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Belk's conceptualisation of the extended self is one of the most influential articles published in the history of consumer research. However, less scholarly attention has been given to the broader ontological implications of Belk's later arguments that his original distinction between a core and extended self should be abandoned. In this comment, I first highlight how Belk's original formulation marked a contested transition from a dualistic view of consumers as possessing a core self that remains distinct from the socio-material world to a dialectical understanding of consumer selves as emerging from a centre-to-periphery network of relations. His ensuing update implicitly denotes another ontological shift towards an even more de-centred view of the 'extended self'. However, Belk's reformulation of the extended self in the digital age lacked a culturally established, alternative praxeomorphic model needed to fully disentangle the extended self from the 'heavy' ontology of the core self. Contemporary socio-technical innovations are beginning to offer a praxeomorphic means to ontologically re-vision consumers as distributed networks whose life narratives function as ledgers of their assembled experiences. As an emerging praxeomorphic future shaped by the mass diffusion of AI technologies is rapidly taking shape, I suggest that 'consumer research', as we currently understand it, may soon be radically transformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While recent technological advancements have enabled improved performance in warehouse operations, companies still struggle with eliminating errors such as incorrect/damaged items or the wrong quantity sent to customers. Such errors result in inefficient resource use, costly returns handling, and customer dissatisfaction. Despite the importance of errors, current knowledge of the underlying causes is limited. This paper addresses the gap by investigating error causes through a relatively new technology - intelligent video analysis (IVA), an additional tool for analysing warehouse operations. A multiple case study involving companies that have implemented IVA in their outbound warehouse operations (i.e. order picking, packing, and sorting) was conducted. This study is the first to investigate implementations of IVA, offering novel empirical insights into error root causes. It shows how many errors reported by customers are actually not made by humans in outbound warehouse operations but are attributable to faulty customer claims, inbound warehouse operation errors, and malfunctioning technology. This study offers interesting insights into the interaction of various technical, organisational, and human factors, thereby contributing to the literature on sociotechnical systems and the human-centric Industry 5.0. Finally, the study outlines a way forward for managers to address and further reduce errors occurring in warehouse operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Order picking in warehouses is a labour- and time-intensive logistical process that significantly impacts the efficiency of supply chains. Although technical progress facilitates the automation of specific order picking tasks, human workers remain the primary actors of order picking. Owing to high operating costs associated with manual order picking, its design and management have been increasingly researched for decades. Because manual order picking systems are socio-technical systems, human factors and workers' interaction with technology are essential for operational success. As innovative technologies become increasingly utilised, such as augmented reality or exoskeletons, warehouse managers need to consider the effects of supportive and substitutive technologies on operational outcomes. However, the potentials and obstacles of using technologies in manual order picking require further investigations. Therefore, this study analyses literature content on supportive and substitutive technologies in manual warehouse order picking and investigates the existing state of research in this field. Text mining is employed to enhance the insights regarding the content analysis. Additionally, future research opportunities on the integration of supportive and substitutive technologies are proposed for manual order picking improvement and development of sustainable and human-centered logistics systems, according to the Industry 5.0 vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing systems are socio-technical systems, with explicit interactions between humans and technologies in shared workspaces. These shared workspaces could also be called hybrid collaborative manufacturing systems, which involve workers as well as technological equipment and combine the benefits of human workers and new Industry 4.0 technologies, such systems are particularly useful in a context requiring flexibility and adaptability. Furthermore, the new Industry 5.0 approach has the objective to shift toward more human-centric and resilient manufacturing systems. The key problems to solve in the design of collaborative manufacturing systems are the combinatorial assembly line balancing problem and the equipment selection problem. An efficient and sustainable line requires a cost-effective choice of equipment while improving the ergonomics and the safety of workers. Both decisions of balancing workload and the assignment of equipment impact the ergonomics of a collaborative system and present conflicting criteria. To this end, we propose a multi-objective approach, the objectives are the optimisation of the investment costs and the ergonomics with a fatigue and recovery criterion. We propose to linearise the fatigue and recovery to formulate a new Mixed Integer Linear Programming formulation. We developed an exact multi-objective solving algorithm based on the ϵ-constraint to obtain the trade-off between these objectives. We conducted numerical experiments with different instances from the literature with promising results for instances with up to 45 operations. Finally, we discuss insightful managerial conclusions and future research perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital revolution, fuelled by advancements in social media, Big Data, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence, is reshaping our urban landscapes into 'participatory cities'. These cities leverage digital technologies to foster citizen engagement, collaborative decision-making and community-driven urban development, thus unlocking new potentials while confronting emerging threats. Such technologies are empowering individuals and organizations in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. They do, however, introduce new risks and vulnerabilities that must be carefully managed. Hence, socio-technical innovation is urgently needed. In this connection, open-source technologies, participatory approaches and new forms of governance are becoming more popular and relevant. This theme issue looks into the tangible impacts of these technological advancements, with a focus on participatory cities. It aims to explain how digital tools are used in cities to tackle urban challenges, improve governance and promote sustainability. Through a collection of in-depth analyses, case studies and real-world examples, this issue seeks to offer a comprehensive understanding of the digital governance frameworks underpinning participatory cities. By offering a platform for multidisciplinary