julkaisuja – Publications of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
The dissertation is also available in electronic form through the E-thesis service.