A Silvast
Biographic Data
| ID | 35932 |
|---|---|
| NAME | A Silvast |
| GIVEN NAMES | A |
| FAMILY NAME | Silvast |
| SIGNATURE | SILVAST A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1026-6529 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 168 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
The Politics of Artifacts Revisited
This review traces the evolution of understandings of the political significance of technology. Starting from early critical accounts of technology—including Marx's analysis of the factory system and Ellul's concept of technique—through the development of Science and Technology Studies (STS), we revisit classic approaches to the technology‐society relationship, including the Social Shaping of Technology, critiques of Technological Determinism, an…
Energy information infrastructures
Energy production, markets, and patterns of use are undergoing a rapid transition under the banner of promoting environmental sustainability, accompanied by a shift towards renewable energy and the increasing electrification and digitalisation of society. The transformation underscores the need to develop new concepts that highlight the subtle interconnectedness of current energy infrastructures and their interdependencies with other infrastructu…
Electrifying stories
The green transition necessitates large-scale battery solutions. Finland has initiated the development of a national battery cluster, supported by a range of policy instruments aimed at attracting investments. Although energy social research has examined the role of language and power in energy policy through discursive approaches, limited attention has been paid to how the battery industry is represented and contested in news media. We deem thes…
To build or buy? Marketization of flexibility services in the Norwegian distribution grid
Electricity grids are expected to play a key role in energy transitions as facilitators that absorb the impacts of transitions in other sectors. This article examines how challenges with strained grid capacity are addressed through making local flexibility markets for trading end-user flexibility . Using the markets-in-the-making approach that conceives markets as framings (Callon, 2016, 2021), we examine the construction of conditions in which f…
How does co-creation facilitate transdisciplinarity? The case of an EU energy demand research programme
Science & Technology Studies
The first edition of Science & Technology Studies, then named Science Studies, became available in 1988. Over the past 35 years, the journal has established itself as a prominent international publication, experiencing significant growth in publication volume, manuscript submissions, and readership. This editorial commemorates these achievements and reflects on the journal's evolution. A key aspect of this exploration is our journal's role in the…
Infrastructures of power
This paper suggests a synthetization of three classic approaches to analyze infrastructures as interconnected compositions that subtly distribute power and governance. We draw upon conceptualizations within large technological systems (LTS), Internet governance, and information infrastructures (II), and connect them to our own extensive research in energy infrastructure and systems spanning over a decade. This combination serves as the bedrock fo…
Governance by Infrastructure (Part II)
This collection of articles is the second part of the special issue published by First Monday in February 2024 (https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/issue/view/747). The original thematic series of case studies on ‘Governance by Infrastructure’ is extended here with three new case studies, an article on methodology, and a closing commentary. Their publication concludes an adventure that we began in 2021 with the preparation of a workshop held…
Governance by information infrastructures
The term “infrastructure” has evolved to span a wide range of disciplines, reflecting its diverse applications and conceptualizations. This paper argues that information infrastructures (II) represent a distinct and increasingly significant socio-material form, crucial for understanding governance by infrastructure. We examine the origins and evoluIon of II, emphasizing the socio-material differences between II and other technological forms such …
Habits Over Routines
The evolution of computer tools has had profound impacts on many aspects of control rooms and control room studies. In this paper, we discuss some key assumptions underpinning these studies based on a new case of the electricity distribution control rooms, where the reliability of the electricity infrastructure is managed by a combination of planning and real-time maintenance. Some of these practices have changed remarkably little over the past d…
How does science and technology studies contribute to climate mitigation research? Advanced review of infrastructure as a concept and method
The objective of this paper is to review how Science and Technology Studies (STS) has contributed to climate change mitigation research. We focus on large‐scale infrastructures as a key topic of both mitigation efforts and recent STS scholarship. The paper assesses the conceptual and methodological treatments in this field, uses literature evidence to identify research gaps, and suggests potential topics for future research. Our research firstly …