discourse, this theme issue endeavours to contribute to the broader narrative of shaping a more resilient, sustainable and democratic urban future in the digital age. This article is part of the theme issue 'Co-creating the future: participatory cities and digital governance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological artefacts are created in accordance with the values and worldviews of their designers. In operation, they act as a medium, facilitating and constraining human interaction with, and perception of, the world. When used on a large scale, they may lastingly affect societal ethos. If institutional structures of domination allocate the resources necessary for artefact design and development to some population groups over others, the direction and extent of such an effect may lead to increased disparity and inequity. While the direct influence of technology on opinion is well-studied, the evaluation of non-epistemic values, assumptions and presuppositions is a hurdle in the way of a deeper understanding of the large-scale effects of asymmetries in worldviews embodied by artefacts. Here, we show that artefacts have a strong potential to bias societal worldviews when they are distributed unevenly across the value spectrum. They can affect the clustering behaviour of agents with regard to worldview, both aiding and hindering intra- and inter-cluster diversity, depending on their distribution and frequency. Our findings underline the distributional sensitivity of worldview dynamics to institutional structures of domination. We highlight the importance of procedural interventions such as participatory design, which explicitly acknowledges existing asymmetries and redistributes power accordingly. This article is part of the theme issue 'Co-creating the future: participatory cities and digital governance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skraaning and Jamieson raise some interesting issues related to the response of humans to automation failures and offer a taxonomy of failure types that broadens its definition. In this commentary a further attempt to broaden the scope of automation failures is made that places failures within a sociotechnical system of multiple humans and multiple machine components including automation. A suggestion of how one might understand the system's response to automation failures is offered and the inclusion of autonomy is raised as another complication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses three points inspired by Skraaning and Jamieson's perspective on automation failure: (a) the limitations of the automation failure concept with expanding system boundaries; (b) parallels between the failure to grasp automation failure and the failure to grasp trust in automation; (c) benefits of taking a pluralistic approach to definitions in sociotechnical systems science. While a taxonomy of automation-involved failures may not directly improve our understanding of how to prevent those failures, it could be instrumental for identifying hazards during test and evaluation of operational systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editorial in Engineering Studies, Issue 16.3, explores the integration of social considerations into engineering education and the relationship between engineering and infrastructure. Jacob Pleasants introduces 'technoskeptical thinking' to encourage students to analyze the social dimensions of their work, complementing existing frameworks like engineering for social justice. Karl Palmås challenges traditional engineering ethics by drawing from Hannah Arendt's philosophy, emphasizing judgement in specific contexts over universal rationalities. Other articles in the issue delve into the historical significance of infrastructure in engineering studies, highlighting the importance of rethinking engineering as 'tinkering care' and exploring the interplay of urgency and vulnerability in engineering projects like the 19th-century Portuguese railroad network. [Extracted from the article]

College engineering education prioritizes technical knowledge and skills, but there is growing recognition that it must also address the social and societal implications of engineering work. Beyond professional ethics, engineers need to develop broader understandings of how engineering and technology interact with and impact individuals and communities. This study focuses on the development of engineering students' 'technoskeptical' ways of thinking, defined as their ability to think about technologies as more than neutral tools and analyze their complex interactions with sociotechnical systems and values. Students in the study were incoming first-year engineering students who participated in a four-week summer bridge program. The program included a course called 'engineering design for humans and the environment,' which foregrounded sociotechnical issues and was designed to promote technoskeptical thinking. To assess students' uptake of technoskepticism, they completed a pre and post task on which they analyzed the unintended effects of outdoor street lighting. Although students engaged in similar technoskeptical inquiries during the design course, this study found that students tended not to transfer those emergent skills to the street lighting task. The results indicate a need to expand instructional efforts so that students more fully internalize technoskeptical practices and apply them to novel situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rheological model is proposed that captures the performance loss and properties of a potential subsequent recovery of socio-technical systems subject to arbitrary disruptions. The model facilitates the quantitative assessment of such systems' resilience. While most models known from the literature describe systems that fully recover from aforementioned load events, the proposed model can capture also permanent performance loss or post disruption improvement. To demonstrate the versatility of the approach for a wide range of the socio-technical system spectrum, the model is applied to three systems: the frequency stability of the continental Europe power grid, flight operations of German airports, and the revenue of the German gastronomic sector. Fitting the proposed two-spring, one-damper, single-degree-of-freedom model to the recorded performance data determines relevant parameters which serve as a quantitative measure of the respective system's resilience. The small set of model parameters can be associated with relevant resilience dimensions. Variation of these parameters allows to quantitively determine the change of the model's response to the load events, and thus of the resilience predicted by the model. This allows to identify parameter ranges in which the model predicts, e.g., full recovery of a system, instead of permanent performance loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of the “Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology” examines conceptual models as products of, and tools for, critical inquiry in Information Science (IS). The papers included in this issue present diverse perspectives on how conceptual models impact sociotechnical systems, spanning topics such as knowledge organization, representation, and information system design. Key themes include the intersection of model development with ethical considerations, the historical and future implications of conceptual modeling decisions, and the potential for conceptual models to address