Открыт прием заявок на участие с докладами в международной конференции 4S, которая пройдет 7-9 сентября 2019 года в Новом Орлеане. Центр STS организует в ее рамках секцию Engineers: Makers of the World or Cogs in the Machine? Подать заявку можно через сайт, номер секции — 45. Организаторы Ольга Бычкова и Николай Руденко.
Ниже описание секции на английском языке.
STS studies suggest that engineers gather heterogeneous entities in their projects (J. Law, M. Callon, L. Suchman). They make the technology work but also create a world around this technology (B. Latour). A new world entails the possibility of searching funding and political support, building new social ontology and enacting necessary infrastructure. Each engineer turns out to be a maker of a new world.
However, such a picture contradicts the conventional vision. According to this vision, engineers usually rely on the standardized procedures and act as cogs in large technological systems. As such cogs, they tend to be as far as possible from the public discussions of their projects. So, who are the engineers today? The world-makers or those who perform a set of standard operations as far as possible away from public discussions? Are there cultural differences in such perceptions of engineers?
In our section, we propose to discuss the following questions:
— What are the genealogies of engineers in different cultural contexts? What the history of that profession can tell us about its current state?
— How does material context mediate the engineers’ practices?
— What does a history of engineering education tell us? How does engineering education differ around the world?
— What is the role of engineers in public policy? Are there today experts-engineers who define policy issues?
Our section invites all participants who are interested in technical expertise and public role of engineers to make a current snapshot of engineering profession around the world.