Silicon Valley’s Quest for Temporal Optimization

The discipline of Sociology is one of the academic pillars on which The Australian National University was built. The defining characteristic of sociology at ANU since the discipline was first institutionalised in the 1960s has been constructive engagement with the big issues facing Australian and global societies. The discipline’s early focus on issues of inequality, stratification and the experience of migrants living in Australia played a major role in Australia’s official shift to policy frameworks based around the concept of multiculturalism.The ANU School of Sociology has an exciting program of research and teaching that combines the theoretical and applied dimensions of the discipline. Our research and teaching ethos is orientated to the critical analysis of social transformations; publically-engaged in its aspirations and impact, and dedicated to examining inequality in its various manifestations. We recently achieved a ranking of above world standard in the Excellence in Research for Australia evaluation.The school's disciplinary strengths are in social, cultural and feminist theory; education; health; digital sociology; risk and consumption; and social research methods. Staff hold a range of category 1 and 2 grants and are engaged in diverse interdisciplinary collaborations, both national and international. Research and teaching themes that crosscut these disciplinary strengths include embodiment and new technologies, mobilities, surveillance, media politics, gender and sexuality, the changing nature of work and inequality.ANU provides a unique environment to study sociology. Located in our national seat of government, Canberra, ANU is Australia’s premiere research university and world renowned for its depth and breadth in the social and political sciences. Whether you are interested in studying sociology, enrolling in a research degree, applying for a visiting fellowship or consulting the experts on social change, we welcome your enquiry.The School of Sociology hold a range of events, lectures, seminars and launches for staff, students and interested people. Please check this web site for upcoming events and the latest news

School of Sociology

This talk will argue that while there is no temporal logic inherent in technologies, artifacts
do play a central role in time regimes.

ANU Sir Roland Wilson Building

There is a widespread assumption that digital technologies are radically altering our perception of time: that we live too fast, that time is scarce and that the pace of everyday life is accelerating beyond our control. The iconic image that abounds is that of the frenetic, technologically tethered, iPhone-addicted citizen. Paradoxically, digital devices are seen as both the cause of time pressure as well as the solution.
This talk will argue that while there is no temporal logic inherent in technologies, artifacts do play a central role in the constitution of time regimes. We make time with machines. I will illustrate this argument by exploring the vision of ‘intelligent’ time management that drives the design of digital calendars. Drawing on interviews with software engineers, I will argue that the shift from print to electronic calendars embodies a longstanding belief that technology can be can be profitably employed to control and manage time. This belief continues to animate contemporary sociotechnical imaginaries of what automation will deliver. In the current moment, calendars are increasingly conceived of as digital assistants whose behavioural algorithms can solve life’s existential problem – how best to organise the time of our lives. In sum, the aim here is to contribute to STS scholarship on the role of technology in shaping people’s experience of time.
Judy Wajcman is the Anthony Giddens Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics. She was President of the Society for Social Studies of Science (2009-2011) and is currently a Visiting Professor at the Oxford Internet Institute. Her scholarly interests encompass the sociology of work and employment, science and technology studies, gender theory, and organizational analysis. Her current research engages with theories about the impact of digital technologies on time poverty and the speeding up of everyday life. She is the 2013 recipient of the William F. Ogburn Career Achievement Award of the American Sociological Association. She has been appointed as Turing Fellow and Principal Investigator on the Women in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence research project at the Alan Turing Institute. She is a member of the AI100 Standing Committee https://ai100.stanford.edu/
Her book Pressed for Time: The Acceleration of Life in Digital Capitalism was the (2017) winner of the Ludwik Fleck prize of the Society for Social Studies of Science. Professor Wajcman is perhaps best known for her monographs that address the relationship between gender, technology and organization: The social shaping of technology: how the refrigerator got its hum (with Donald McKenzie) (1985); Feminism confronts technology (1991); Managing like a man: women and men in corporate management (1998); TechnoFeminism (2004).

Silicon Valley’s Quest for Temporal Optimization

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