A Matter of Design. Making Society through Science and Technology
The 5th STS Italia Conference will be held in Milan, Italy, June 12 through 14, 2014, by the Italian Society of Science and Technology Studies, in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano Doctoral School in Design.
The conference is an opportunity to present empirical and theoretical work from a variety of disciplines and fields (sociology, anthropology, law, philosophy, design, psychology, semiotics, history, and economics, etc.). It focuses on diverse aspects of the social study of innovation processes, technology, science and design.
Go to the conference website_>
The 5th STS Italia Conference theme is design processes. Design, on the one hand, is a process that gives rise both to artifacts and to their accompanying social networks, those that are brought about by the artifacts as well as those that make the artifacts possible. On the other hand, design processes cannot be explained as the result of independent, rational choices by isolated individuals, whether designers, producers or users. They are, rather, collective processes in which humans and nonhumans interact. When science and technology studies meet the latest design thinking, new scenarios and new perspectives arise for both these research communities. This occurs – as the many thematic sessions of the conference reveal – in studying communication tools, workplaces, robotics, innovation processes, smart fibers, medical products or even the human body.
We are delighted to announce that the confirmed keynote speakers will be:
- Kjetil Fallan (University of Oslo)
- Sheila Jasanoff (Harvard University)
- Elisabeth Shove (Lancaster University)
- Charis Thompson (London School of Economics)