Alignment Work and Epistemic Cultures
This article closes the special issue Alignment Work for the Movement of Knowledge. It argues that the concept of alignment work, through making it possible to think about collaborations of different epistemic cultures, provides a useful addition to Knorr Cetina’s (1999) concept, keeping it relevant for current concerns in Science and Technology Studies (STS). The article discusses central issues in STS, concerning how different academic and prof…
Energy citizenship
The centrality of energy for daily life entails that citizens' relations to energy need particular attention, to the extent that it might merit a specific concept of energy citizenship. However, the academic literature on energy citizenship has remained small even if it is growing, the concept itself underspecified, and focused on a narrow set of topics that leave many core social science insights on both citizenship and energy governance unaddre…
Experts, stakeholders, technocracy, and technoeconomic input into energy scenarios
This paper confronts the broad question of the nature and quality of the contributions of experts, stakeholders, and the wider public to the development of detailed technoeconomical inputs used in scenario analyses used for discussions and decisions on the green energy transition and science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in general. The study focuses on stakeholder inclusion in developing the Danish Energy Agency's technology catalogu…
On Theory-Methods Packages in Science and Technology Studies
Our review essay contributes to the long-standing and vibrant discussion in science and technology studies (STS) on methods, methodologies, and theory-method relationships. We aim to improve the reflexivity of research by unpacking the often implicit assumptions that imbue research conduct and by offering practical tools through which STS researchers can recognize their research designs and think through them in a new way. To achieve these aims, …
Ialenti, Vincent (2020) Deep Time Reckoning
Critical infrastructure vulnerability
This research note reviews recent literature on the vulnerability of critical infrastructures caused by climate change with a focus on the Nordic countries. We integrate literature from three research areas: the role of critical infrastructures in the functioning of society, infrastructural vulnerabilities, and the long-term impacts of climate change. Focusing on climate change adaptation in the Nordic countries as a pivotal case, we discuss the …
What do energy modellers know? An ethnography of epistemic values and knowledge models
This article considers academic energy modelling as a scientific practice. While models and modelling have been of considerable interest in energy social science research, few studies have brought together approaches from philosophy of science and anthropology to examine energy models both conceptually and in the applied sense. We develop a conceptual approach on epistemological ethics that distinguishes between epistemic values – such as accurac…
Sociotechnical agendas
The field of science and technology studies (STS) has introduced and developed a “sociotechnical” perspective that has been taken up by many disciplines and areas of inquiry. The aims and objectives of this study are threefold: to interrogate which sociotechnical concepts or tools from STS are useful at better understanding energy-related social science, to reflect on prominent themes and topics within those approaches, and to identify current re…
The Anthropologization of Energy
The Promise of Infrastructure. Nikhil Anand, Akhil Gupta and Hannah Appel (eds), 2018. Electrifying Anthropology: Exploring Electrical Practices and Infrastructures. Simone Abram, Brit Ross Winthereik and Thomas Yarrow (eds), 2019
An assemblage of framings and tamings
The social life of methods – the idea that research methods are an important topic of inquiry in and of themselves – has been receiving increasing interest in scholarship on the organisation of the economy and social life, including Science and Technology Studies (STS). In STS, especially ethnographic methods have been important for decades. This article develops an ethnographic methodology for the study of a very new case that challenges the ass…
Smelling Machine History
This article analyses users' olfactory recollections of computers, based on large-scale, online inquiry material collected between 2002 and 2003 and in 2013. It discusses how olfactory experiences and recollections can be classified based on narration and the causes of odors. Furthermore, it explores the changes of olfactory recollections over the course of ten years, and deals with age and gender in these recollections and in their representatio…
Energy, economics, and performativity
The rhythms of infrastructure
Technology organizes social life in different ways. This article focuses on the temporal ordering brought about by household energy technologies and the broader infrastructures upon which they depend. Such technology saves time, and the energy services so provided allow for comfort, flexibility and the independence from natural rhythms. While many such services are produced by distant infrastructures, the technology is neither invisible nor imper…
