Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Multi-Sited Case Study of the Processes Leading to the Convergence of Competing Visions for Augmented Reality Technologies

这项STS博士论文改进资助支持研究，以发展对创建和推进增强现实技术的社区的经验理解，这意味着任何将真实和虚拟物体结合在一起的技术，在实时和三维空间中叠加，如谷歌的Project Glass。许多这样的设备已经出现，在医疗、旅游、教育、制造业、国家安全、执法和娱乐等多个领域带来了巨大的变革。然而，迄今为止，对创造和推进这项技术的社区进行的实证研究很少。该项目将描绘出未来的愿景，这些愿景是由四个不同的利益相关者团体提出的，这些团体对增强现实技术的生产很重要：学术开发人员、贸易游说者、管理组织和媒体。该项目将研究未来的承诺是如何创建和表达的，这些不同的利益相关者群体如何相互作用，以及他们如何试图说服彼此在某些愿景下结盟。研究将采用定性和定量相结合的方法；为此，它将整合传播学、社会学、STS和政策分析的方法。我们的目标是了解围绕一项迅速兴起的技术的话语和制度工作，以及这些承诺是如何被创造、辩论、传播和刻在技术中的。更广泛的影响质疑形状技术的说法将揭示一些问题，包括如何将道德，社会和政治承诺纳入围绕增强现实技术发展的话语，以及创造这些未来所涉及的过程。这样做将有助于提供新的概念和经验资源，可用于改进科学和技术政策和执行，特别是在评估新兴技术的风险和利益以及对信息技术的内容、获取和使用的潜在管理方面。它还将帮助从业者和公众了解增强现实技术的潜在好处和缺陷。

OverviewThis STS Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant supports research to develop an empirical understanding of communities that create and advance augmented reality technologies, meaning any technology that combines real and virtual objects, superimposed in real time and in three-dimensional space such as Google's Project Glass. Many such devices have already emerged promising dramatic transformation across multiple domains such as medicine, tourism, education, manufacturing, national security, law enforcement, and entertainment. To date, however, there has been little empirical research into the communities that create and advance this technology.Intellectual MeritThe project will map out future visions being advanced by four distinct stakeholder groups important to the production of augmented reality technologies: Academic developers, trade lobbyists, governing organizations, and the media. The project will examine how promises about the future are created and articulated, how these different stakeholder groups interact with each other, and how they attempt to persuade one another to align behind certain visions. The research will utilize both qualitative and quantitative methods; in doing so, it will integrate approaches from communication, sociology, STS, and policy analysis. The goal is to understand the discursive and institutional work that surrounds a rapidly emerging technology and how these promises are created, debated, circulated, and inscribed in the technology.Broader ImpactsInterrogating the claims that shape technology will shed light a number of issues including how ethical, social, and political commitments get built into the discourse surrounding the development of augmented reality technologies, and the processes involved in creating these futures. Doing so will serve to provide new conceptual and empirical resources that can be used to improve science and technology policy and implementation, specifically in assessing the risks and benefits of emerging technologies and potential regulation of the content, access, and use of information technologies. It will also help educate practitioners and the public about the potential benefits and pitfalls of augmented reality technologies.