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Keywords = Science, Technology and Society studies (STS)

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11 pages, 278 KiB  
Article
Shattering Reality: Monsters from the Multiverse
by Kristine Larsen
Humanities 2024, 13(6), 148; https://doi.org/10.3390/h13060148 - 29 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1217
Abstract
Kaijū media frequently features dangerous scientific experiments as a central theme, invented by scientists who are falsely convinced that they both completely understand and control their advanced technology. In the past few decades, this has included the introduction of high-energy physics (HEP) experiments—especially [...] Read more.
Kaijū media frequently features dangerous scientific experiments as a central theme, invented by scientists who are falsely convinced that they both completely understand and control their advanced technology. In the past few decades, this has included the introduction of high-energy physics (HEP) experiments—especially mammoth particle accelerators—that, among other destructive results, allow for the entrance of equally large and dangerous creatures into our world from parallel dimensions. Public concerns voiced about the safety of the creation of two groundbreaking energy accelerators—the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in New York and the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe—in the early 21st century are tied to related science fiction media that capitalize on such fears (including Godzilla vs. Megaguirus [2000], Pacific Rim [2013], The Cloverfield Paradox [2018], The Kaiju Preservation Society [2022]). Particular attention is paid to the Netflix original series Stranger Things (2016–) as a detailed case study. This study concludes with an analysis of scientists’ attempts to embrace the popularity of Stranger Things in their communication with the general public, and suggests that ongoing issues with conspiracy theories have been fueled in part by such attempts, coupled with long-standing issues with the HEP community and their peculiar scientific naming conventions. Full article
24 pages, 3328 KiB  
Review
Being in Virtual Reality and Its Influence on Brain Health—An Overview of Benefits, Limitations and Prospects
by Beata Sokołowska
Brain Sci. 2024, 14(1), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14010072 - 10 Jan 2024
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 9878
Abstract
Background: Dynamic technological development and its enormous impact on modern societies are posing new challenges for 21st-century neuroscience. A special place is occupied by technologies based on virtual reality (VR). VR tools have already played a significant role in both basic and clinical [...] Read more.
Background: Dynamic technological development and its enormous impact on modern societies are posing new challenges for 21st-century neuroscience. A special place is occupied by technologies based on virtual reality (VR). VR tools have already played a significant role in both basic and clinical neuroscience due to their high accuracy, sensitivity and specificity and, above all, high ecological value. Objective: Being in a digital world affects the functioning of the body as a whole and its individual systems. The data obtained so far, both from experimental and modeling studies, as well as (clinical) observations, indicate their great and promising potential, but apart from the benefits, there are also losses and negative consequences for users. Methods: This review was conducted according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework across electronic databases (such as Web of Science Core Collection; PubMed; and Scopus, Taylor & Francis Online and Wiley Online Library) to identify beneficial effects and applications, as well as adverse impacts, especially on brain health in human neuroscience. Results: More than half of these articles were published within the last five years and represent state-of-the-art approaches and results (e.g., 54.7% in Web of Sciences and 63.4% in PubMed), with review papers accounting for approximately 16%. The results show that in addition to proposed novel devices and systems, various methods or procedures for testing, validation and standardization are presented (about 1% of articles). Also included are virtual developers and experts, (bio)(neuro)informatics specialists, neuroscientists and medical professionals. Conclusions: VR environments allow for expanding the field of research on perception and cognitive and motor imagery, both in healthy and patient populations. In this context, research on neuroplasticity phenomena, including mirror neuron networks and the effects of applied virtual (mirror) tasks and training, is of interest in virtual prevention and neurogeriatrics, especially in neurotherapy and neurorehabilitation in basic/clinical and digital neuroscience. Full article
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1 pages, 165 KiB  
Editorial
Preface of the 2023 Summit of the International Society for the Study of Information
by Zhongzhi Shi and Wolfgang Hofkirchner
Comput. Sci. Math. Forum 2023, 8(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/cmsf2023008002 - 28 Jul 2023
Viewed by 928
Abstract
The study of information, including the study of intelligence as its most comprehensive member, with its application to the economy and society are at the forefront of the advances in contemporary science and technology in the 21st century [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of 2023 International Summit on the Study of Information)
43 pages, 818 KiB  
Article
The Social Shaping of the Metaverse as an Alternative to the Imaginaries of Data-Driven Smart Cities: A Study in Science, Technology, and Society
by Simon Elias Bibri
Smart Cities 2022, 5(3), 832-874; https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities5030043 - 28 Jul 2022
Cited by 152 | Viewed by 19599
Abstract
Science and technology transform the frontiers of knowledge and have deep and powerful impacts on society, demonstrating how social reality varies with each era of the world. As a set of fictional representations of technologically driven future worlds, the Metaverse is increasingly shaping [...] Read more.
