• Describe why Actor Network Theory is a relevant theory for studying computing.
• Name and categorise the actants in your stories. Describe how they are “acting” upon other actants in the assemblage. Include the connection between the hardware and software actants, as well as other categories of actants.
• Discuss how the actions of the software actants can enhance management functions within the computing news stories.
• How can you link your analysis to some of the larger issues/questions raised due to the constant use of computing within modern society. Discuss some of advantages/disadvantages of contemporary computing. To achieve this, compare and contrast the viewpoints of a range of theorists and critics explored throughout the module.
• Conclude by summarising how your answers relate to the statement “Within modern computing, every actant acts on or is acted upon by at least one other actant, in order to fulfil the aims of the assemblage”.
The computing technologies have drastically evolved with passing time to innovate new ideas and new methods that utilize the power of scientific data and processing techniques. The rapid advancement of information technology brings about new concepts and elements onto the field that collectively participate in forming an assemblage of computing. These technologies consist of several aspects of science and communication study. It is important to perform an effective evaluation of the system assemblage essentially involves identifying the human and non-human actors that interact with each other by playing individual roles; and ultimately form a network of information systems (Willcocks 2013). For this purpose, the paper analyzes two modern computing stories based on actor network theory to unveil the major aspects of fulfilling the technical objectives of the assemblage by establishing proper interactions among the actants.
Actor Network Theory
Actor network theory or ANT provides a conceptual framework that guides the socio-technical processes involved in different technological systems. The main components of actor network theory are actor and network. The core of ANT describes interrelationships among the various actors in scientific networks. It is closely relevant to the present study of identifying the participation of actors in modern computing assemblage (Sayes 2014). It is mainly because ANT helps understand the technical innovation processes and scientific knowledge creation. The actors (both human and non-human) act on the network, more specifically, between sociology and technology sciences.
Computing story 1: Xiaomi’s $45 billion formula for success
Xiaomi’s Mi Pad specifications (pink / green/ blue/ white) entirely resembles with iPad Mini 4’s specifications, including display of 7.9 inches, resolution of 2,048 x 1,536, and per inches 326 pixels (Wired UK 2016). In this regard, the CEO and co-founder of Xiaomi, Mr. Lei Jun, have stated that the design of Mi Pad has been greatly influenced by Apple’s iPhone (Farias and Bender 2012). For this purpose, Xiaomi approached Apple manufacturers and as a result, Mi Pad happened from the inspiration.
However, the real story lies in the pricing strategy adopted by Xiaomi that made them world’s most valuable technology start up business (Qiu 2013). It enabled them to not only run successful smart phone business, but also initiated a potential ‘fan base’ out of its existing as well as new customers. These ‘fans’ participate in co-designing, facilitating transfer of market demand risk. The strategy enabled Xiaomi to enter into Indian, Indonesian markets and many more. It soon became China’s biggest smart phone company, selling 7.2 million phones in 2012, 18.7 million in 2013, 61 million in 2014, and finally over 70 million in 2015 (Shih, Lin and Luarn 2014). From the ANT viewpoint, the actants directly involved in the scientific and socio-technical network work together to establish an assemblage that develops a connected life style with a new era of technological innovation.
The actor network theory considers the customers as significant human actants in the network of smart phone business. The product it develops and sells can solely determine the fate of the business (Lajoie and Derry 2013). It essentially necessitates the adoption of internet thinking. According to Barra, China has tremendous potential and capability to reach the leading position in consumer electronics in both innovation as well as execution. The socio-technical aspects on the concerned network involve focus, entrepreneurship and scale. ANT analysis reveals Xiaomi’s mission and the evolution applied on strategies for making Chinese products.
In relation to this context, the story seeks to identify the relationships between Xiaomi’s customer existence and the influence of social elements in the technical objectives of the business (Rainer et al. 2013). Furthermore, it has been identified that the network significantly relies upon and functions depending on the valuable feedbacks from customers, friends, and users; that are considered as the non-human actants indirectly acting upon the assemblage.
Computing story 2: The app ‘AutoGo’ is fixing China’s mess of petrol stations
The innovative idea of Guang Xiao facilitates a significant boost to the petrol station business in China by means of using an app called ‘AutoGo’ that transforms the independent petrol stations into a single integrated business brand (Farias and Bender 2012). The AutoGo app is targeted to establish a networking system bringing together all the petrol and fuel stations that presently operate in the market, including Sinopec and PetroChina (Wired UK 2016). This particular app of AutoGo’s have been able to capture a million users within five months after it launched in 2015 April.
Therefore, through this app, an integrated network can be enabled where the petrol stations signs up for free to learn about methods and strategies to enhance their level of service. Apart from that, the app also facilitates the customers by providing them a platform to make online payments for fuel purchase (Fenwick and Edwards 2012). In addition, many other benefits and services can be presented brought to consumers the single platform facilitated by the AutoGo. Some of these features and facilities include easily and efficiently targeting the loyalty discounts, presenting retail offerings through the app online.
