Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
Mediainthesociety
25
ofinterpretativeflexibility:“Bythiswemeannotonlythatthereisflexibili-
tyinhowpeoplethinkoforinterpretartifactsbutalsothatthereisflexibility
inhowartefactsaredesigned.Tereisnotjustonepossiblewayoronebest
way,ofdesigninganartifact.”17Tisflexibilityisnotjustaboutthewaysthat
dilerentcreatedprojectsrespondtodilerentneedsofdilerentgroupswithin
societyandthatthey,bycompeting,leadtovariousdiscoveriesandinventions.
Eventuallytheartefactisstabilisedwhenoneofitsinterpretations,suggested
byagivensocialgroup,finallywins.Atthispoint,acommonunderstanding
ofwhatthisartefact“is”canbeestablished.Earlierproblemsarenotsolved
inthetechnical,butratherinthesocialsphere.Namely,appropriatesocial
groupsshouldbelievethatdifcultieshavebeenovercome.Tiscanbeachieved
bymeansofrhetoric,asinthechangeofthename(inthechapterdevotedto
VHSplayersIwilldescribehowthe“VHStape”wentthroughaphaseof“cas-
setetelevision”andfinallybecame“hometheatre”).Anotherwayofending
thediscussionistoredefinetheproblem.Inthisway,DVDfinallydefeated
VHS:allproblemsassociatedwithVHSplayersrecordingtelevisionsignals
wereignoredandDVDplayerswerepresentedasdevicesprovidingtheirusers
withperfectqualityimageandsound.
SCOTpossessesusefultoolsfordescribingtheprogressoftechnolo-
gy,whichcanbeusedevenwithoutacceptingtheirtheoreticalbackground.
Theinterpretationofanartefactand“closing”thedebateinthephase
ofa“blackbox”doesnothavetoassumethattechnologyisdeterminedbyso-
ciety.Itisenoughtosurmisethatinterpretativeflexibilityisnottotalandthe
endingpointofthedebateisnotrandom.ThevictoryoftheVHSplayer
asahometheatresysteminthe80scanbeseenasaresultoftheimpactofso-
cialforces.However,itcanalsobeseenastheinescapableconclusionofthe
influenceofthenewtechnology,whichwasimpossibletoincludeinthesta-
tusquoofcontemporarymassmedia.Thisisimportantastheproliferation
ofnewmediacoincidedwiththefallofthecommunistregime.Itisverydif-
ficulttoascertain,empirically,ifthesetwoprocesseswereconnectedinany
way,andalmostimpossibletosaywhichonecouldbetheresultofwhich.
Itistemptingtoclaimthatnewmediaoverthrewcommunism,buttheview
thatthisfallingsystemwasnolongercapableofcontrollingthemediaflow
ofinformationisalsoplausible.Thefactsdescribedinthisbookcanalways
beinterpretedinoneofthesetwoways.
17TrevorJ.PinchandWiebeE.Bijker,“TeSocialConstructionofFactsandArti-
facts:OrHowtheSociologyofScienceandtheSociologyofTechnologyMightBenefit
EachOther,”inTeSocialConstructionofTechnologicalSystems,eds.WiebeE.Bijker,
TomasP.HughesandTrevorPinch(Cambridge,MA:TeMITPress,2012),34.
