Lela Mosemghvdlishvili IBCoM Honor’s Program aping of ‘persuasive’ technolog gate-keeping and gender Guest Lecture 9 May 2014
Lela MosemghvdlishviliIBCoM Honor’s Program
Shaping of ‘persuasive’ technologies: gate-keeping and gender
Guest Lecture
9 May 2014
Agenda
Defining persuasive technologies
Shaping of mobile Technologies(break)
Gender and mobile technologies
persuasive technologies
‘persuasion’ refers to an act of communication […] as holding the middle between ‘manipulation’ and ‘convincing’.
Spahn (2011)
persuasive technologies are: “designed to change what people think and do”
BJ Fogg (2002)
persuasive technologies (2)
BJ Fogg (2002)
persuasive apps
Most present to change:
• Consumption patterns• Health & Fitness behavior• Education• Political Communication
persuasive apps (2)
When persuasion moves from rhetoric into technology, how does it change role of technologies?
What is the relationship to user’s autonomy?
1. Persuasion should be based on prior (real or counterfactual) consent.
2. Ideally the aim of persuasion should be to end the persuasion.
3. Persuasion should grant as much autonomy as possible to the user
(influenced by J. Habermas ideas)
3 ethical guidelines to distinguish persuasion from manipulation (Spahn, 2011)
“Our lab’s director, BJ Fogg, predicts that in 10-15 years mobile phones will be the primary platform for changing people’s attitudes and behaviors, surpassing the persuasive power of TV, radio, and the web — combined.” (quote from the website)
mobile persuasion
• how is current ‘mobile’ (smartphones) shaped?
• who has decision-making power?
What makes a phone smart?
distinct features
1. Programmability (Operating System, Apps)
2. Sensing abilities (GPS, Accelerometer)
3. Continuous internet connectivity (3,4G, Wi-Fi)
• Implications for the market ?
Why code/software/apps mater?
• defines (novel) functionality of a device
App ‘revolution’: looking back at short history of smartphones
Apple released iPhone with preinstalled apps only Critiques call it iBrick (Zittrain, 2008)
• Jail-breaking of iPhones• Apple releases SDK (Software Development Kit)
• Google enters mobile ecosystem with Android (selectively open source)
A study: Negotiability of Technology and its limitations: Politics of App development (Mosemghvdlishvili & Jansz)
Theoretical framework
Social Shaping of Technologyemphasizing social contingency of technology
negotiabilitycentral concept
• a range of ‘choices’• relevant groups
• closure however
• asymmetries in power• irreversibility & foreclosed choices
Methodology and data
20 semi-structured online interviews (average: 50 minutes)
Participants: developers from 12 countries (Asia, Europe,
Americas) average age: 29 absolute majority: male (19) highly educated
Developers(expert users?)
manufacturers carriers
OS providers
Relevant groups involved
Respondents views on role and power of developers and other groups
OS Company Software Licensing Type
Programming Language
Distribution platform (App markets)
Review process
Developers’ costs to distribute through App markets
Share of sales price kept by the distributor
iOS Apple Proprietary (with some open source components)
Objective-C Exclusively App Store
Yes Annual fee $99/year
30%
Android Google Free and open source (Apache License)
Java Android Marketplace (and alternative markets)
No Onetime payment $25
0
Windows Phone
Microsoft Proprietary .NET, Silverlight/XNA
Windows Phone Marketplace
Yes Annual fee $99 30%
BlackBerry OS
RIM Proprietary Java BlackBerry App World
Yes free 20%
Symbian Accenture (Nokia)
Open source (Eclipse Public License)
C++ Ovi Store Yes Onetime payment $1
30%
OS Company Software Licensing Type
Programming Language
Distribution platform (App markets)
Review process
Developers’ costs to distribute through App markets
Share of sales price kept by the distributor
iOS Apple Proprietary (with some open source components)
Objective-C Exclusively App Store
Yes Annual fee $99/year
30%
Android Google Free and open source (Apache License)
Java Android Marketplace (and alternative markets)
No Onetime payment $25
0
Windows Phone
Microsoft Proprietary .NET, Silverlight/XNA
Windows Phone Marketplace
Yes Annual fee $99 30%
BlackBerry OS
RIM Proprietary Java BlackBerry App World
Yes free 20%
Symbian Accenture (Nokia)
Open source (Eclipse Public License)
C++ Ovi Store Yes Onetime payment $1
30%
Google’s Android
• amounts to up to 70% of OS market share• ‘most permissive’ / no review process
unless…• selective open source business strategy
and unique business model
• change of license from Public General license into Apache
OS Company Software Licensing Type
Programming Language
Distribution platform (App markets)
Review process
Developers’ costs to distribute through App markets
Share of sales price kept by the distributor
iOS Apple Proprietary (with some open source components)
Objective-C Exclusively App Store
Yes Annual fee $99/year
30%
Android Google Free and open source (Apache License)
Java Android Marketplace (and alternative markets)
No Onetime payment $25
0
Windows Phone
Microsoft Proprietary .NET, Silverlight/XNA
Windows Phone Marketplace
Yes Annual fee $99 30%
BlackBerry OS
RIM Proprietary Java BlackBerry App World
Yes free 20%
Symbian Accenture (Nokia)
Open source (Eclipse Public License)
C++ Ovi Store Yes Onetime payment $1
30%
Discussion
In comparison with previous mobile phones - a positive development
BUT
In comparison with Internet and PCs a more controlled and restrictive
environment
• Shift of power from carriers to OS providers
(technology companies)
• Gate-keeping role of technology companies
Ada Lovelace
• gender and production of technologies
• gendered relationship to technologies• gendered technologies
Source: “Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering,” National Science Foundation. (US)
Gender gap
• gender gap in ICT industry occupations
Example of keyboards from Linotype to QWERTY
Does underrepresentation of women in design/development translate into male bias?
Gendered relationship to technologyA study Tools and Toys: Communicating gendered
positions towards technology
• toys vs. tools• performativity of gender (Butler) • gender is done in a more traditional way,
but there are few instances when it is “done differently”
“Over time, gender may matter less in relation to technology and could be blurred”
Gendered Tecnologies?