Assignment purpose The purpose of this assignment is for you to demonstrate your sociotechnical thinking skills by using the analytical tools we have been learning this semester to analyze the relationship between people and technology in a one of the assigned case studies listed below.
Task: Create a full sociotechnical analysis of one of the following case studies using the analytical tools and concepts we’ve identified and used this semester. You must use the same case study as you did for the final project prep assignments 1 through 4. For all final assignment formats:
Your analysis must at minimum draw from the Case Study Materials presented in the links above. You may also need to conduct some external research to answer the critical questions that you may have about the system you are examining.
You must cite the materials you are using in your text whenever you make use of them and include a works cited page at the end of your submission.
You must draw on course concepts and vocabulary from the course materials including:
Stakeholders
Power
Affordances
Algorithms
Black box
Classification & Categories
Mutual shaping
Harm
Agency
Analytics: race, class, gender, and/or disability
Your analysis must cover all of the following required sections and details:
Required Analysis Sections and Details
1. An introduction to the sociotechnical system. Identify and explain the system to your reader, assuming that they have never encountered the system before. What is the system used for? Identify at least 5 different types of stakeholders for this system and explain who they are. For each stakeholder, identify at least one thing or person/people that they have some amount of power over – that is, something they can influence and also identify at least one thing that they do not have power over, something they cannot influence. Include a brief history of the system. Your history must draw from content found in course materials for the case study. (300 words)
2. An analysis of what processes are being automated by the system. This includes decisions that might be automated by predictive algorithms (such as assigning a number to represent how vulnerable a person who is experiencing homelessness is) or procedures that have been automated (such as flagging failure to cooperate in the automated welfare process). There is most likely one broad decision or process that is being automated, but what supplemental decisions and processes are being automated? (200 words)
3. Explore affordances of the system. Identify two specific technologies that exist within this case study. For each technology, identify two different technological affordances that exist for different stakeholders under different conditions. Explain each affordance (make sure you use affordance verb language – what particular action does the technology request, demand, encourage, discourage, refuse, or allow?) for the type of stakeholder you’ve identified and clearly articulate the conditions under which this affordance works. Be as specific as possible about the stakeholders, mechanisms, and conditions of the affordances. (400-500 words)
If you need some help understanding technological affordances, you should make sure to read the Davis article on affordances, especially starting on page 5! Davis_How_Artifacts_Afford.pdf
4. Identify parts of the system that have been black boxed and explain how this part of the system can be identified as a black box. What process is being obscured within the system? What data go into the black box and what data are returned from the black box? Which stakeholders have access to understand this part of the system better? Which stakeholders do not have a means to understand this part of the system better? (300 words)
5. The desired and undesired outcomes of the system– What was the goal of the system and the projected outcome? How have classification systems (such as conceptions of race, class, gender, and/or disability) shaped the development of the system? What did the stakeholders who designed and built the system want it to do? What kind of harms may some stakeholders experience? Note that different stakeholders could have multiple desired outcomes. What were the unintended consequences and realities of the system that differed from the stated purpose of the system? (300-400 words)
6. Finally, your analysis should include a couple of paragraphs that reflects on the usefulness of a sociotechnical approach to making sense of this system. Your response should answer this two part question–How does a mutual shaping lens help you as a person studying this case a) conduct your analysis and b) propose solutions that would improve the system? Your response to part (b) should propose at minimum two solutions that could reduce, or minimize the harm caused by the system.
That is to say, you must answer the question of why your analysis should be sociotechnical in nature. You do not need to argue that the system itself is sociotechnical, because as social informatics researchers we know that all systems are sociotechnical. (300 words)
Analysis Format:Written report
References
Your analysis must include in-text citations and a works cited page for written report. All other formats (podcast, video) must include in-text citations in the scriipt and a works cited page. You must use a standard citation style, such as APA or MLA, throughout. You can check this resource for more information about citations: https://owl.purdue.edu/ (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. You must include and cite the Case Study materials related to the case study that you choose.
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