Introduction to Computing - Actor Network and Assemblage Theory - Essay Example

INTRОDUСTIОN TО СОMРUTING by Student’s Name Course code + name Professor’s name University name City, State Date of Submission Actor Network and Assemblage Theory Overview Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is a systematic approach in the field of science studies which consider components, resources and relations between them in a computer network as entities[Mie99]. This theory is a social type of theory which was developed in the 1980s by French scholars of Science and Technology Studies; Michel Callon, Bruno Latour, and John Law[Mie99]. ANT argues that for the existence of a network, it has to have both social and technical parts. These parts are the entities and are referred to as either actants or actors. Actants refer to either non-human or human actors. Actor-Network theory is important in computing because of its fair nature. It treats both the actors in a network and non-human as one. With the emergence of artificial intelligence technology, machines will possess all attributes of human beings, and this is the aim of ANT[Mun15]. ANT has the capability of surveying, interviewing, collecting opinion polls, observation and making a statistical analysis of data collected field work during a; these are the roles of information systems in computing. Assemblage theory was developed by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. It is an ontological framework that provides a bottom-up approach for analysing the complexity of social nature of systems by stressing on their flexibility and multi-functionality[Ara15]. The theory argues that within a body, the components are not stably fixed and can be replaced and be displaced with parts from other bodies. Assemblage in computing offers a means of exploring the way peripheral devices can be modified to show new capabilities[DeL06]. Computing News Story 1 Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160412132604.htm The first story which I would use to effectively demonstrate ANT is the Quantum computing which aims at changing threats in computer security. The story features the development of a quantum communication system that will enable secure data exchange[ITM16]. Actors for this case are computer programmers and the user who will have these computers as their personal computers. Actants are the personal computer systems, the user interfaces, processor and other peripheral devices connected to the system. Actants and actors in this story interact during assemblage in that hardware programming is responsible for controlling all the processes and the peripheral devices of the computer. The use of qubits as the hardware programming language, which makes the hardware fast, provides a platform for running powerful modern software. Computing News Story 2 Link: http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-struts-its-fashion-sense-challenging-traditional-stores-1459965440 The second story is for online buying at Amazon. The story features how Amazon is changing the fashion industry through its online business[Kap16]. The main actors, in this case, are the customers and the sales person. The main actants, on the other hand, are the personal computers, phones, and tablets the customers use to access Amazon. Other non-human actants in this story include the internet that bridges the customers and the internet and the emailing services and the Amazon stores. Amazon cannot conduct sales for various products over the internet without the availability of customers and the goods. Some of the efforts the Amazon has put in place to offer their services effectively include availability; Amazon has made it possible for the customer to access its services 24 hours a day[Ram151]. During a transaction, the internet which is considered as an actant, in this case, provides access for the buyer to access the sales database of the Amazon. Use of cloud computing as a software makes a link between the Amazon computer hardware and their sales software. How Software Actants in the Stories Enhance Management Function The use of cloud as a software service by Amazon has made it easy for safe storage of sales records; thereby, relieving the management from record keeping. This has also saved the management from planning for additional hardware for storage because they can store their data in the cloud. The use of online merchant software has relieved Amazon from human labour which is associated with fatigue and emotion; this has made the management very easy[Mey15]. The use of artificial intelligence in making quantum computers has made it possible for the computer to manage itself in that it can detect faults within the system and devices an appropriate means of solution. The high speed of quantum computers is an advantage to management. The management can process large amounts of data within limited time making them gain a competitive advantage. Contemporary Debate In both stories discussed, we can realize that in any information system, there have to be both human and non-human attributes which work together to achieve specific objectives. Most modern scholars view ANT as a bit more of social science than technology. This is true to some extent because social science always entails one actor and actants but for computing, it is clear that ANT touches all the areas of the information science starting from the basic knowledge in the human brain which can be considered as software to the computer hardware. The capabilities of ANT in research can also be employed in computing for new discoveries and error detection from the current systems[Tat99]. There is a lot of information and data that are produced every day in the running of businesses; the term used to refer to this data is the big data. For online businesses the source of the big data can be from histories of the web pages and the traffics toward that particular site. This data is always very sensitive to the running of the business as well as being a tool for competition[Ara15]. Therefore, access to this data should always be restricted to the authorized people, and necessary security measures should be put in place to secure this data. Since people started to worry about the future, there have always been two groups with divided opinions on technological advancement. The first group has the opinion that technological advancement will help solve most of the human problems especially with the introduction of intelligent machines, these are the techno-optimist. The other group has the opinion that technological advancement will lead to disaster like the introduction of nuclear weapons, and so on, these are techno-pessimists. Among the countries which agree that technological advancement help in solving human problems include United States, China, and Australia. Countries that do not agree include France, Japan, and Netherlands. Morozov and Clay on the debate on how the internet and social media are related to political power show the real characteristics of a techno-optimist and techno-pessimist. Morozov argues that most internet and social media users just use these resources epiphenomenally because they have phones and personal computers. His theory suggests that the Internet technology is easy to mock and very difficult to reject. His theory states that the problems which are solved by the aid of technology can be solved through reasoning and quantification. On the other hand, Clay views the internet and social media as tools to foster coordination and changing world's politics (Shirky, 2011). Clay argues that changes in the modern world can be rendered as history where the media changes the way people behave and argue. He views the Internet as an open source of development, means of sharing and social creation software. Nicholas Carr is another social, technological theorist. In his writing, ‘the shallows, he tries to question himself that is Google making us stupid? He reviews how the development of technology has changed the manner in which books were from the ancient time and appreciated. He says that the current internet era is characterized with latest brain science which has made people concentrate on laboratories that the nature of the real world. This is because the brains in the current world are subjected to frequent changes and circumstances (Muniesa, 2015). Modern computing is also related to computer related crimes such as hacking and denial of services. The advantages of contemporary computing, however, include increased speed of work, efficiency in production and increased innovation. Limitations and Strength of Contemporary Computing Long use of a computer from my observation can lead to irresponsibility especially in the cases where people are too stuck to social networks. The monitor screens should always be protected so that they do not irritate the eyes of the user when looked at for a long time. In a social setting which is the nature of the world we live in, ANT is the best theory because it touches every aspect of social being. One disadvantage with this theory is that it generalizes aspects[Hoo14]. This might be of danger in occasions which needs responsibility. Computers cannot always show levels of responsibility as humans do therefore calling a computer an actor can be inappropriate. Conclusion From the story, it is clear that every actant is acted up with another actant to fulfil the aims of assemblage. If the quantum computers' hardware could not accept the cubits language for programming, then it means that the quantum computers could not have been in existence together with their powerful software. For the integration of Amazon to be in existence in e-business then the services they provide must be supported by both hardware and software. Their machines have been able to connect to the internet first of all. Reference List Mie99: , (Miettinen, 1999), Mun15: , (Muniesa, 2015), Ara15: , (Aradau & Blanke, 2015), DeL06: , (DeLanda, 2006), ITM16: , (ITMO University, 2016), Kap16: , (Kapner, 2016), Ram151: , (Ramrattan & Szenberg, 2015), Mey15: , (Meyer, 2015), Tat99: , (Tatnall & Gilding, 1999), Hoo14: , (Hooper, 2014), Appendix Ontological: a study that concerns existence of something. Contemporary computing: the modern computing Quantum: discrete amount of energy proportional to radiation frequency an element represents Merchant software: a computer program that has capabilities of conducting and managing online sales Read More