Technologies as Institutions

Technologies as Institutions Rethinking the role of technology in media governance constellations Christian Katzenbach Institute for Media and Communication Studies Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Workshop “New Directions in Communication Policy Research” ECREA Section “Communication Law and Policy” Zürich, November 6-7, 2009.

Introduction

Introduction ‣ Governance as Background and Frame ‣ Technology as Blind Spot ‣ The „Politics of Information and Communication Technologies“ Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

“ [.…] a politics deeply embedded not just within the institutions that design and distribute technologies and services, but within the technology itself, as software products and information networks both prescribe and proscribe, conﬁguring suppliers and users, containing and constraining behaviour, and embodying in their algorithms and their gateways both the normative and the seductive. Mansell /Silverstone, 1996

Introduction ‣ Governance as Background and Frame ‣ Technology as Blind Spot ‣ The „Politics of Information and Communication Technologies“ Goal: Foundations for the (re-)integration of technology and its interrelations in the governance discourse Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Governance

Governance as a Theoretical Frame ‣ Governance Frame: Regulation in a wider sense Focus on new sets of actors ‣ gained attention as analytical concept and practical approach ‣ Shift of focus in several dimensions: ‣ Actors: Vertical and Horizontal Extension of the traditional mode of rule-making through the nation-state ‣ Vertical: International Institutions ‣ Horizontal: Inclusion of private actors (self- and Co- Regulation) Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Values Norms Coordination Markets Discourse Focus on new mechanisms Competition Institutions Legitimation Expertise Legislation Knowledge Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Governance in Communication Research ‣ From the "Golden-Age Nation State" to heterogenous regulatory constellations ‣ Focus on new sets of actors, not on mechanisms Role of technology in media governance constellations? Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Governance and Institutions ‣ Broad Concept of Governance: „Patterns to cope with interdependencies between actors“ ‣ Schuppert: Structures of coordination, rather than regulation ‣ Institutions as analytical hinge Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

“[Institutions are] symbolic and behavioral systems containing representational, constitutive and normative rules together with regulatory mechanisms that deﬁne a common meaning system and give rise to distinctive actors and action routines. Scott, 1994

Governance and Institutions ‣ Broad Concept of Governance: „Patterns to cope with interdependencies between actors“ ‣ Schuppert: Structures of coordination, rather than regulation ‣ Institutions as analytical hinge ‣ They are both outcome… ‣ … as well as instruments of regulation. Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Technology in Media Governance ‣ Constructivist Turn in the 1980s: Focus on Domestication and Adoption ‣ Disregard of the Politics of Technologies 1 Impacts of Technology on social behaviour and sectoral change ‣ Technology as form of (indirect) 2 Political and Social Construction of Technology ‣ Domestication and Adoption regulation ‣ Development of Standards ‣ Regulation of Emerging DANGER! Technologies Technological ‣ Case Studies Determinism! Technology does not follow its own teleological path Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

“ Indeed, the very design of the Internet seemed technologically proof against attempts to put the genie back in the bottle. […] [It] treats censorship like damage and routes around it. Walker 2003

Lessig 2007

Technology in Media Governance ‣ Constructivist Turn in the 1980s: Focus on Domestication and Adoption ‣ Disregard of the Politics of Technologies 1 Impacts of Technology on social behaviour and sectoral change ‣ Technology as form of (indirect) 2 Political and Social Construction of Technology ‣ Domestication and Adoption regulation ‣ Development of Standards ‣ Regulation of Emerging DANGER! Technologies Technological ‣ Case Studies Determinism! ‣ Interplay and Interdependencies Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Insights from the Sociology of Science and Technology ‣ Core Interest: Technology — Action — Socio-political Structures 1 Impacts of Technology on social behaviour and sectoral change ‣ Technology as functional 2 Political and Social Construction of Technology ‣ Technology in Use equivalent ‣ Meaning and Usage are ‣ Durkheimʻs social facts ascribed, not determined ‣ Hardened social action and ‣ Domestication structured ‣ Technology Development ‣ Technology is Society made ‣ „Leitbilder“ durable ‣ Standardisation ‣ Regulation Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Picture: clemensfranz (CC By-SA 3.0)

