How is technology made?--That is the question!

TLDR

Constructivist technology studies are methodologically relativistic, ontologically agnostic, and do not primarily address the question of what technology is. The article reviews constructivist technology studies, focusing on SCOT, and aims to trace their historical development across units of analysis, methodological approaches, and research questions to investigate their stance on the ontology of technology. The authors conduct a review of constructivist technology studies, tracing their historical development across units of analysis, methodological approaches, and research questions. The article traces the process of how to make technology.

Abstract

This article reviews constructivist technology studies, and especially the social construction of technology (SCOT). To investigate how these constructivist studies regard the ontology of technology, I will trace their historical development in units of analysis, methodological approaches and research questions. Constructivist technology studies are relativistic in only one sense: methodological. They are agnostic with respect to the ontology of technology. Constructivist studies of technology thus do not primarily answer the question 'what is technology?' they trace the process 'how to make technology'.