Susan Star
Encyclopedia
Susan “Leigh” Star was an American sociologist. She specialized in the study of information
in modern society; information worlds; information infrastructure
; classification
and standardization
; sociology of science; sociology of work and the history of science, medicine, technology, and communication/information systems. She commonly used the qualitative methods methodology and feminist theory
approach.
Sexual Politics
inspired her to ask questions about technology, and the effects that both good and bad technology have on one's self and on the world.
Star later returned to school and graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe/Harvard in 1976 with a degree in Psychology and Social Relations. She then moved to California and began graduate school in the philosophy of education at Stanford. The program was not the right fit and she pursued her graduate education in sociology at the University of California. She completed her dissertation, under Anslem Strauss, in 1983.
After Irvine, Star held a Senior Lectureship and the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Keele. In 1992, Star and partner Bowker went to the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Illinois until 1999. After leaving the University of Illinois, they moved back to California and into the Department of Communication at the University of California San Diego where they remained until 2004. Star and Bowker moved north in 2004 and worked at Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society. In 2009 they moved to the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences, where Leigh was awarded the Doreen Boyce Chair.
In addition, she has been an invited speaker at many universities and industrial firms, such as: Harvard, MIT and Xerox PARC. She was also co-Editor-in-Chief of Science, Technology, and Human Values and was president of the Society for the Social Studies of Science from 2005-2007.
Star has been particularly influential in the area of information infrastructure
, frequently noting that although the study of infrastructure often entails examining things that seem commonplace, those everyday items have widespread consequences for humans and human interaction. Star has worked to develop ways of understanding how people communicate about infrastructure, and has helped develop research methods aimed to examine the role infrastructure plays in mediated human activities.But her work extends far beyond the realm of information infrastructure
. Star's interest in the connection between technology and lived experience led her to work in a wide array of disciplines, including library sciences, computer sciences, neuroscience, philosophy and women's studies.
In the article “Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39”, Star and her co-author Griesemer introduce the concept of boundary objects for the first time. In this article, Star and Griesemer analyze the formative years of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology by expanding the model of interessement developed by Latour and Callon, to form their concept of boundary objects.
Star and Griesmer initially defined boundary objects as “objects which are both plastic enough to adapt to local needs and the constraints of the several parties employing them, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity across sites...The objects may by abstract or concrete.”
For the purpose of this article, Star and Griesmer defined four kinds of boundary objects: “repositories, ideal types, coincident boundaries and standardized forms,”however Star later commented that she never intended this to be a comprehensive list; rather she imagined the article as starting “a kind of catalog of some of the characteristics of boundary objects”.
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
in modern society; information worlds; information infrastructure
Information Infrastructure
An information infrastructure is defined by Hanseth as "a shared, evolving, open, standardized, and heterogeneous installed base" and by Pironti as all of the people, processes, procedures, tools, facilities, and technology which supports the creation, use, transport, storage, and destruction of...
; classification
Classification
Classification may refer to:* Library classification and classification in general* Taxonomic classification * Biological classification of organisms* Medical classification* Scientific classification...
and standardization
Standardization
Standardization is the process of developing and implementing technical standards.The goals of standardization can be to help with independence of single suppliers , compatibility, interoperability, safety, repeatability, or quality....
; sociology of science; sociology of work and the history of science, medicine, technology, and communication/information systems. She commonly used the qualitative methods methodology and feminist theory
Feminist theory
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, or philosophical discourse, it aims to understand the nature of gender inequality...
approach.
Early Life and Education
Star grew up in a rural working class area of Rhode Island. Starved for philosophy she befriended an ex-nun during high school and eventually obtained a scholarship to Radcliffe College where she began taking philosophy classes. Not fitting in and deterred from taking a Religion degree Star dropped out, married and moved to Venezuela where she co-founded an organic commune. It was here that Star asked many of the questions that formed the basis of her research. Her work is guided by interests in both technology and feminism, and it was during this time that the women's movement and Kate Millett'sKate Millett
Kate Millett is an American lesbian feminist writer and activist. A seminal influence on second-wave feminism, Millet is best known for her 1970 book Sexual Politics.-Career:...
Sexual Politics
Sexual Politics
Sexual Politics is a classic feminist text written by Kate Millett, said to be "the first book of academic feminist literary criticism", and "one of the first feminist books of this decade to raise nationwide male ire"....
inspired her to ask questions about technology, and the effects that both good and bad technology have on one's self and on the world.
