The Social and the Technical : Possibilities for Actor-network Theory in Library and Information Science

This thesis discusses and analyses the existence of two different perspectives, a social and a technical one, in Library and Information Science (LIS). Most of the time the division between these perspectives seems to result in research only using either of them. This can be a problem when studying complex phenomena. We therefore see a need for a metatheory that unites the social and the technical. By presenting and analysing all doctoral dissertations published at the Swedish School of Library and Information Science (SSLIS) 1993-2005, we try to detect and critically discuss the dichotomy between the two perspectives. The analysis of the dissertations is done with an Actor-network theory (ANT) perspective. The outcome is that most of the dissertations are written using either a social or a technical perspective, though not all of them. As a way out of the division between the social and the technical, we discuss the possibilities for ANT as a new metatheory for LIS. A few examples of international ANT writings in LIS are also presented briefly to show the possibilities of that metatheory.Uppsatsnivå: