4S Mission
Fostering interdisciplinary and engaged scholarship in social studies of science, technology, and medicine across the globe.
Latest 4S News
Nominate 4S Council positions
Published On: May 9, 2025
Deadline: May 16, 2025
As a 4S member you can nominate and self-nominate for upcoming 4S Council positions until May 16:
4S: https://forms.gle/rovFdXdRVKqVKGw58
6S: https://forms.gle/Nca8jZJkGsRoFx4a7
More here: https://4sonline.org/4s_elections_2025.php.
Will the bubble burst? Thinking together about hype machines in the contemporary technoscience.
Published On: Apr 21, 2025
Ola Michalec Ph.D. considers the collective excitement surrounding AI and the ways in which the 'hype machine' mobilises resources, enrols new actors, creates pressure to accelerate responses, clouds judgement, conceals power dynamics or detracts from crucial infrastructural work. How might we situate the buzz and buzzwords AI as integral to the hype machine of promotion, exaggerated claims, collective frenzy, leadership and strong emotional responses influencing economic trends, political agend...
Early-bird Registration Extended to May 7
Published On: Apr 30, 2025
Just one week to go to register & receive an đ„ early-bird rate for 4S Seattle 2025! đ„ Same rates for online + in-person. Purchasing a membership gives you access to reduced rates, so be sure to become a member first. 4S is undertaking many steps to help and support our members during their visit to Seattle for the conference. We have given 100 registration fee waivers this year & we've offered hybridity for those who want to connect online. While these offers come at a significant ...
4S Publications
Science, Technology, and Human Values
For more than forty years, Science, Technology, & Human Values has provided the forum for cutting-edge research and debate in the field of science and technology studies.
Bearly Recognizable: Facial Recognition and the Wild
Emily WandererDepartment of Anthropology, 6614University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
While big tech companies are growing more circumspect about the use of facial recognition for humans, interest in nonhuman facial recognition is surging. The identification...
Between Code and Culture: The Evolving Role of Conversation Designers and UX in AI Development
Elizabeth Rodwell1Department of Information Science Technology, 14743University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Artificial intelligence (AI)-related technologies available to consumers have been rapidly advancing but without parallel insight into the social process of their design....
Machine's Eye View: Postmodern Data Science and the Politics of Ground Truth
Jathan SadowskiEmerging Technologies Research Lab, Faculty of Information Technology, 2541Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
This paper advances the critical analysis of machine learning by placing it in direct relation with actuarial science as a way to further draw out their shared epistemic...
Agriculture by Algorithm: Big Data, Digitalization, and Biotechnology Under Climate Change
Yıldıâz Atasoy1Department of Sociology and Anthropology, 1763Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Based on textual analysis of publicly available documents published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, Bayer, and its partner delivery start-ups, this paper provides...
Making the Global Local: The Case of Chinese Research and Innovation Evaluation Systems
Julia Kirch Kirkegaard, Alan Irwin, Xuan Li
Science, Technology, & Human Values, Ahead of Print.
Starting with China's increasingly prominent role in the global politics of science, this paper considers the case of Chinese policies for the evaluation of Research &...
Engaging Science, Technology and Society
Engaging Science, Technology, & Society is an online, open access publication of The Society for Social Studies of Science.
Transitioning ESTS
Published On: Mar 7 2025
Grant Otsuki, ClĂ©ment DrĂ©ano, Noela Invernizzi, Ali Kenner, Angela Okune, Duygu KaĆdoÄan, Sujatha Raman, Tim SchĂŒtz, Federico Vasen, Amanda Windle, Emily York
Contributions to this issue focus on a wide range of domains and problematicsâenvironment, extractivism, air pollution, climate change, digitalization, automation, care, surveillanceâthat offer a thought-provoking commentary...
Volatile Atmosphere: A Tkaronto Archive
Published On: Mar 10 2025
Sophia Jaworski
This article delves into the history of petrochemical-derived gas emissions in Toronto, focusing on their emergence and regulation from the end of World War II and up to 1980. Drawing on archival materials, I trace local knowledge...
Origin Stories of the âGrants Uranium Districtâ in Northwestern New Mexico: Archives, Memoirs, and Exploratory Boreholes in the Production of Geological Regions
Published On: Mar 7 2025
Thomas De Pree
The âGrants uranium districtâ of northwestern New Mexico yielded more uranium ore than any other mining district in the United States during the Cold War Period (1947-1989). After the national market for uranium collapsed...
Farmersâ Creativity and Cultivated Senses: The Immediacy of Embodied Knowledge in Alternative Agriculture
Published On: Mar 7 2025
Dimas Dwi Laksmana
The Indonesian government has promoted several forms of alternative agriculture in response to the productivity orientation and top-down bureaucratic institutions in intensive agriculture. Implemented in the late 1980s, the Integrated...
4S Blog: Backchannels
Locating STS in Southeast Asia: a Belgian migrant looking for a place of belonging
Will the bubble burst? Thinking together about hype machines in the contemporary technoscience.
The Heartware approach: how cultural values drive sustainable socio-technical change
Interspecies Agencies: Controversies, Ontologies, and New Forms of Cohabitation (Part 3)
Backchannels content is contributed by our members to highlight news relevant to their work.
Making and Doing: STS Beyond the Four Corners of the Paper
STS News
Items submitted by the community and emailed to members monthly.
Nominate 4S Council positions
4S: https://forms.gle/rovFdXdRVKqVKGw58
6S: https://forms.gle/Nca8jZJkGsRoFx4a7
More here: https://4sonline.org/4s_elections_2025.php.
CfP | "Negative Space" multidisciplinary special issue
Early-bird Registration Extended to May 7
New Book | Indigenous Currencies: Leaving Some for the Rest in the Digital Age
