From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio
Thesis (Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2009.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50110 |
| _version_ | 1811087954015158272 |
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| author | Downes, Kieran |
| author2 | David Kaiser. |
| author_facet | David Kaiser. Downes, Kieran |
| author_sort | Downes, Kieran |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Thesis (Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2009. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:54:27Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/50110 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:54:27Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/501102019-04-12T23:30:55Z From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio Users, systems, and technology in high-end audio Downes, Kieran David Kaiser. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society. Program in Science, Technology and Society. Thesis (Ph. D. in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS))--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2009. Page 414 blank. Includes bibliographical references (p. 401-413). This is a story about technology, users, and music. It is about an approach to the design, manipulation, and arrangement of technologies in small-scale systems to achieve particular aesthetic goals - goals that are at once subjective and contingent. These goals emerge from enthusiasm for technology, for system-building, and for music among members of a community of users, and the promise of the emotional rewards derived from these elements in combination. It is a story about how enthusiasm and passion become practice, and how particular technologies, system-building activities, listening, debating, innovating, and interacting form that practice. Using both historical and ethnographic research methods, including fieldwork and oral history interviews, this dissertation is focused on how and why user communities mobilize around particular technologies and socio-technical systems. In particular, it concerns how users' aesthetic sensibilities and enthusiasm for technology can shape both technologies themselves and the processes of technological innovation. These issues are explored through a study of the small but enthusiastic high-end audio community in the United States. These users express needs, desires, and aesthetic motivations towards technology that set them apart from mainstream consumers, but also reveal important and under-recognized aspects of human relationships with technology more broadly. Covering the emergence and growth of high-end audio from the early 1970s to 2000, I trace some of the major technology transitions during this period and their associated social elements, including the shift from vacuum tube to solid-state electronics in the 1970s, and from analog vinyl records to digital compact discs in the 1980s. I show how this community came to understand technology, science, and their own social behavior through powerful emotional and aesthetic responses to music and the technologies used to reproduce music in the home. I further show how focusing on technology's users can recast assumptions about the ingredients and conditions necessary to foster technological innovation. by Kieran Downes. Ph.D.in History, Anthropology, and Science, Technology and Society (HASTS 2009-12-10T19:13:59Z 2009-12-10T19:13:59Z 2009 2009 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50110 463455170 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 414 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Program in Science, Technology and Society. Downes, Kieran From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio |
| title | From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio |
| title_full | From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio |
| title_fullStr | From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio |
| title_full_unstemmed | From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio |
| title_short | From enthusiasm to practice : users, systems, and technology in high-end audio |
| title_sort | from enthusiasm to practice users systems and technology in high end audio |
| topic | Program in Science, Technology and Society. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/50110 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT downeskieran fromenthusiasmtopracticeuserssystemsandtechnologyinhighendaudio AT downeskieran userssystemsandtechnologyinhighendaudio |