Keeping Systems at Work
This article discusses the reliability of electricity supply and the management of its uncertainties from a systems theoretical point of view. We begin by outlining recent Science and Technology Studies (STS) literature about energy systems, infrastructures and practices concerning their use and argue that many current discussions hold promise in two directions: one concerns the brittleness and uncertainty of the electricity system that is seen a…
Sociotechnical agendas
The field of science and technology studies (STS) has introduced and developed a “sociotechnical” perspective that has been taken up by many disciplines and areas of inquiry. The aims and objectives of this study are threefold: to interrogate which sociotechnical concepts or tools from STS are useful at better understanding energy-related social science, to reflect on prominent themes and topics within those approaches, and to identify current re…
An assemblage of framings and tamings
The social life of methods – the idea that research methods are an important topic of inquiry in and of themselves – has been receiving increasing interest in scholarship on the organisation of the economy and social life, including Science and Technology Studies (STS). In STS, especially ethnographic methods have been important for decades. This article develops an ethnographic methodology for the study of a very new case that challenges the ass…
Energy, economics, and performativity
Energy citizenship
The centrality of energy for daily life entails that citizens' relations to energy need particular attention, to the extent that it might merit a specific concept of energy citizenship. However, the academic literature on energy citizenship has remained small even if it is growing, the concept itself underspecified, and focused on a narrow set of topics that leave many core social science insights on both citizenship and energy governance unaddre…
The rhythms of infrastructure
Technology organizes social life in different ways. This article focuses on the temporal ordering brought about by household energy technologies and the broader infrastructures upon which they depend. Such technology saves time, and the energy services so provided allow for comfort, flexibility and the independence from natural rhythms. While many such services are produced by distant infrastructures, the technology is neither invisible nor imper…
What do energy modellers know? An ethnography of epistemic values and knowledge models
This article considers academic energy modelling as a scientific practice. While models and modelling have been of considerable interest in energy social science research, few studies have brought together approaches from philosophy of science and anthropology to examine energy models both conceptually and in the applied sense. We develop a conceptual approach on epistemological ethics that distinguishes between epistemic values – such as accurac…
On Theory-Methods Packages in Science and Technology Studies
Our review essay contributes to the long-standing and vibrant discussion in science and technology studies (STS) on methods, methodologies, and theory-method relationships. We aim to improve the reflexivity of research by unpacking the often implicit assumptions that imbue research conduct and by offering practical tools through which STS researchers can recognize their research designs and think through them in a new way. To achieve these aims, …
Experts, stakeholders, technocracy, and technoeconomic input into energy scenarios
This paper confronts the broad question of the nature and quality of the contributions of experts, stakeholders, and the wider public to the development of detailed technoeconomical inputs used in scenario analyses used for discussions and decisions on the green energy transition and science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in general. The study focuses on stakeholder inclusion in developing the Danish Energy Agency's technology catalogu…
Critical infrastructure vulnerability
This research note reviews recent literature on the vulnerability of critical infrastructures caused by climate change with a focus on the Nordic countries. We integrate literature from three research areas: the role of critical infrastructures in the functioning of society, infrastructural vulnerabilities, and the long-term impacts of climate change. Focusing on climate change adaptation in the Nordic countries as a pivotal case, we discuss the …
Smelling Machine History
This article analyses users' olfactory recollections of computers, based on large-scale, online inquiry material collected between 2002 and 2003 and in 2013. It discusses how olfactory experiences and recollections can be classified based on narration and the causes of odors. Furthermore, it explores the changes of olfactory recollections over the course of ten years, and deals with age and gender in these recollections and in their representatio…
Energy in Society
Is the Normal Accidents perspective falsifiable
