We plan to have several presentations related to the 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science) conference to be held this August.
Studies of ultrasound exam seem to tend to focus on what participants, health care providers and pregnant women, see on the monitor screen. However, seeing the ultrasound images on the screen is embedded in the participants' lived work organized through the juxtaposition of talk, bodily movements, and the technological environment. In this study, I adopt the ethnomethodological/conversation analytic perspective. I explore the pairing of an ultrasound image on the monitor screen and organizational lived work of producing and seeing it (Garfinkel); this pairing engenders the order of what one sees on the monitor screen appropriately in the current status of interaction. This study contributes to the elucidation of the intrinsically interactional nature of the technology and the explication of the interactional structure of prenatal ultrasound examinations.
It is a cliche to write about the extraordinarily advanced toilets one encounters when visiting Japan. Yet it is true that, while there are certainly innovative public lavatories in other regions, Japan leads the world in the domestic purchasing and public use of what have been termed “robo-toilets” (George, 2008). In a 2009 study conducted for the Japanese government, just under 70 percent of households had some sort of toilet with a heated seat and posterior washing function (often known by the TOTO brand name “washlet”) (Cabinet Office, 2009). In use, these high-tech toilets can be understood as intimate interfaces between humans and machines, and as such they could be hailed as an example of designers giving the users what they want. Indeed, this is the narrative given by the producers of one associated type of product, the “oto-hime” or “sound-princess”, an electronic device or function of these toilets that generates noise to mask the sound of passing urine, gas, or defecating. However, this narrative is highly gendered, and sits within ever-strengthening discourses of health, environmental awareness and responsibility. This paper examines the convergence of technologies, cultural practices, and discourses that gave rise to, and continue to support, the shape and use of public conveniences in Japan. Through textual and qualitative interview data, it shows how knowledges of human lavatory practices, once developed, are translated into ‘adequate’ behavior, technical design and public policy. The paper contributes to understandings of the socio-technical construction of private and public space, gender and identity.
In this 30 second fragment a mother attempts to feed an infant solid food for the first time. I would like to focus on the sequential organization of the first two tries, and the different infant's reaction to the mother's same attempt. Can we call this different reaction development? In doing so, does the infant move towards becoming an agent? a more mature memver? Does the sequential organization change in any meaningful way in the second attempt?
In the period from the inter-war period to the post-war period, Japan experienced start-up and full development of heavy industries. How did gender/sexuality views develop in this period with such development of the heavy industries and the surrounding sectors such as mining and textile industries? In this presentation, I would like to examine this topic by looking into the field of labor hygiene, and in particular, by focusing on the works of a hygienist, Osamu Ishihara.
If anybody is interested in bringing their own data, analyses, observations, arguments, or whatever, to a next meeting to discuss together, please contact Aug Nishizaka at augnish(a)soc.meijigakuin.ac.jp.