Biography of artifacts and practices

A methodological framework for studying sociotechnical change, innovation, and the social shaping of technology.

An attempt to address the restrictions of conventional research designs in capturing the complex, multi-sited, and long-term processes involved in technology development and use.

Assumption: New technologies are formed gradually, in multiple interlinked settings, by diverse actors, over extended periods of time.

• Processual understanding of technological change
• Longitudinal, multi-sited research design
• Tracing biographies of artifacts and practices
• Interrelating multiple contextual factors
• Diverse methods and conceptual tools (e.g. ethnography, interviews, document analysis)
• Emphasis on materiality

BOAP attempts to link together a “string of investigations” across sites and time periods, rather than relying on single-site ethnographies or broad historical accounts. The central idea is to trace the “biographies” of technological artifacts and the practices surrounding their development, use, and evolution. This involves studying how the identities, meanings, and roles of artifacts and practices change over time and across contexts.

• [&] See also: prosopography?