issues of power, representation, and justice in emerging technologies. This introduction situates the contributions within broader discussions of conceptual modeling in IS and highlights the field's unique approach to reflexive critique and sociotechnical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing worksites have developed to have a socio-technical aspect with complex interactions between human operators, automated machines, and the environment. The operators must adapt to and cope with daily performance variabilities in these socio-technical systems to maintain resilient productions. However, more than conventional methods are needed to clarify the operators' adaptive aspects that interactive factors play a critical role. This study investigates attention management in multitasking as one crucial aspect of the adaptive behavior of manual operations in actual manufacturing worksites. The framework considering the functional structure of tacit knowledge was employed for this purpose. Data from a case study focusing on multitasking in steel plate processing was utilized. First, we extracted the attention characteristics with eye movement and interview analysis regarding the proximal and distal terms of tacit knowledge. Then, we took a model constructive approach using work domain analysis (WDA) and functional resonance analysis method (FRAM). The results showed that the expert operator could maintain the systematic attention strategy even when multitasking. Furthermore, the simulation results showed that extracted experts' attention strategy contributed to the resilient work performance. The current study confirmed that the framework based on FRAM could investigate the adaptive nature of expert skills in socio-technical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many efforts from multiple academic and industrial disciplines have studied the notion of context. The systems engineering and human systems integration fields, however, lack a generalized definition and characterization of context, in particular the operational context of complex sociotechnical systems. This paper reviews context definitions and builds a generalized definition of the operational context of complex sociotechnical systems. The objective is then to identify and extract context properties which are often implicit in the literature and do not necessarily appear in the definitions. However, eliciting them is helpful for understanding what context is made of, how it relates to complex sociotechnical systems comprising human and non‐human agents, and how an early understanding of the operational context can prove valuable to designing efficient and robust systems. Our analysis is followed by an example of how our definition and derived properties apply to the case study of the design of a remote and virtual air traffic control center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has posed a massive challenge for destination marketers to restore safety perceptions among tourists after the onslaught of the pandemic. The objective of the current study is to develop an integrated model linking social and technical elements via socio-technical theory helping in theory development and tourism recovery. Destination marketing researchers agree on the importance of STTs to restore faith among tourists However, there is a lack of theory in the studies related to tourism recovery. Socio-technical theory, which attributes the interdependence of technical systems and social systems for maximizing organizational productivity is used by the current study to help understand the tourism recovery process. This study uses the elements of socio-technical theory in a structural equation model (SEM) to help destination marketers better understand the effect of technology in attaining tourism recovery. Based on self-selection sampling, we collected the data via a web survey from makemytrip.com, the modeling in this study was done via variance-based structural equation modeling. The study results demonstrate a strong effect of Smart Tourism Technologies (STTs) in reducing the impact of pandemics on tourists' perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport policies affect the quality of life and social wellbeing of citizens and communities; incorporating such impacts in policy and decision making, however, remains a challenge. This paper aims to: (1) present a systematic literature review that links transport policy to Community Wellbeing using the Capability Approach by Sen and Nussbaum, and (2) using that basis, establish a theoretical framework to systematically address Community Wellbeing impacts of municipal transport policies. This can improve qualitative assessments of policy interventions on multiple dimensions, such as safety, health, the (built) environment and accessibility, and inequalities within those dimensions. Using existing literature on the Capability Approach, Community Wellbeing dimensions can indeed successfully be integrated in transport policies. Additional tools and theories, such as the Theory of Change, are needed to structure relations between the sociotechnical transport system and the policy process. For analyses and assessment of policy interventions, additions from the affordances theory, potential accessibility, activity spaces, and sufficientarianism are needed to finalise the framework. Further development and testing of the framework is recommended. The most prominent research gaps are processes to set thresholds for sufficient accessibility, as well as potential limits to mobility behaviours through collective capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voice Intelligent Assistants provide users with new ways of human-computer interaction. With built-in screens, Voice Intelligent Assistants can display images and videos upon users' requests. Even though images and videos present information in a lively manner, they might also contain overwhelming harmful contents. Due to the lack of effective evaluation mechanisms, it is difficult to prevent the propagation of harmful contents while ensuring the dissemination of compliant visual contents. This research defined a standardized set of classification criteria to identify and classify harmful visual contents. Then, Intelligent Image and Video Rating System, a prototype rating system that implemented the classification criteria was designed and developed. This research further evaluated and verified the reliability and efficiency of the prototype. The prototype system demonstrated additional advantages in swiftly classifying new hazardous contents, and in differentiating the multiple meanings of the same object in different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the use of high-speed algorithms has created new challenges for the integrity and stability of financial markets. One particular abusive behaviour, known as 'spoofing', has become a significant concern for regulators and market participants. Drawing on ethnographic materials, we examine the strategies behind manipulative trading practices from the perspective of market operators using algorithms. We show how spoofing is carried out in practice and discuss how the traders involved justify their actions. Our study makes two key contributions. First, we argue that the 'algorithmic war' often used to describe contemporary financial markets can be better understood as a conflict between different epistemic regimes. Second, we emphasize the need for regulators to better recognize