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Fostering interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship in social studies of science, technology, and medicine across the globe.

Latest 4S News

‘Voicing Places’ at EASST/4S

Published On: Oct 14, 2024

This report generates new insights to the concept of 'voicing' through a summary of panel discussions held during the EASST/4S meeting in Amsterdam to ask: What politics becomes possible through diverse and distributed practices of voicing attuned to soundings, and how do these politics translate into STS knowledge work?

4S Palestine Forum | Contributions Call

Published On: Jul 30, 2024

The 4S Palestine Forum, launched earlier this year as the initial project of the Working Group on War and Genocide that was initiated at 4S Honolulu in 2023, is welcoming further contributions.

Please submit new short blog-style entries, as well as references to published work, syllabi, and other resources by writing info@4sonline.org.

View the Palestine Forum in its entirety here: https://www.4sonline.org/palestine_forum.php

CfP Annotated Book Series | Imagination

Published On: Oct 10, 2024

The editorial team behind the new series Imagination, Annotated, from the MIT Press, is inviting proposals for edited books in the series. Imagination, Annotated features speculative fiction texts from the 19th and 20th centuries that envisage possible futures, each annotated by a diverse group of experts, scholars, and practitioners. It aims to open up great works of speculative fiction to new readers and contemporary concerns, inspire reflection, and include readers in a continuing conversati...

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4S Publications

Science, Technology, and Human Values

For more than forty years, Science, Technology, & Human Values has provided the forum for cutting-edge research and debate in the field of science and technology studies.

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Mother-Led Science: Rethinking Science-Based Social Movements Through Temporality and Care

Geneva M. Smith

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
This article explores the subjective and temporal modes of organizing underlying science-based social movements through an analysis of two mother-led movements in Argentina....

Small Chemicals of Trauma: Epigenetics as Colonial Unknowing

Henrietta Byrne

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
In Australia, some Indigenous and non-Indigenous scientists, health workers, psychologists, and others have identified a resonance between epigenetics and Indigenous scholarship...

Ethics and Practice in Communities of Care

Joan H. Fujimura

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
The Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) annually awards the John Desmond Bernal Prize to one or more individuals who have made distinguished contributions to the...

Infrastructuring Readability: Framing and Overflowing in Writing Assistant Software for Biomedical Research Informed Consent Forms

Loïc Riom

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
This article analyzes the development process of a software solution designed to assist researchers in writing biomedical research–informed consent forms. Funded by a...

Of Bridges, Translations, and Practical Necessities

Sonja van Wichelen

Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
This essay is part of a Thematic Collection of Science, Technology & Human Values on the work of Adele E. Clarke (1945–2024).

Engaging Science, Technology and Society

Engaging Science, Technology, & Society is an online, open access publication of The Society for Social Studies of Science.

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Caring for Scholarship in Transition

Published On: Apr 15 2024

Ali Kenner, Clément Dréano , Noela Invernizzi , Duygu Kaşdoğan , Aalok Khandekar , Angela Okune , Grant Jun Otsuki , Sujatha Raman , Tim Schütz , Federico Vasen, Amanda Windle , Emily York

This editorial briefly reflects on the idea of transition—a theme that cuts across energy systems, migration, and education, to name a few—and is likely familiar to many readers. In this issue, we focus on transition within...

Collaborative Ethnography and Matters of Care in Counterspaces

Published On: Apr 22 2024

Coleen Carrigan, Joyce Yen, Cara Margherio, Christine Grant, Claire Horner-Devine, Eve Riskin, Julie Ivy, Burren Peil

This paper offers a reflexive analysis of an interdisciplinary and cross-race collaboration to advance equity in engineering called LATTICE (Launching Academics on the Tenure-Track: an Intentional Community in Engineering). We...

Algorithms in the Margins: Organized Community Resistance to Port Automation in the Los Angeles Harbor Area

Published On: Apr 22 2024

Taylor M Cruz, Jaewoo Park, Emily Moore, Austin Chen, Andrea Gordillo

Public deliberations on artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) provoke strong interest in automation, or the perceived displacement of human labor due to general technological advances. Social science scholarship...