Hints from the Sociology of Science and Technology ‣ Core Interest: Technology — Action — Socio-political Structures 1 Impacts of Technology on social behaviour and sectoral change ‣ Technology as functional 2 Political and Social Construction of Technology ‣ Technology in Use equivalent ‣ Meaning and Usage are ‣ Durkheimʻs social facts ascribed, not determined ‣ Hardened social action and ‣ Domestication structured ‣ Technology Development ‣ Technology is Society made ‣ „Leitbilder“ durable ‣ Standardisation ‣ Regulation Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Hints from the Sociology of Science and Technology ‣ Core Interest: Technology — Action — Socio-political Structures Resources Routines 1 Impacts of Technology on social behaviour and sectoral change ‣ Technology as functional 2 Political and Social Construction of Technology ‣ Technology in Use equivalent ‣ Meaning and Usage are ‣ Durkheimʻs social facts ascribed, not determined ‣ Hardened social action and ‣ Domestication structured ‣ Technology Development ‣ Technology is Society made ‣ „Leitbilder“ durable ‣ Standardisation ‣ Regulation Co-Evolution Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Technologies as Institutions: Discussion ‣ Importance of detailed look at technological and policy decisions ‣ Set the frame for communication and following decisions ‣ Time-lag ‣ Technologies are part of the institutional frame that individual action (communication) is embedded in ‣ Interaction of user adoption and technological affordances ‣ Interplay and Interdependencies Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Macro Infrastructure / Policy Meso Shared Values / Communities of Usage Micro Interactions

Content Interconnection / Logics / Standards Net Neutrality Infrastructure / Architecture

Copyright

Selected References ‣ Bijker, W. E. und Law, J. (Hrsg.). (1992). Shaping technology/building society : studies in sociotechnical change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ‣ Donges, Patrick. (2007). The New Institutionalism as a theoretical foundation of media governance. Communications, 32, 325-330. ‣ Latour, Bruno. (2007). Reassembling the social : an introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ‣ Latour, Bruno. (1991). Technology is Society made durable., in: John Law (Hrsg.), A Sociology of Monsters. London: Routledge. 103-131. ‣ Latzer, M., Just, N., Sauerwein, F., & Slowinski, P. (2003). Regulation Remixed: Institutional Change through Self and Co-Regulation in the Mediamatics Sector. Communications & Strategies, 50(2), 127-157. ‣ Lessig, Lawrence. (1999). Code and other laws of cyberspace. New York, NY: Basic Books. ‣ Mansell, R. & Silverstone, R. (Eds.). (1996). Communication by design: The politics of information and communication technologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ‣ Schulz-Schaeffer, I. (2000). Sozialtheorie der Technik. Frankfurt am Main [u.a.]: Campus Verl. ‣ Schuppert, Gunnar Folke. (2008). Governance: Auf der Suche nach Konturen eines "anerkannt uneindeutigen Begriffs", in: Gunnar Folke Schuppert und Michael Zürn (Hrsg.), Governance in einer sich wandelnden Welt. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. 13-40. ‣ Walker, John. (2003). "The digital imprimatur: How big brother and big media can put the internet genie back in the bottle". Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 16(3), 24-77. ‣ Winner, Langdon. (1980). "Do Artifacts Have Politics?". Daedulus, 109, 121-136. Christian Katzenbach | Technologies as Institutions | ECREA-Workshop, November 2009, Zurich

Technological Setting Analog – Copying as Exception Legal Setting Fair Use Norms and Values Creators Paying for Music Consuming Music but not Paying

Technological Setting Digitally Networked – Copying = Usage Legal Setting Fair Use??? Norms and Values Creators, but also: Rip, Mix, and Burn / Sharing Paying for Music Consuming Music but not Paying

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Technologies as Institutions

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Technologies as Institutions — Presentation Transcript