the role of socio-technical systems in developing market abuse regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hazard mitigation planning requires disparate agencies to negotiate through the planning and implementation processes. These agencies must strategize, develop, and implement plans for addressing scenarios of natural and human-caused hazards. Competing perspectives exist in systems engineering at multiple levels of governance. This paper introduces a framework to understand and coordinate when one or more agencies have outlier perspectives of the priority ordering of initiatives in regional hazard mitigation. Each agency perspective is represented as a scenario that disrupts system order. The paper presents a mathematical framework with 40 initiatives, six ordering criteria, and eight scenarios. The method coordinates evidence and experience that are essential to negotiation of requirements among emergency managers in hazard mitigation planning in the postpandemic era. Practical Applications: Unprecedented combinations of natural and human-caused stressors are challenging to plan for since the perspectives of participating agencies can differ significantly. The agencies that collaborate on emergency management include transportation, law enforcement, environment, prisons, parks and recreation, forestry, energy, and others. This paper facilitates negotiations among these various agencies in the hazard mitigation planning process by introducing a framework to understand and coordinate when one or more agencies have outlier perspectives of the priorities for investments in hazard mitigation. The application of the framework identifies where negotiation among the agencies is most needed in determining hazard mitigation priorities. This approach, grounded in principles of systems engineering and risk analysis, reduces cost overrun and schedule delay in the life cycle of emergency management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interaction between actors in sustainability transition is fundamental for generating knowledge about what constitutes a just, equitable and sustainable society. This paper focuses on the Finnish housing and construction sector as a socio-technical system, which currently accounts for about 40% of energy consumption and 35% of greenhouse gas emissions. A qualitative interview study with 18 organizations and a larger network study involving 35 actors were conducted to address the research questions: How do actors constitute a network and define climate-wise housing and construction? What specific focus areas can be identified around climate action? What issues support or inhibit climate-wise housing and construction? Although the network appeared relatively dense and inclusive, misalignment emerged upon closer examination. The actors were uniformly engaged in energy-related topics, but differed in their emphasis level on household choices, low-carbon materials, and the circular economy. Supporting and inhibiting factors were identified within three broad categories: alignment of goals, network characteristics, and transformation propensity. The findings suggest that climate action is gaining ground in housing and construction, but there is evidence of institutional inertia, a demand for accelerating support for intermediation, and a need to harness organizational resources and individual capabilities to create sustainability transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust and trusted digital human representations are necessary to successfully account for human considerations in model‐based systems engineering (MBSE). Multiple domains and modeling frameworks leverage verification, validation, and accreditation (VV&A) processes to characterize when and under what conditions a model is valid to establish credibility. A literature review was completed on mathematical, physics‐based, software development, discrete event simulation, agent‐based, system dynamics, and MBSE models with the goal of proposing a process for performing VV&A on digital engineering (DE) and MBSE models for sociotechnical systems. However, this research also revealed the need for a broader framework to characterize the risk associated with using these models for making high‐consequence decisions. While accomplishing the literature review, another approach to building credibility was identified that is used heavily in the financial industry, namely model risk management (MRM). This process is extended by leveraging MRM approaches from within the financial community to propose a framework for sociotechnical model users to characterize the risk of using MBSE models to make programmatic decisions. The primary contribution of this work is to document a meta‐analysis of model VV&A while proposing an alternative approach to characterizing and communicating credibility that was discovered during this analysis. This approach could be a viable option for ensuring the credibility of human systems integration in MBSE models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green industrial policies (GIPs) aim to promote the adoption of green technology within a sustainability framework. While previous evaluations of GIP have focused more on the policy itself and the impacts within the policy boundaries, this paper further introduces the geographical factor to analyze the impact of different spatial geographic distances on implementing GIP. By integrating geographic distances into a spatial difference-in-differences analysis to assess the effects of municipal green industry policies (referred to as green industry pilot policies in this paper) enacted in 11 cities in China from 2006 to 2010, we find that these policies not only improve environmental and economic outcomes in targeted regions but also have spillover effects that may affect neighboring areas negatively, highlighting the importance of geographic considerations. The effectiveness of green industrial policies varies across cities, influenced by local socio-technical systems and regional characteristics such as infrastructure and information technology. These findings suggest that policy impacts are complex and multifaceted, requiring a comprehensive understanding of geographic interdependencies. By incorporating geographic factors, this research contributes to sustainability transition theory by offering insights into the spatial and temporal dynamics of socio-technical systems. The results underscore the need for policymakers to consider spatial-temporal aspects and potential secondary effects on adjacent regions when designing and implementing green industrial policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractBuilt for Zero (BFZ) is a data-driven methodology that some US homeless systems are using to allocate housing assistance. The ‘by-name data’ that BFZ needs is produced by actors within a ‘data assemblage’: a socio-technical system that people re/create to produce, analyse, and use data. Although BFZ is diffusing across the Global North, little research has examined the barriers that local administrators face whilst upgrading their systems’ data assemblage with this methodology. This paper advances housing scholarship by using interview data from 28 US homeless systems to answer the question: what barriers do administrators face whilst upgrading their data assemblage with BFZ? I delineate four barriers that fray the network ties that local administrators need to produce by-name data: disinterest, fragmentation, noncompliance, and