Science and technology transform the frontiers of knowledge and have deep and powerful impacts on society, demonstrating how social reality varies with each era of the world. As a set of fictional representations of technologically driven future worlds, the Metaverse is increasingly shaping the socio-technical imaginaries of data-driven smart cities, i.e., the outcome of radical transformations of dominant structures, processes, practices, and cultures. At the core of the systematic exploration of science and technology is the relationships between scientific knowledge, technological systems, and values and ethics from a wide range of perspectives. Positioned within science of science, this study investigates the complex interplay between the Metaverse as a form of science and technology and the wider social context in which it is embedded. Therefore, it adopts an analytical and philosophical framework of STS, and in doing so, it employs an integrated approach to discourse analysis, supported by a comparative analysis of the Metaverse and Ambient Intelligence. This study shows that the Metaverse as a scientific and technological activity is socially constructed, politically driven, economically conditioned, and historically situated. That is, it is inherently human and hence value-laden, as well as can only be understood as contextualized within the socio-political-economic-historical framework that gives rise to it, sustains it, and makes it durable by material effects and networks. This view in turn corroborates that the Metaverse raises serious concerns as to determinism, social exclusion, marginalization, privacy erosion, surveillance, control, democratic backsliding, hive mentality, cyber-utopianism, and dystopianism. This study argues that, due to the problematic nature of the Metaverse in terms of its inherent ethical and social implications, there need to be more explicit processes and practices for enhancing public participation and allowing a more democratic public role in its shaping and control, especially early in the decision-making process of its development—when the opportunity for effective inputs and informed choices is greatest. The novelty of this study lies in that it is the first of its kind with respect to probing the link between the Metaverse and data-driven smart cities from an STS perspective. The main contribution of this study lies in deepening and extending social scientific critiques and understandings of the imaginaries of data-driven smart cities based on the analysis and evaluation of the Metaverse and the warning signals and troubling visions it conveys and animates in order to help construct desirable alternative futures for the greater good of all citizens. The ultimate goal is to structure the Metaverse in ways that are morally acceptable and collectively the most democratically beneficial for society. Full article
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24 pages, 2951 KiB  
Article
Transmedia in Geosciences Education
by Elisabete Peixoto, Luís Pedro and Rui Vieira
Geosciences 2022, 12(4), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12040171 - 13 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3264
Abstract
This paper describes a research study related to the development (conception, production, implementation and evaluation) of a set of transmedia activities associated with the study of humans ‘use of rocks. To do so, a narrative was created to guide students through a set [...] Read more.
This paper describes a research study related to the development (conception, production, implementation and evaluation) of a set of transmedia activities associated with the study of humans ‘use of rocks. To do so, a narrative was created to guide students through a set of tasks—namely, during and after a field trip. During this field trip, students had to macroscopically identify a rock sample and record its geographical location, as well as take pictures in six stations. According to the data collected, students would, after the field trip, share this knowledge in a digital learning environment and collect pieces of a puzzle and, in some cases, badges. These transmedia activities, in line with the STS (Science-Technology-Society) perspective, aimed at contributing to the diversification of educational resources for Geosciences education. The study, predominantly qualitative in nature, reached 104 students from the 7th and 5th grades in a Natural Sciences course and the analysis of data suggests that students showed some skills in areas such as “interpersonal relationships”, “scientific, technical, and technological knowledge” and “information and communication”, although in this case they can be considered rather limited. Full article
(This article belongs to the Collection Education in Geosciences)
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20 pages, 673 KiB  
Article
STEM Professional Development Activities and Their Impact on Teacher Knowledge and Instructional Practices
by Salbiah Mohamad Hasim, Roslinda Rosli, Lilia Halim, Mary Margaret Capraro and Robert M. Capraro
Mathematics 2022, 10(7), 1109; https://doi.org/10.3390/math10071109 - 30 Mar 2022
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 8284
Abstract
The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field is a crucial global driver for the development of various aspects of modern society, such as the economy, technology, education, and skills of the 21st-century workforce. All countries strive to produce STEM talent to meet [...] Read more.
The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field is a crucial global driver for the development of various aspects of modern society, such as the economy, technology, education, and skills of the 21st-century workforce. All countries strive to produce STEM talent to meet future economic markets. Sustained professional development (PD) can support reform in STEM. Teachers need professional training to improve their knowledge, understanding, and teaching practices, which affect the development of their students’ meaningful learning. As a result, a systematic study was carried out to identify STEM PD activities and their influence on teachers’ knowledge and instructional methods. The peer-reviewed publications were published between 2017 and 2021, and Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost databases were used to find them. A comprehensive review of these empirical articles produced a total of 15 subthemes under activities and impact themes. The results exhibited that the dominant activities of STEM PD included engineering activities that indirectly had an extremely high impact on teachers’ knowledge and teaching practices related to engineering design, the problem-solving process as it relates to the engineering design process, and experiences of scientists and engineers. Finally, several recommendations for STEM PD sustainability and future research reference are presented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section E: Applied Mathematics)
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21 pages, 1505 KiB  
Article
Beyond Agenda 2030: Future-Oriented Mechanisms in Localising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
by Nana Osei Bonsu, Jennifer TyreeHageman and Juliet Kele
Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 9797; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12239797 - 24 Nov 2020
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 8684
Abstract
Given the complex nature of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are increasing calls for new inclusive and bottom-up governance mechanisms in building a relationship between governments and their citizens, in particular, the youth, to localise the 2030 Agenda. But such successful [...] Read more.
