Description
In this paper, we argue for broadening situated studies of emerging technology at work to include the specifics of the discursive framing surrounding its introduction and use in workplace settings. Based on a field study of a social robot in elderly care facilities, we found that explaining emerging patterns of digital work configurations required examining practices of future-making—specifically, how in the talk of functionalities and affordances of the technology the lines between what is possible in the present and is expected to be real in thenear future were blurred. Our analysis also reveals how both the development and the discourse around the care robot was situated within, and shaped by, the matters of a grand challenge, motivating the design choices and sustaining its use despite limited functionality and usefulness. We conclude that workplace patterns of technology use emerge from, and are sustained by, a particular type of a field-level framing, which we label “anticipatory conflation” where boundaries between present-day functionalities and imagined futures become blurred.
| Period | 22 May 2025 → 23 May 2025 |
|---|---|
| Event title | 4th Healthcare & Technology Research Jam: Algorithmic Organizing in Healthcare |
| Event type | Workshop |
| Location | Edinburgh, United KingdomShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | International |