Star later returned to school and graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe/Harvard in 1976 with a degree in Psychology and Social Relations. She then moved to California and began graduate school in the philosophy of education at Stanford. The program was not the right fit and she pursued her graduate education in sociology at the University of California. She completed her dissertation, under Anslem Strauss, in 1983.
Academic Work
From 1987-1990 Star was an assistant professor at UC Irvine's Department of Information and Computer Science.She taught a variety of subjects including: social analysis of technology and organizations, computers and society, research methods and gender and technology. In 1987-1988 Star held a fellowship at Centre de sociologie de l’innovation in Paris and worked with Bruno Latour and Michel Callon.After Irvine, Star held a Senior Lectureship and the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at the University of Keele. In 1992, Star and partner Bowker went to the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Illinois until 1999. After leaving the University of Illinois, they moved back to California and into the Department of Communication at the University of California San Diego where they remained until 2004. Star and Bowker moved north in 2004 and worked at Santa Clara University’s Center for Science, Technology and Society. In 2009 they moved to the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences, where Leigh was awarded the Doreen Boyce Chair.
In addition, she has been an invited speaker at many universities and industrial firms, such as: Harvard, MIT and Xerox PARC. She was also co-Editor-in-Chief of Science, Technology, and Human Values and was president of the Society for the Social Studies of Science from 2005-2007.
Star has been particularly influential in the area of information infrastructure
Information Infrastructure
An information infrastructure is defined by Hanseth as "a shared, evolving, open, standardized, and heterogeneous installed base" and by Pironti as all of the people, processes, procedures, tools, facilities, and technology which supports the creation, use, transport, storage, and destruction of...
, frequently noting that although the study of infrastructure often entails examining things that seem commonplace, those everyday items have widespread consequences for humans and human interaction. Star has worked to develop ways of understanding how people communicate about infrastructure, and has helped develop research methods aimed to examine the role infrastructure plays in mediated human activities.But her work extends far beyond the realm of information infrastructure
Information Infrastructure
An information infrastructure is defined by Hanseth as "a shared, evolving, open, standardized, and heterogeneous installed base" and by Pironti as all of the people, processes, procedures, tools, facilities, and technology which supports the creation, use, transport, storage, and destruction of...
. Star's interest in the connection between technology and lived experience led her to work in a wide array of disciplines, including library sciences, computer sciences, neuroscience, philosophy and women's studies.
In the article “Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39”, Star and her co-author Griesemer introduce the concept of boundary objects for the first time. In this article, Star and Griesemer analyze the formative years of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology by expanding the model of interessement developed by Latour and Callon, to form their concept of boundary objects.
Star and Griesmer initially defined boundary objects as “objects which are both plastic enough to adapt to local needs and the constraints of the several parties employing them, yet robust enough to maintain a common identity across sites...The objects may by abstract or concrete.”
For the purpose of this article, Star and Griesmer defined four kinds of boundary objects: “repositories, ideal types, coincident boundaries and standardized forms,”however Star later commented that she never intended this to be a comprehensive list; rather she imagined the article as starting “a kind of catalog of some of the characteristics of boundary objects”.
Works
- Regions of the mind: brain research and the quest for scientific certainty (1989)
- Institutional Ecology, 'Translations' and Boundary Objects: Amateurs and Professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907-39 (1989) (co-editor with James Griesemer)
- Cultures of Computing (1995) (Editor)
- Ecologies of Knowledge: Work and Politics in Science and Technology (1995) (Editor)
- Social Science, Technical Systems, and Cooperative Work: Beyond the Great Divide (Computers, Cognition and Work Series) (1997) (co-editor with Geoffrey Bowker, Les Gasser and William Turner)
- Layers of Silence, Arenas of Voice: The Ecology of Visible and Invisible Work (1999) (co-editor with A. Strauss)
- Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences (MIT Press, 2000)
- Enacting Silence: Residual Categories as a Challenge for Ethics, Information Systems, and Communication (2007) (co-editor with Geoffrey Bowker)
- Standards and their Stories: How Quantifying, Classifying and Formalizing Practices Shape Everyday Life (Cornell University Press, 2009) (co-editor with Martha Lampland)
- This is Not a Boundary Object: Reflections on the Origin of a Concept (2010)