incapacity. My analysis shows how data assemblage theory can be used to understand homeless governance, delineates several factors that prevent or complicate data sharing within homeless systems, and identifies new directions for research on homeless datafication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: The article provides two applications of the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) in the healthcare sector. These analyses can be used as a reference by safety managers and practitioners prospectively and retrospectively for the effective risk assessment of interoperable medical device systems. In the recent literature, numerous tools have been found that have been used to evaluate and improve the resilience of socio-technical systems such as hospitals. The Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM) is certainly one of the most diffused, as it can provide information on the system structure and its components through a systemic analysis approach. FRAM has been successfully applied in different contexts. However, in the healthcare sector, only a few studies propose practical analyses that can support practitioners in systematically observing and analyzing events, both when things go right and when they go wrong. To reduce such a research gap, the current study focuses on the application of FRAM to two different case studies: (1) an accident that occurred in a hyperbaric oxygen therapy unit, and (2) the risk assessment of a magnetic resonance imaging unit. The results show the effectiveness of FRAM in detecting discrepancies and vulnerabilities in the practical management of these devices, providing valuable insights not only regarding the analysis of adverse events (i.e., retrospectively) but also concerning the improvement of safety procedures (i.e., prospectively). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore digital transformation and socio-technical systems through the perspectives of collaboration, co-generation, and domestication. Building on Morten Levin's influential work, we discuss how digital technologies are integrated into work environments, emphasising the necessity for democratic, participatory approaches. We discuss how his ideas of collaborative, democratic practice originating in the 1990s hold up to today's organisational challenges like digital and sustainability transitions. Are the ideas and practices still valid, or do we need to update them? We identify the grand challenges that must be met: Ensuring sustainable digital transitions and developing educated, skilled workers in digitally transformed organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electric vehicle (EV) technological supply chain progresses when demand (pull) aligns with supply (push) to perform as a technology delivery system. Actors, institutions, and networks interconnect the technological supply chain with innovation as responses to external pressures to produce and deliver technology products/services. The literature separately examined the progress from a delivery perspective (linking the demand and supply network) and a systems perspective that examines technological change as a socio-technical system. Technological progress requires changes aligning push and pull or one feeding into the other. The 'motors of innovation' that shape the innovation system are used in systems dynamics modeling linking technological changes and progress. This study uses 'motors of innovation' to combine the two perspectives and uses interconnectedness to examine the alignment of push and pull and the resulting delivery phenomena. The phenomena require studying it in its settings with diverse heuristic and analytic views. Therefore, this study uses case study methodology and selects multiple Indian EV cases comprising all vehicle segments in a government direct market scenario. It makes two contributions to technological progress: one defines the combined delivery and systems perspective and includes interconnectedness. The other is moving knowledge to a broad scope and expertise and striving for interconnectedness with other systems. Further insights are possible with cases that display better technological progress, as findings noted poor interconnectedness with limited technological capability and infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociotechnical thinking (STT) has recently emerged in response to technical-social dualism. It is defined as the ability to identify, address, and respond to both social and technical dimensions of engineering. As the number of publications on STT increases, so does the need to map the literature. This paper provides a scoping literature review of STT in engineering education, focusing on research purposes, methodologies, findings, and potential gaps. Our examination of 25 papers indicates that research on STT in engineering education covers a variety of purposes and methodologies. Key findings in the literature provide a better understanding of students' demonstration of and barriers to developing STT, the intersections between STT, engineering identity and culture, characteristics of STT, challenges and opportunities for teaching STT, and how prior knowledge and emotional connections can facilitate students' development of STT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Metro stations have become a crucial aspect of urban rail transportation, integrating facilities, equipment and pedestrians. Impractical physical layout designs and pedestrian psychology impact the effectiveness of an evacuation during a metro fire. Prior research on emergency evacuation has overlooked the complexity of metro stations and failed to adequately consider the physical heterogeneity of stations and pedestrian psychology. Therefore, this study aims to develop a comprehensive evacuation optimization strategy for metro stations by applying the concept of design for safety (DFS) to an emergency evacuation. This approach offers novel insights into the management of complex systems in metro stations during emergencies. Design/methodology/approach: Physical and social factors affecting evacuations are identified. Moreover, the social force model (SFM) is modified by combining the fire dynamics model (FDM) and considering pedestrians' impatience and panic psychology. Based on the Nanjing South Metro Station, a multiagent-based simulation (MABS) model is developed. Finally, based on DFS, optimization strategies for metro stations are suggested. Findings: The most effective evacuation occurs when the width of the stairs is 3 meters and the transfer corridor is 14 meters. Additionally, a luggage disposal area should be set up. The exit strategy of the fewest evacuees is better than the nearest-exit strategy, and the staff in the metro station should guide pedestrians correctly. Originality/value: Previous studies rarely consider metro stations as sociotechnical systems or apply DFS to proactively reduce evacuation risks. This study provides a new perspective on the evacuation framework of metro stations, which can guide the designers and managers of metro stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation aimed to explore whether strategic planning systems significantly influence the advancement of sustainable urban road infrastructure within Ugandan Town councils. The strategic planning systems were delineated into six components, encompassing planning tools, planning resources, consideration of internal and external factors, resistance