Purpose – This article is motivated by debates regarding Charles Perrow ' s Normal Accidents perspective which describes how technological systems are prone to failure if they have complexity and tight coupling. The purpose of this paper is to explore Normal Accidents conceptually to understand whether or not it might be feasible to disprove it or to find counterexamples. Design/methodology/approach – The approach taken by this article is to iden…
Keeping Systems at Work
This article discusses the reliability of electricity supply and the management of its uncertainties from a systems theoretical point of view. We begin by outlining recent Science and Technology Studies (STS) literature about energy systems, infrastructures and practices concerning their use and argue that many current discussions hold promise in two directions: one concerns the brittleness and uncertainty of the electricity system that is seen a…
The rhythms of infrastructure
Technology organizes social life in different ways. This article focuses on the temporal ordering brought about by household energy technologies and the broader infrastructures upon which they depend. Such technology saves time, and the energy services so provided allow for comfort, flexibility and the independence from natural rhythms. While many such services are produced by distant infrastructures, the technology is neither invisible nor imper…
Energy, economics, and performativity
Smelling Machine History
This article analyses users' olfactory recollections of computers, based on large-scale, online inquiry material collected between 2002 and 2003 and in 2013. It discusses how olfactory experiences and recollections can be classified based on narration and the causes of odors. Furthermore, it explores the changes of olfactory recollections over the course of ten years, and deals with age and gender in these recollections and in their representatio…
The Anthropologization of Energy
The Promise of Infrastructure. Nikhil Anand, Akhil Gupta and Hannah Appel (eds), 2018. Electrifying Anthropology: Exploring Electrical Practices and Infrastructures. Simone Abram, Brit Ross Winthereik and Thomas Yarrow (eds), 2019
An assemblage of framings and tamings
The social life of methods – the idea that research methods are an important topic of inquiry in and of themselves – has been receiving increasing interest in scholarship on the organisation of the economy and social life, including Science and Technology Studies (STS). In STS, especially ethnographic methods have been important for decades. This article develops an ethnographic methodology for the study of a very new case that challenges the ass…
What do energy modellers know? An ethnography of epistemic values and knowledge models
This article considers academic energy modelling as a scientific practice. While models and modelling have been of considerable interest in energy social science research, few studies have brought together approaches from philosophy of science and anthropology to examine energy models both conceptually and in the applied sense. We develop a conceptual approach on epistemological ethics that distinguishes between epistemic values – such as accurac…
Sociotechnical agendas
The field of science and technology studies (STS) has introduced and developed a “sociotechnical” perspective that has been taken up by many disciplines and areas of inquiry. The aims and objectives of this study are threefold: to interrogate which sociotechnical concepts or tools from STS are useful at better understanding energy-related social science, to reflect on prominent themes and topics within those approaches, and to identify current re…
Ialenti, Vincent (2020) Deep Time Reckoning
Critical infrastructure vulnerability
This research note reviews recent literature on the vulnerability of critical infrastructures caused by climate change with a focus on the Nordic countries. We integrate literature from three research areas: the role of critical infrastructures in the functioning of society, infrastructural vulnerabilities, and the long-term impacts of climate change. Focusing on climate change adaptation in the Nordic countries as a pivotal case, we discuss the …
Alignment Work and Epistemic Cultures
This article closes the special issue Alignment Work for the Movement of Knowledge. It argues that the concept of alignment work, through making it possible to think about collaborations of different epistemic cultures, provides a useful addition to Knorr Cetina’s (1999) concept, keeping it relevant for current concerns in Science and Technology Studies (STS). The article discusses central issues in STS, concerning how different academic and prof…
Energy citizenship
The centrality of energy for daily life entails that citizens' relations to energy need particular attention, to the extent that it might merit a specific concept of energy citizenship. However, the academic literature on energy citizenship has remained small even if it is growing, the concept itself underspecified, and focused on a narrow set of topics that leave many core social science insights on both citizenship and energy governance unaddre…
Experts, stakeholders, technocracy, and technoeconomic input into energy scenarios
