Linguists first used the term backchannel to refer to the spontaneous responses and signals that provide interactivity to what is only apparently a one-way communication. Social media users have adopted the term to refer to the unofficial, multi-directional online conversation that parallels formal academic exchange at a lecture or conference. The Backchannels blog is intended to have a similar relationship to scholarly discourse in STS. It provides an outlet for alternative-format scholarly communications, publishing shorter, timelier, media-rich communiques of interest to the global STS community. The editors welcome proposed contributions.
Nov 11 2024
In this post, Ceall Quinn describes multispecies smellwalking, a method for attuning to olfactory pollinator relations in urban ecologies.
Jan 20 2025
In this post, Rachel Yang reports on the "Critical Social Science Approaches to Epidemic Intelligence" workshop held at the University of Sydney on 21 and 22 March 2024.
Dec 30 2024
In this post, Mariana Pitta Lima discusses contributions from and with feminist STS from the South, drawing on a recently published chapter on technologies, health, and gender based on fieldwork in Brazil.
Dec 23 2024
In this post, Anja Klein, Catharina Lüder and Britta Acksel consider what it is that research methods in sustainability science seek to "transform" and how those methods might themselves be transformed along the way
Dec 9 2024
This conversation reveals how traditional frameworks of dispossession, while valuable, may not fully capture the complexities of exploitation in today's digital economy.
Dec 2 2024
In this post, Alexis Bedolla explores vaccine development in Mexico through non-human animal lenses, arguing for the transgression of epidemiological representations.
Nov 25 2024
Engaging the public in critical conversations about technology presents a key challenge for researchers in STS and related fields. Jussara Rowland and Ana Delicado argue that zines are a valuable, yet under-utilized, tool for achieving this goal.
Oct 7 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.
Oct 3 2024
Lauren Kelly reports back from the STS Summer School in Singapore in June 2024, sponsored by Science, Technology and Human Values
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.