to planning, and functional coverage. Grounded in the socio-technical systems theory, the study adopted a positivist philosophical approach, employing a descriptive cross-sectional survey design. The target population comprised established Town councils in eastern and central Uganda as of July 1, 2022. The results revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between strategic planning systems and sustainable urban road infrastructure development (R-value = 0.589, R-squared = 0.346, F statistic = 14.837, p < .001). Encouraging and enhancing the utilization of strategic planning resources and tools during the strategic management process could foster the development of sustainable urban road infrastructure. Further research encompassing diverse urban landscapes, varied performance metrics, and longitudinal designs could contribute to extending the generalizability of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metaverse represents a post-reality universe that seamlessly merges physical reality with digital virtuality. It provides a continuous and immersive social networking environment, enabling multi-user engagement and interaction through Extended Reality (XR) technologies, which include Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). As a novel solution distinct from traditional methods such as mobile-based applications, the technical affordance of XR technologies in shaping multi-user social experiences remains a complex, multifaceted, and multivariate issue that has not yet been thoroughly explored. Additionally, there is a notable absence of mature frameworks and guidelines for designing and developing these multi-user socio-technical systems. Enhancing multi-user social engagement through these technologies remains a significant research challenge. This systematic review aims to address this gap by establishing an analytical framework guided by the PRISMA protocol. It analyzes 88 studies from various disciplines, including computer science, social science, psychology, and the arts, to define the mechanisms and effectiveness of XR technologies in multi-user social engagement. Quantitative methods such as descriptive statistics, correlation statistics, and text mining are used to examine the manifestation of mechanisms, potential system factors, and their effectiveness. Meanwhile, qualitative case studies identify specific measures by which system factors enhance multi-user social engagement. The study provides a pioneering framework for theoretical research and offers practical insights for developing cross-spatiotemporal co-present activities in the metaverse. It also promotes critical reflection on the evolving relationship between humans and this emerging digital universe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how a re-interpretation of the socio-technical, socioecological and transition design approaches to transition from the point of view of Niklas Luhmann's general systems theory of society. The need to understand and promote changes that include a technological and ecological dimension has led to different approaches, such as socio-technical or socio-environmental approaches, to incorporate links with society. While these approaches often include sociological insights, they rarely offer a general understanding of how these are embedded into society. We need a new environmental sociology that helps catalyze change processes with a collectively reorganized society, empowering more radically transformative actions to change the current structures and processes that have led us to where we are today. The article offers a cross-sectional look at the socio-ecological and socio-technical systems literature, specifically for what concerns their understanding of the 'systems' in transition and how they can be governed, and re-interpret it from the theoretical lens of the deep sociological knowledge, which refers to the profound understanding of social systems and their dynamics, embedded in Luhmann's theory of social systems. From here, we suggest the second-order coupling for a sociologically grounded understanding of the interactions that comprise socio-ecological and socio-technical systems, heterogeneous and almost self-organizing assemblies of social, technical, and natural elements and processes. At the same time, third-order couplings are analyzed, focused on governance, relationships between operations, and structures mediated by a deliberate attempt to ensure coherence and coordination against the autonomy and heterogeneity of socio-techno-ecological systems. Therefore, this manuscript offers a deeper conceptual and methodological understanding of socio-techno-ecological couplings and systems in the context of sustainability transformation and gives insights into its governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior studies on traceability as an enabler of supply chain resilience (SCRes) have focused on large‐scale disruptions and developed country contexts. Few studies have focused on developing countries where chronic, small‐scale disruptions are common and resource scarcity means advanced digital technologies are rarely adopted. This research explores how traceability is achieved across upstream actors in two Ghanaian agri‐food supply chains and how this affects global SCRes. Social characteristics are shown to influence the risks inherent in supply chains, while traceability is both a direct and indirect SCRes enabler. Informed by the relational view, the roles of relation‐specific assets and governance mechanisms in maintaining traceability are explored. Supply chain‐wide relation‐specific assets are prioritized over dyadic relation‐specific assets. This original finding is explained by the importance of maintaining social ties over short‐term economic gains in a collectivist culture, leading to greater relational rents in the long term. A novel, informal third‐party governance mechanism that reduces formal contracting costs and provides flexibility and continuity to interfirm relationships is also identified, further facilitating the attainment of relational rents. The findings are explained in light of sub‐Saharan Africa's collectivist culture, encapsulated in the philosophy of ubuntu. Overall, the research theorizes on achieving supply chain traceability and thus enhancing global SCRes as a sociotechnical system incorporating technological and nontechnological systems that are socially embedded in the local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many data science endeavors encounter failure, surfacing at any project phase. Even after successful deployments, data science projects grapple with ethical dilemmas, such as bias and discrimination. Current project management methodologies prioritize efficiency and cost savings over risk management. The methodologies largely overlook the diverse risks of sociotechnical systems and risk articulation inherent in data science lifecycles. Conversely, while the established risk management framework (RMF) by NIST and McKinsey aims to manage AI risks, there is a heavy reliance on normative definitions of risk, neglecting the multifaceted subjectivities of data science project failures. This paper reports on a systematic literature review that identifies three main themes: Big Data Execution Issues, Demand for a Risk Management Framework tailored for Large-Scale Data Science Projects, and the need for a General Risk Management Framework for all Data Science Endeavors. Another overarching focus is