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The Center for Science, Technology and Society invites you to the second session of its 2018-19 Work-in-Progress series. The program includes two presentations:

1. Smart Textiles: Moving the Responsible Innovation Literature Forward, by Kelly Joyce, PhD, professor in the Department of Sociology, and in the Center for Science, Technology and Society
   
   Abstract: Scholars of responsible innovation have called attention to the need for STS scholars to be involved in innovation processes. Such inclusion has the promise of creating more innovative and socially responsible technologies. Yet, how should STS scholars be involved? How can we combine the literature on responsible innovation with the literature on expertise to further our understanding of ethical innovation? This presentation uses smart textile health devices to investigate how and when STS scholars can contribute to responsible innovation.
   
   
2. Where Social Movements meet Big Data: Tracing Digital Footsteps of Grassroots Activism by Katarzyna Elliott-Maksymowicz, PhD candidate, Communication, Culture & Media
   
   Abstract: With the emergence of the Internet and new technologies, social movements – formerly reliant primarily on printed materials, traditional media coverage, word of mouth and social networks of their members – gained a valuable tool for not only spreading their message, extending its reach, and gaining support, but also for organizing participants and facilitating offline engagement. The datafied nature of the digital environments in which emergent social movements function makes it possible for researchers to track the digital trace they leave or, in the other words, the data which is generated throughout the communicative practices of movements. With the latest advances in data processing and machine learning, new avenues of research are open to scholars of activism. The goal of my dissertation is to utilize these new methods to get a better understanding of the foundational aspects of grassroots activism: (1) the concept of collective identity, (2) the visuality associated with waves of contention, and (3) the affective dimension of social movements.

Lunch will be provided. 

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