This particular process brings about significant changes in the mindset of society. It requires analyzing the social-technical aspects from the ANT point of view in order to develop the loyalty programs for doing the marketing at scale (Wired UK 2016). The primary goal or strategy formulated by ‘AutoGo’ essentially involves building loyalty with the consumers and expanding the retail offering. The independent petrol and fuel station owners in China can now implement easy payment mechanism, loyalty payments, retailing and other relevant services (Davenport 2013). In this context, Xiao shared that he has significant inspiration from the US Company Fleetcor that provides fleet management services. It includes features such as signing up facilities for the gas station owners, loyalty discount offers to fleets and many more. In relation to this context, Xiao utilized the fragmented nature of the petrol station business to apply the asset-light model to integrate the common services in a single brand. The application of ANT in this regard facilitates a contrast as well as interrelationship among the human and non-human actants based on the scientific advancements (Golub and Ortega 2014). Hence, the petrol station owners as well as the customers who pay for fuel online are the human actors who are acted upon by the non-human or technical actants i.e. the AutoGo app.
Enhancement of management in the stories
The co-founder and CEO took and utilized the positive aspects of Apple’s manufacturers. However, the he believed to view Xiaomi that brings about innovation and evolution in technological strategies as well as technical objectives rather than establishing itself as a facilitator of quality services (Hooper 2012). The high quality of the company’s products e.g. Mi Pad solely and purposefully intends to develop a connected life style in the era of information technology advancements. The effective management of Xiaomi enabled them to become the third largest electronic commerce website (mi.com) all across China.
Issues raised in the stories
The fundamental strategy that it incorporated relies on the saying ‘less is more’. It is relatable with Xiaomi’s business method of developing a limited number of smart phone products that on the other hand, includes more number of services, facilities features and characteristics. A specific mission also adequately drives the consumers of Mi Pad (Tran et al. 2013). Maofang Road in north Beijing Haidian district there is a Xiaomi showroom that consists of Mi pads, Mi phones, Mi television smart display screens and Mi cloud remote storage. The administrative functions of Xiaomi are targeted to achieve constant improvement.
On the other hand, the difference in the scenario for China significantly involves the sudden impact of mobile. The increasing use of mobile phones and smart phones essentially helps the process of making AutoGo’s app for petrol and fuel stations a huge success (Wired UK 2016). The comparison of actors and network in the story naturally clears the picture of the accurate relationships in its power to influence the society and its interaction with the technical aspects within the identified network (Feng et al. 2013). The human and non-human entities interacting within the network are properly functioning; this is investigated with the help of actor network theory.
Conclusion
The two stories have been explored from the perspective of actor network theory. A thorough analysis performed on the computing stories using the perspectives of actor network theory helps accurately identifying the actants (human and non-human) and the way the participate in the interactions within the concerned network. It effectively helps realize the importance of an integrated approach that is required to be followed by the associated actors in order to activate the assemblage and enable the operations. The smart innovation and technical developments of modern computing entities have been taken into consideration for evaluating and analyzing the role of actants in an information technology network. The network of technologies identified within the digital world of information and communication technology (ICT) radically transforms society’s relationship to technology and the associated human and non-human actors. The study of social science deeply incorporates the identification of technical as well as non-technical components, human associations with the fundamental base.
References
Davenport, T.H., 2013. Process innovation: reengineering work through information technology. Harvard Business Press.
Farias, I. and Bender, T. eds., 2012. Urban assemblages: How actor-network theory changes urban studies. Routledge.
Feng, D., Siu, W.C. and Zhang, H.J. eds., 2013. Multimedia information retrieval and management: Technological fundamentals and applications. Springer Science & Business Media.
Fenwick, T. and Edwards, R., 2012. Researching education through actor-network theory. John Wiley & Sons.
Golub, G.H. and Ortega, J.M., 2014. Scientific computing: an introduction with parallel computing. Elsevier.
Hooper, L., 2012. Actor Network Theory.
Lajoie, S.P. and Derry, S.J. eds., 2013. Computers as cognitive tools. Routledge.
Qiu, G., 2013. China Emerges as a Smartphone Power. SERI Quarterly,6(4), p.16.
Rainer, R.K., Cegielski, C.G., Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, I. and Sanchez-Rodriguez, C., 2013. Introduction to information systems: Supporting and transforming business. John Wiley & Sons.
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Shih, C.C., Lin, T.M. and Luarn, P., 2014. Fan-centric social media: The Xiaomi phenomenon in China. Business Horizons, 57(3), pp.349-358.
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Wired UK. 2016. AutoGo is connecting China’s independent petrol stations (Wired UK). [online] Available at: https://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2016/04/features/autogo-china-petrol-station-brands-guang-xiao [Accessed 19 Mar. 2016].
Wired UK. 2016. Xiaomi’s $45bn formula for success (and no, it’s not ‘copy Apple’) (Wired UK). [online] Available at: https://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2016/04/features/xiaomi-lei-jun-internet-thinking [Accessed 19 Mar. 2016].
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