on how risk is articulated by the institution and the practitioners. The paper discusses a novel and adaptive data science risk management framework - "DS EthiCo RMF" - which merges project management, ethics, and risk management for diverse data science projects into one holistic framework. This agile risk management framework DS EthiCo RMF can bridge the current divide between normative risk standards and the multitude of data science requirements, offering a human-centric method to navigate the intertwined sociotechnical risks of failure in data science projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Industry 4.0 context, it is very important for companies to apply a comprehensive and sustainable business model to grow steadily and quickly adapt to the fast-changing environment. Although the existing literature has explored Quality 4.0 by integrating Industry 4.0 tools into the TQM system, the question of how Quality 4.0 practices drive sustainable excellence (SE) remains unexplored. Therefore, to fill the gap, this research aims to investigate the relationship between Quality 4.0 practices and SE as well as the role of digital transformation (DT) and digital leadership in this connection, anchoring on the stakeholder theory, the natural resource-based view (NRBR) theory, and the socio-technical system (STS) theory. The research employs the quantitative Structural Equation Model method to analyse empirical data in the manufacturing industry in Vietnam. The findings demonstrate that Quality 4.0 practices positively influence both digital transformation and SE. This study confirmed the mediating role of digital transformation and the moderating role of digital leadership in the relationship between Quality 4.0 practices and SE. The findings of this study contributed to applications of Quality 4.0 practices and digital transformation to improve SE in the manufacturing sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various current trends in education highlight the importance of pedagogies that address societal and environmental questions while preparing and inspiring students to take action. Meanwhile, how we view the future influences how we act, and how we act influences the future. Research on young people's images of the future has shown how technology plays a central role in how we imagine the future and the changes that shape it. This suggests a need to address the role of perceptions of future sociotechnical change and agency in students' thinking, as it may instruct the development of action-oriented critical scientific literacy. Thus, in this study, we examine how images of the future reflect students' perceptions of sociotechnical change. Employing abductive qualitative content analysis on 58 upper secondary school students' essays describing "a typical day" in the future, we focused on how students' depictions of future sociotechnical change vary along three dimensions: from static futures to radical transformation, from nonproblematic change to issues deeply relevant to societal deliberation, and various framings of who, if anyone, has agency. We found that students' images of the future contained wide variation in the discussed range of sociotechnical change, while technology was discussed typically in nonproblematic and sometimes in more critical, problematised ways. Indications of agency were mostly vague, but students occasionally attributed agency over sociotechnical change to the general public, specialised experts and themselves. We conclude by discussing the potential implications of the results in regard to recent definitions of scientific literacy as well as future-oriented pedagogies in science education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovations and advancements in technology create new opportunities to run and maintain manufacturing plants, which we refer to as digitalised manufacturing. This development is recognised as a socio-technical system (STS) change, where a change in the production system's goals, technology, processes, people, or environment may lead to ripple effects between those sub-systems. Despite this, technology development and technology use cases account for most of the research within digitalised manufacturing, while little attention has been devoted to leadership practices considering digitalised manufacturing from a socio-technical perspective. This paper focuses on the maintenance organisation, whose mission in a company is to keep production systems functional. We aim to describe leadership in industrial maintenance from an STS perspective. This is a unique interview study where twenty maintenance managers from Swedish manufacturing industry offer their perspective on the changing leadership within maintenance, providing a unique insight into the challenges facing leaders of maintenance in digitalised manufacturing. We frame the empirical findings using an STS framework and propose an overall consideration model for leadership that supports the development of a functional maintenance organisation in the face of pervasive digitalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organized immaturity refers to the capacity of widely institutionalized sociotechnical systems to challenge qualities of human enlightenment, autonomy, and self-determination. In the context of surveillance capitalism, where these qualities are continuously put at risk, data transparency is increasingly proposed as a means of restoring human maturity by allowing individuals insight and choice vis-à-vis corporate data processing. In this article, however, I draw on research on General Data Protection Regulation–mandated data transparency practices to argue that transparency—while potentially fostering maturity—itself risks producing new forms of organized immaturity by facilitating user ignorance, manipulation, and loss of control of personal data. Considering data transparency's relative "successes" and "failures" regarding the cultivation of maturity, I outline a set of possible remedies while arguing for a general need to develop more sophisticated ethical appreciations of transparency's complex and potentially problematic implications for organized (im)maturity in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Objective] To facilitate the achievement of China’s dual carbon goals and advance energy transitions tailored to local conditions across provinces, it is crucial to clarify the spatial differentiation patterns of energy transitions at the provincial level in China and identify the endogenous driving factors and their varying effects. [Methods] This study investigated 30 Chinese provinces, employing the proportion of clean energy in regional energy consumption as a metric. A multi-level analytical framework rooted in the sociotechnical systems perspective was constructed. The centroid model, ordinary least squares (OLS) method, and geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) method were used to analyze the status and driving factors of China’s energy transition from 2000 to 2020. [Results] (1) Although the provinces exhibited differentiated progress in energy transitions, the regional disparities were gradually narrowing over time. (2) In terms of driving factors of regional energy transition,s resource endowments have been the core and dominant factor, particularly the underpinning role of hydropower resources and the locking-in and assurance role of fossil fuel endowments. However, regional carbon emission reduction pressures and