Maintenance and Its Knowledges: Functional Exploration, Biographical Supervision, and Behavioural Examination

Published On: Apr 22 2024

Jérôme Denis, Daniel Florentin, David Pontille

This introductory article to the thematic collection entitled “Maintenance and its Knowledges” makes a significant departure from breakdown-centred studies. It foregrounds the epistemic virtues of maintenance, a practice that...

4S Blog: Backchannels

‘Voicing Places’ at EASST/4S

Endre Dányi (University of the Bundeswehr Munich) and Michaela Spencer (Charles Darwin University), together with Helen Verran (Charles Darwin University) and Matt Campbell (University of Melbourne), Dženeta Hodžić (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main), Martina Klausner (Goethe University Frankfurt am Main), Caroline Anna Salling (Technical University of Denmark) and Brit Ross Winthereik (Technical University of Denmark)
Oct 14, 2024
This report generates new insights to the concept of 'voicing' through a summary of panel discussions held during the EASST/4S meeting in Amsterdam to ask: What politics becomes possible through diverse and distributed practices of voicing attuned to soundings, and how do these politics translate into STS knowledge work?

ST&HV Summer School 2024: Reflections on academic generosity and doing STS in Singapore

Lauren Kelly
Oct 03, 2024
Lauren Kelly reports back from the STS Summer School in Singapore in June 2024, sponsored by Science, Technology and Human Values

Can science ensure “100% Halal”?

Arum Budiastuti
Oct 07, 2024
As part of her PhD project on the transformation of the concept halal in Indonesia, Arum Budiastuti offers a reflection on how technology-based halal certification introduces a new meaning of halal and what implications this has.

Intervention and Responses: a critical historical period for Feminist Science Studies and STS. By Daiwie Fu. Taiwan: China Times Publishing, 2022, 208 pp.

Daiwie Fu
Sep 30, 2024
While today feminist science studies and STS are often considered inseparable, Daiwie Fu examines their once tumultuous relationship. In this post, he offers a brief review of the convergence between feminist studies and STS.

Backchannels content is contributed by our members to highlight news relevant to their work.

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Making and Doing: STS Beyond the Four Corners of the Paper

STS News

Items submitted by the community and emailed to members monthly.

4S Palestine Forum | Contributions Call

Jul 30, 2024
The 4S Palestine Forum, launched earlier this year as the initial project of the Working Group on War and Genocide that was initiated at 4S Honolulu in 2023, is welcoming further contributions.

Please submit new short blog-style entries, as well as references to published work, syllabi, and other resources by writing info@4sonline.org.

View the Palestine Forum in its entirety here: https://www.4sonline.org/palestine_forum.php

Reimagining AI for Environmental Justice and Creativity workshop

Oct 21, 2024
We invite you to join us for two public panels at the "Reimagining AI for Environmental Justice and Creativity" workshop that takes place on October 23 and 24, 12:00 pm EDT, on Zoom and at the Bond House on our main campus in Charlottesville, VA. The two-day event will explore the dynamics of power and trust, in technology and governments, from perspectives not always included in the deployment, regulation and policies centered on artificial intelligence. We will discuss the possibilit...

Launch event for the Pacific Academy of Sciences

Oct 18, 2024
The Pacific Academy of Sciences is set to be launched on 23 October 2024 in Samoa alongside the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The Academy promotes the study and application of the natural and social sciences, the humanities, indigenous knowledge, and technology for the benefit of the Pacific Islands region and beyond. Foundation Fellows have a fundamental role to play in enabling the Academy to deliver on its purpose. The launch of a Pacific Academy of Sciences marks an important mil...

Science Diplomacy Symposium on Transboundary Nile Water Management

Oct 18, 2024
The Nile River plays a vital role in the livelihoods, culture, and economies of millions of people across Africa. However, its transboundary nature has led to long-standing disputes. This event seeks to demonstrate how Science Diplomacy can be harnessed to resolve transboundary water disputes among the Nile Basin countries. Scientists and experts will convene to explore the potential of independent scientific evidence in supporting public decision-making. This scientific and interdisciplinary sy...
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