Given the complex nature of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are increasing calls for new inclusive and bottom-up governance mechanisms in building a relationship between governments and their citizens, in particular, the youth, to localise the 2030 Agenda. But such successful bottom-up multi-stakeholder engagement tools have yet to emerge in practice. Hence, of specific interest in this study is exploring bottom-up approaches useful for localising the SDGs and harnessing real transformative change to leave no one behind by 2030. Using a case study from the UK, we present a novel integrated mechanism to achieve this. An integrated Social Innovation (SI) and Scenarios Thinking (ST) mechanism remains a valuable bottom-up tool capable of empowering citizens, including the youth and decision-makers in delivering coherent SDGs plans, policies, and programmes. The study reveals that although the SDGs are distinct, they are also interconnected. A scenario development workshop with youth with no prior knowledge of the SDGs showed a common thread of policy measures for different SDG future images. Standard policy measures amongst different SDGs call for an equitable society at all levels; that all energy sources be from clean and renewable sources; investment in low-carbon technologies and research; and financial support for promoting sustainable transportation and consumption measures. This study highlights that we need to change how we think and talk about SDGs and recommends socially innovative steps to embrace cross-sectoral and nexus thinking as the backdrop of the citizen science concept. We conclude that the SDGs should not become a performative exercise or failed social experiment. And any practical localisation from the UN’s Member States across the northern and southern hemispheres will require robust measures addressing future-oriented systemic thinking, inclusivity and good governance, together with standards for community resilience and sustainability. Full article
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17 pages, 335 KiB  
Article
Miskâsowin: Indigenous Science, Technology, and Society
by Jessica Kolopenuk
Genealogy 2020, 4(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/genealogy4010021 - 27 Feb 2020
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 12900
Abstract
Indigeneity has been a site of relationally produced knowledge deemed scientific and political. In this article, I offer an experimental description of Miskâsowin—an Ininiw/Cree theory of science, technology, and society. This methodological piece is part of an overall project that seeks to [...] Read more.
Indigeneity has been a site of relationally produced knowledge deemed scientific and political. In this article, I offer an experimental description of Miskâsowin—an Ininiw/Cree theory of science, technology, and society. This methodological piece is part of an overall project that seeks to understand how changes in technoscience often correlate with changes in the relationships and biotechnologies that colonial nation-states and their citizenries, scientific fields and their researchers, and bioeconomies and their consumers use to form themselves through, in spite of, and (sometimes) as Indigenous peoples. Creating Indigenous theories of the technosciences that affect them is disruptive of colonial ontologies of knowledge and sovereignty. Miskâsowin is part of an emergent subfield of Indigenous Studies: Indigenous Science, Technology, and Society (I-STS). I use this framework to map partial connections whereby Cree concepts of tapwewin (truth-telling), miskâsowin (finding one’s core), and misewa (all that exists) resonate with relational academic theoretical frameworks including that of Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, and Aileen Moreton-Robinson. I do so in ways that are uniquely adapted to my (the researcher’s) relationships (and the genealogies that they are routed through) with genomic knowledge and indigeneity; with the scientific and policy fields in Canada (and beyond); and with my own research/er integrity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Indigenous Perspectives on Genealogical Research)
27 pages, 555 KiB  
Article
Older Adults’ Perceptions of ICT: Main Findings from the Technology In Later Life (TILL) Study
by Hannah Ramsden Marston, Rebecca Genoe, Shannon Freeman, Cory Kulczycki and Charles Musselwhite
Healthcare 2019, 7(3), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7030086 - 4 Jul 2019
Cited by 84 | Viewed by 14599
Abstract
Technology is entwined in 21st Century society, and within the lives of people across all ages. The Technology In Later Life (TILL) study is the first piece of work contributing to the impact, behavior, and perception of technology use, by adults aged ≥70 [...] Read more.
Technology is entwined in 21st Century society, and within the lives of people across all ages. The Technology In Later Life (TILL) study is the first piece of work contributing to the impact, behavior, and perception of technology use, by adults aged ≥70 years, residing in rural and suburban areas. TILL is an international, multi-centred, multi-methods study investigating and conceptualizing how various technologies impact the lives of older adults; residing in urban and rural locations in the United Kingdom (UK) and Canada. This in-depth study recruited 37 participants via a multi-methods approach. Analysis of the findings ascertained two overarching themes: facilitators of technology use (i.e., sharing of information and feeling secure), and detractors of technology (i.e., feelings of apprehension of use). Proposed recommendations include promotion of technology from a strengths-based perspective focusing on positive opportunities technology to improve health and wellbeing, creating a peer support network to assist with learning of new technology, and the need to examine further how intergenerational relationships may be enhanced through the use of technology. The distinction of these themes narrates to the originality of this initial study and milieu of recruited participants, intersecting across the fields of gerontology, geography, social sciences, and gerontechnology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Creating Age-friendly Communities: Housing and Technology)
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20 pages, 899 KiB  
Article
Energy Transition in the Nebular City: Connecting Transition Thinking, Metabolism Studies, and Urban Design
by Griet Juwet and Michael Ryckewaert
Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 955; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10040955 - 25 Mar 2018
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5624
Abstract
Transforming urban infrastructures is an essential part of creating more sustainable urban regions. But rethinking these complex systems requires a better understanding of their spatial dimensions and their relation with urban morphology and spatial structure. This paper addresses that gap by examining different [...] Read more.
Transforming urban infrastructures is an essential part of creating more sustainable urban regions. But rethinking these complex systems requires a better understanding of their spatial dimensions and their relation with urban morphology and spatial structure. This paper addresses that gap by examining different conceptualizations of technical infrastructure and space in science, technology and society studies (STS), transition thinking, urban metabolism studies, and urban political ecology, and draws connections with the spatial perspective of urban planning and design. It illustrates and tests these concepts through the case of energy transition in the Flemish region of Belgium. Transport and supply networks have played a crucial role in facilitating, structuring, and reproducing the region’s characteristic dispersed and energy-intensive urban landscape. Bringing different disciplinary perspectives together, the research broadens the conceptualization of the spatial dimension in transition thinking, and identifies useful concepts and design parameters for urban design to engage with the technical and socio-political complexity of transforming urban infrastructure. It reveals the energy transition as an inherently spatial project, and explores the spatially and socio-politically transformative potential of the transition towards a new energy system. Full article
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14 pages, 1272 KiB  
Article
Simulation of Weak Signals of Nanotechnology Innovation in Complex System
by Sun Hi Yoo and DongKyu Won
Sustainability 2018, 10(2), 486; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020486 - 12 Feb 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4872
Abstract
It is especially indispensable for new businesses or industries to predict the innovation of new technologies. This requires an understanding of how the complex process of innovation, which is accomplished through more efficient products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas, is adopted and diffused [...] Read more.
It is especially indispensable for new businesses or industries to predict the innovation of new technologies. This requires an understanding of how the complex process of innovation, which is accomplished through more efficient products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas, is adopted and diffused in the market, government, and society. Furthermore, detecting “weak signals” (signs) of change in science and technology (S&T) is also important to foretell events associated with innovations in technology. Thus, we explore the dynamic behavior of weak signals of a specific technological innovation using the agent-based simulating tool NetLogo. This study provides a deeper understanding of the early stages of complex technology innovation, and the models are capable of analyzing initial complex interaction structures between components of technologies and between agents engaged in collective invention. Full article
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9 pages, 196 KiB  
Article
New Technologies—Old Anthropologies?
by Levi Checketts
Religions 2017, 8(4), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8040052 - 31 Mar 2017
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 5019
Abstract
Eighty years ago, Nicholas Berdyaev cautioned that new technological problems needed to be addressed with a new philosophical anthropology. Today, the transhumanist goal of mind uploading is perceived by many theologians and philosophers to be dangerous due to its violation of the human [...] Read more.
Eighty years ago, Nicholas Berdyaev cautioned that new technological problems needed to be addressed with a new philosophical anthropology. Today, the transhumanist goal of mind uploading is perceived by many theologians and philosophers to be dangerous due to its violation of the human person. I contrast transhumanist “patternist” views of the person with Brent Waters’s Augustinian view of the technological pilgrim, Celia Deane-Drummond’s evolutionary Thomistic view of humanity, and Francis Fukuyama’s insistence on the inviolability of “Factor X”. These latter three thinkers all disagree with the patternist position, but their views are also discordant with each other. This disagreement constitutes a challenge for people of faith confronting transhumanism—which view is to be taken right? I contend that Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies can enrich our understanding of the debates by highlighting the transmutation of philosophical view into scientific theory and the intermingled nature of our forms of knowledge. Furthermore, I contend that STS helps Christians understand the evolution of their own anthropologies and suggests some prospects for future theological anthropology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the New Technologies)
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