Question:
Give an example of an Analysis of a Computing News Story using Actor Network Theory?
Answer:
Introduction
This essay discusses the computing news stories and analyse them on the basis of Actor Network Theory. In each news story which is in some or the other way related to computer’s news there are at least two actants (it could be more than two). Actant is any specialists, it could be a group or an individual who can relate or split with other specialists. Actants go into organized affiliations, which in turn characterize them, designate them, and furnish them with subjectivity, activity, substance, and expectation, and. Also, actants are considered foundationally vague, with no from the earlier substance or pith, and it is through the systems in which they relate that actants infer their inclination (Callon 2012).
Moreover, actants themselves create as systems. Actants are blends of representatively contributed “equipment,” “personalities,” relations, and engravings, systems prepared to do settling inside other differing systems.
This essay aims to identify all different actants that exists in referred computing news story, and how these actants depend on each other. Also this essay will cover when an Actant ‘acts’ on another Actant, how does this change/modify the behaviour of the Actant being ‘acted upon’
In this essay we will argue on the network perception, in a more precise way it could be said as, the ANT (actor network theory) aims to heighten the understanding of network composition as well as its growth throughout the information system organization (Callon 2012).
Actor Network Theory
The Actor Network Theory also called the human science of interpretation – is a socio-technological determinism initially created by Science & Technology Study researchers as an endeavour to comprehend the procedures of development and information development in science and technology. The hypothesis is an undeniably compelling, yet profoundly challenged in its methodology to comprehend people and their communications with lifeless items.
ANT is a theory which considers the whole thing as actors or actants and defines the associations amongst those actants or entities, originally developed in the fields of anthropology & sociology.
This theory states that there is no difference amongst non-human entity and human entity on the ontological ground. As information system investigation frets about the communication among people, advancements and data frameworks, a hypothesis which pacts by this socio technological determinism by contradicting that any such type of division exists ever provides conceivable outcomes. ANT identifies that non-human actants plays substantial part in network and are not completely controlled by human actants; however data framework investigators must not misappropriate it by assuming that non-human actants are of much importance in compare to human actants as this prompts techno determinism which is completely contradictory to ANT.
In numerous of information system readings ANT has been utilized to research on stability of network and henceforth adoption of the technology however as we perceive dynamic quality and complex of the systems, it could be perceived that ‘instead of stabilization, closure and alignment, the keywords have now been changed to inconsistencies, ambiguities, multiplicities and ambivalence. Understanding the new era is not about closure and stabilization, instead it is about more specially appointed performances.
Analysis Using Actor Network Theory (ANT)
Computing News Story 1
The computing news story which has been referenced here focuses on Digital baby project’s aim, a digital actant, which states that, ‘Can Computer see like a human baby?’ In a more elaborative way it could be said as ‘Is it possible for a computer to learn things by seeing and interact with its surrounding accordingly?’ (Jeremy 2016).
The primary actant in this story is human actant as it is the main source of information that has to be perceived into artificial intelligence which is secondary actant here i.e. Digital actant. Here Digital actant is completely dependent upon the human actant.
Artificial Intelligence is aiming to recognize the computer’s vision, a digital actant, of fuzzy or partial images of objects such as horses, eagles, aeroplanes etc. in comparison to the human actant. Expectedly, brains of human evidenced much better than computer at identifying these “minimal” images even as they became minor and harder to recognize.
However while comparing both actants digital and human, it found clues that computer vision algorithms could be improved and artificial intelligence may learn to understand the world the way a growing human does since its birth.
Human’s brain uses some ‘building block’ feature to identify fuzzy or small images while computer does not use any such feature. The study shows that human recognition is both distinct and better as compared to artificial intelligence algorithms.
Online workers act as the software actants as the story needed more than 14000 participants and it was impossible to bring all of them to the lab. Hence human actants depended upon a software actant i.e. Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete the experiment (Jeremy 2016).