innovation investments have become important driving forces for regional energy transition in the new period. (3) The driving factors and their effects on energy transitions in these provinces were characterized by significant spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Prior to 2012, clean energy production capacity and electricity imports from outside the region dominated almost all provinces. Post-2012, the influence of electricity imports weakened, while technological advancements gained greater influence. Spatially, resource endowments had a more significant impact on northern China, while economic development levels exerted a stronger influence on energy transitions in northwestern China. [Conclusion] As China’s energy transition accelerates, regional disparities are diminishing. This study recommends the construction of an integrated clean energy supply system of wind, light, water, and nuclear energy storage and transmission, supported by coal power; increasing technological investments to promote the efficient use of clean energy; and improving cross-regional energy allocation, thereby driving the transformation of energy structures and sustainable development.

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health systems around the globe. Lessons from health systems responses to these challenges may help design effective and sustainable health system responses for future challenges. This study aimed to 1/ identify the broad types of health system challenges faced during the pandemic and 2/ develop a typology of health system response to these challenges. Methods Semi-structured one-on-one online interviews explored the experience of 19 health professionals during COVID-19 in a large state health system in Australia. Data were analysed using constant comparative analysis utilising a sociotechnical system lens. Results Participants described four overarching challenges: 1/ System overload, 2/ Barriers to decision-making, 3/ Education or training gaps, and 4/ Limitations of existing services. The limited time often available to respond meant that specific and well-designed strategies were often not possible, and more generic strategies that relied on the workforce to modify solutions and repair unexpected gaps were common. For example, generic responses to system overload included working longer hours, whilst specific strategies utilised pre-existing technical resources (e.g. converting non-emergency wards into COVID-19 wards). Conclusion During the pandemic, it was often not possible to rely on mature strategies to frame responses, and more generic, emergent approaches were commonly required when urgent responses were needed. The degree to which specific strategies were ready-to-hand appeared to dictate how much a strategy relied on such generic approaches. The workforce played a pivotal role in enabling emergent responses that required dealing with uncertainties.

Human-computer interaction as a coordinating element between human and machine is used in many different ways. Due to their digital processes, countless industries are dependent on an effective intermeshing of humans and machines. This often involves preparatory work or sub-processes being carried out by machines, which humans initiate, take up, continue, finalise or check. Tasks are broken down into sub-steps and completed by humans or machines. Aggregated cooperation conceals the numerous challenges of hybrid cooperation in which communication and coordination must be mastered in favour of joint decision-making. However, research into human-computer interaction can also be thought of differently than a mere aggregation of humans and machines. We want to propose a nature-inspired possibility that has been successfully practising the complex challenges of joint decision-making as proof of successful communication and coordination for millions of years. Collective intelligence and the processes of self-organisation offer biomimetic concepts that can be used to rethink socio-technical systems as a symbiosis in the form of a human-computer organism. For example, the effects of self-organisation such as emergence could be used to exceed the result of an aggregation of humans and machines as a future social anthropology 4.0 many times over.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted health systems around the globe. Lessons from health systems responses to these challenges may help design effective and sustainable health system responses for future challenges. This study aimed to 1/ identify the broad types of health system challenges faced during the pandemic and 2/ develop a typology of health system response to these challenges. Methods: Semi-structured one-on-one online interviews explored the experience of 19 health professionals during COVID-19 in a large state health system in Australia. Data were analysed using constant comparative analysis utilising a sociotechnical system lens. Results: Participants described four overarching challenges: 1/ System overload, 2/ Barriers to decision-making, 3/ Education or training gaps, and 4/ Limitations of existing services. The limited time often available to respond meant that specific and well-designed strategies were often not possible, and more generic strategies that relied on the workforce to modify solutions and repair unexpected gaps were common. For example, generic responses to system overload included working longer hours, whilst specific strategies utilised pre-existing technical resources (e.g. converting non-emergency wards into COVID-19 wards). Conclusion: During the pandemic, it was often not possible to rely on mature strategies to frame responses, and more generic, emergent approaches were commonly required when urgent responses were needed. The degree to which specific strategies were ready-to-hand appeared to dictate how much a strategy relied on such generic approaches. The workforce played a pivotal role in enabling emergent responses that required dealing with uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops a post-digital perspective for the study of international peacebuilding and elaborates its merits. Contrary to narratives in policy and practice that tend to fetishize the digital, digital peacebuilding cannot be meaningfully separated from peacebuilding before digitalization. Resisting the call for a "digital turn," a post-digital lens helps to research, rewrite, and rework the digital while simultaneously staying with and moving beyond digitalization. It aims to demystify the role of digital technologies while enabling critical scrutiny of their impact on contemporary and future peacebuilding. More specifically, the post-digital helps us to (1) establish a critical distance to narratives of fast-paced innovation and progress that fetishize the digital, (2) scrutinize how digitalization compounds contemporary approaches and constellations of peacebuilding, (3) engage with the uneven temporalities of digital peacebuilding and its diverse global manifestations, (4) shed light on its real, embodied, and tangible effects on conflict-affected populations, (5) hold digitalization accountable by unearthing disillusionments and failures, (6) re-adjust our focus on human agency in the development and use of the socio-technical systems that constitute digital peacebuilding, (7) and finally, take a rhizomatic view that is concerned with how power relations make and break digitalized peacebuilding networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]