This paper confronts the broad question of the nature and quality of the contributions of experts, stakeholders, and the wider public to the development of detailed technoeconomical inputs used in scenario analyses used for discussions and decisions on the green energy transition and science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in general. The study focuses on stakeholder inclusion in developing the Danish Energy Agency's technology catalogu…
On Theory-Methods Packages in Science and Technology Studies
Our review essay contributes to the long-standing and vibrant discussion in science and technology studies (STS) on methods, methodologies, and theory-method relationships. We aim to improve the reflexivity of research by unpacking the often implicit assumptions that imbue research conduct and by offering practical tools through which STS researchers can recognize their research designs and think through them in a new way. To achieve these aims, …
Science & Technology Studies
The first edition of Science & Technology Studies, then named Science Studies, became available in 1988. Over the past 35 years, the journal has established itself as a prominent international publication, experiencing significant growth in publication volume, manuscript submissions, and readership. This editorial commemorates these achievements and reflects on the journal's evolution. A key aspect of this exploration is our journal's role in the…
Infrastructures of power
This paper suggests a synthetization of three classic approaches to analyze infrastructures as interconnected compositions that subtly distribute power and governance. We draw upon conceptualizations within large technological systems (LTS), Internet governance, and information infrastructures (II), and connect them to our own extensive research in energy infrastructure and systems spanning over a decade. This combination serves as the bedrock fo…
Governance by Infrastructure (Part II)
This collection of articles is the second part of the special issue published by First Monday in February 2024 (https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/issue/view/747). The original thematic series of case studies on ‘Governance by Infrastructure’ is extended here with three new case studies, an article on methodology, and a closing commentary. Their publication concludes an adventure that we began in 2021 with the preparation of a workshop held…
Governance by information infrastructures
The term “infrastructure” has evolved to span a wide range of disciplines, reflecting its diverse applications and conceptualizations. This paper argues that information infrastructures (II) represent a distinct and increasingly significant socio-material form, crucial for understanding governance by infrastructure. We examine the origins and evoluIon of II, emphasizing the socio-material differences between II and other technological forms such …
Habits Over Routines
The evolution of computer tools has had profound impacts on many aspects of control rooms and control room studies. In this paper, we discuss some key assumptions underpinning these studies based on a new case of the electricity distribution control rooms, where the reliability of the electricity infrastructure is managed by a combination of planning and real-time maintenance. Some of these practices have changed remarkably little over the past d…
How does science and technology studies contribute to climate mitigation research? Advanced review of infrastructure as a concept and method
The objective of this paper is to review how Science and Technology Studies (STS) has contributed to climate change mitigation research. We focus on large‐scale infrastructures as a key topic of both mitigation efforts and recent STS scholarship. The paper assesses the conceptual and methodological treatments in this field, uses literature evidence to identify research gaps, and suggests potential topics for future research. Our research firstly …
Electrifying stories
The green transition necessitates large-scale battery solutions. Finland has initiated the development of a national battery cluster, supported by a range of policy instruments aimed at attracting investments. Although energy social research has examined the role of language and power in energy policy through discursive approaches, limited attention has been paid to how the battery industry is represented and contested in news media. We deem thes…
To build or buy? Marketization of flexibility services in the Norwegian distribution grid
Electricity grids are expected to play a key role in energy transitions as facilitators that absorb the impacts of transitions in other sectors. This article examines how challenges with strained grid capacity are addressed through making local flexibility markets for trading end-user flexibility . Using the markets-in-the-making approach that conceives markets as framings (Callon, 2016, 2021), we examine the construction of conditions in which f…
How does co-creation facilitate transdisciplinarity? The case of an EU energy demand research programme
Political science (15 works) · Economics (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Engineering (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Information Systems Theories and Implementation (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance (6 works) · Epistemology (5 works)