Cultural Scale
At the cultural scale, the story identifies how the computer vision algorithms and human brain decode the images. This new digital actant i.e. decoding of images showed unexpected fall in reorganization of images by human brain. When previously compared computer algorithms did worse than human brain but when the images were made fuzzy or small there was not much of the recognition gap.
Use in Enhancing Management
The use of digital baby project could help the hardware and software actants in future. For ex- Someday superior computers could empower Cortana & Siri, essential partners in individual’s tablets and cell phones, , to perceive or social co operations or human expressions. Several other technologies could also be empowered such as hardware actants ex – flying drones or self-driving cars improving them ready to perceive their general surroundings. For instance, driverless auto specialists have been endeavouring to enhance the PC vision calculations that empower robot autos to rapidly perceive walkers, autos, and different articles out and about.
Computing News Story 2
This computing news story which has been referred is about an application MyShake, a software actant that uses GPS sensors, another software actant for the detection of earthquakes, a cultural actant, and evaluate their location & magnitude in real time (Patel 2016).
This software technology possibly will lead to a compact worldwide seismic system, a structural actant, which could warn individuals about the epicentre of the earthquake so that they could get some time to reach to some safe spot.
The dependant actant here found to be is US Geological Survey Group, A human actant which acts upon the data from network, a software actant, which are ten to hundred seismic stations spaced kilometres apart.
GPS acceleration meters that could take consistent estimations at a specific area, can likewise distinguish long haul ground development at a geographical shortcoming that, with a sudden arrival of developed strengths, results in a seismic tremor (Patel 2016).
Cultural Scale
At the scale of culture the story identifies how the smartphone network will use the sensors in different countries worldwide. In the countries like Nepal or Haiti where no seismic network is available but are present billions of smart phones, this phenomenon could result in low cost system to warn the people about earthquake and save lives as much as possible.
Knowledge Scale
At the scale of knowledge & administration this story comprises of clever algorithm that can distinguish between earthquake shakes and activity of human. This is done by recognizing the amplitude and frequency of the accelerometer indications.
Issues
It needs a large number of networks to determine the quakes which might not be present at every location. So it will not work at every location. Also still there are many bugs that are present with the application and it has very less no of users. Big Data generation is the primary issue with this application.
Conclusion
As discussed in the introduction part this essay had researched upon latest computing news stories and had analysed them using actor network theory. All the actants present in the stories were identified and their action on each other was discussed.
It could be concluded that any actant doesn’t have its own value unless it is being acted upon by some other actant or it acts on some other actant. All the actants found in these two stories were somehow connected to one another.
In this essay it has been contended that data frameworks is a socio-specialized order including both non-human as well as human actants, and that data frameworks usage are complicate exercises unavoidably including some type of technical development. It has been additionally contended that oversimplified perspectives of how data frameworks are manufactured, actualized and utilized regularly disguise vital communications amidst non-human & human actants thus does not give an exact finish picture of what has happened.
Actor Network Theory approach dodges the necessity to consider the technical and the social, hence non-human actants and human actants, in various techniques. Emphasizing by what means the non-human & human actants included in socio-specialized circumstances, for example, the building and utilization of data frameworks cooperate with each other is a critical advantage of embracing an ANT research structure. In indicating how these communications might prompt the developments of stable systems, ANT system hypothesis offers a valuable approach to handle the many-sided quality of such type of study.
References
Jeremy, H 2016, Digital Baby Project’s Aim: Computers That See Like Humans, available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/computing/software/digital-baby-project-aims-for-computers-to-see-like-humans.
Patel, P 2016, New App Could Improve Earthquake Warning Using GPS, available: http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/consumer-electronics/gadgets/new-app-could-improve-earthquake-warning-using-gps
Callon, M 2012. “Some Elements of a Sociology of Translation:Domestication of the Scallops and the Fishermen of St. Brieuc Bay.” In Power, Action, and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge? edited by J. Law. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Latour, B 2007. Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Law, J 2012. “Notes on the Theory of Actor-Network: Ordering, Strategy and Heterogeneity.” Systems Practice 5:379–93.
