I think Projecting isn't the word one would use except to be slightly
perjorative. We all know that various people view actor network
theory in all kinds of ways, if it isn't an epistemological problem,
it is an ontological problem. In the end, neither really matters
because unless you really screw up and don't represent actor-network
theory or misrepresent your data in some way... your description using
actor network theory, if you use it, is just as publishable and thus
valid as anyone else's. Granted some feel very strongly against
agency in objects, others feel very strongly against the way agency is
ascribed to objects... That's all fine and good, but it still within
its own framework describes reality. Is it a good way, are there
better ways, that is a question of debate and the debate is based on
opinions and standpoints, which is really great if you are an actor-
network type of person. From my perspective actor-network theory
doesn't get rid of any knowledge-able, intelligent, and interested
people, all it does is say that they are one form of actor... in a
network that has many forms of actors, now you can deny that
constraining someone is not an action if you want, but it certain
seems like an action. I think the 'agency' issue is quite a different
matter in the end, it's a 2500 year old problem that plato came up
with and no one has resolved. All actor network wants to talk about
is 'what acts' and how that action is connected to others. the
agency problem isn't present because it isn't there, it is a phantom
issue that has been turned into an actor and seeks to constrain people.
my short opinion is... use what you like and fine useful and let the
reviewing committee worry about the philosophy of social science if
they want to.
On Apr 21, 2009, at 3:51 PM, Klaus Krippendorff wrote:
> Dear jurgen and others,
>
> I too was uncertain about what you meant by discourse on the object
> level. Design discourse, to my way of thinking is fundamentally
> concerned with, let me not say objects but artifacts. For example
> the whole domain of an ecology of artifacts explains how humans
> install, replace, bring in contact and interact with artifacts,
> creating a huge technological system, held together by the human use
> of language. Well you read the semantic turn and I thank you for the
> review of the book.
>
> I would like to add a word in favor of stakeholder networks and
> against actor network theory. In my opinion, the latter makes the
> epistemological mistake of projecting agency to objects, as if in
> Bruno latour's example a speed bump would be like a policeman waving
> down the speed of the traffic. The speed bump amounts to a
> constraint, designed of course to save a policeman standing on the
> side of the road. Knowing what it could do to your car is
> fundamentally different from knowing that a policeman could give you
> a ticket for speeding and the legal implications of that ticket.
> Latour wants to assign agency to objects. But you can't argue with
> objects and equating the constraints that are built into objects
> with the behavior of people -- policeman, users, producers -- gets
> rid of knowledgeable, intelligent, and interested people. This is
> why I talk about stakeholder networks within which artifacts come to
> fruition -- not by force, but by participation. Stakeholders have a
> stake in the realization or completion of a design -- ultimately
> being discursively engaged with (objects) artifacts.
>
> klaus
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and
> related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Jurgen Faust
> Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 1:22 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Discourse on object level
>
> Hi Jeremy,
>
> interesting position and thanks for the hint regarding actor network
> theory.
> I also agree with you that designers don't do anything different then
> others, but many are involved in designing, therefore they don't do
> anything
> different to objects. But your thoughts are very helpful within my
> research!
>
> Thanks,...
>
> Jurgen
>
>
> On Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:15:16 -0400, jeremy hunsinger <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> I'd probably frame it slightly differently but yes. I'd frame it
>> that
>> objects participate in discourse, which I hold, which is also a
>> fundamental assumption of actor-network theory. As such everyone,
>> and all objects within a culture, participate in various discourses.
>> As to the objectified level, that would depend on the culture, but it
>> seems pretty true in capitalist cultures, which reify all processes
>> into objects in some way or another. So the idea from my position is
>> less that designers do anything necessarily different to objects in
>> terms of discourse, engineers, artists, social scientists, indeed i'd
>> say all modern persons use 'objects' to 'verify, change, or transform
>> existing solutions into better ones', indeed many animals other than
>> humans do the same sort of thing.
>> On Apr 21, 2009, at 1:17 AM, Jurgen Faust wrote:
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I would like to know whether there is anybody who would support a
>>> statement that
>>> designers also maintain discourses on an object level? That means
>>> that designers generate
>>> objects; solutions to verify, change or transform existing solutions
>>> in better once?
>>> I am currently exploring the idea that textual matters in design
>>> comprehend also design
>>> solutions as objects. I am using the current transformation of the
>>> existing i-phone we see,
>>> when we look at all the proposed changes in competitive products.
>>>
>>>
>>> Jurgen Faust
>>>
>>> Prof. DIGITAL MEDIA
>>> MHMK MUENCHEN
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