Actor-Network Theory (ANT) based visualisation of socio-technical facets of RFID technology translation: an Australian hospital scenario

In the early 2000s, Information Systems researchers in Australia had begun to emphasise socio-technical approaches in innovation adoption of technologies. The ‘essentialist' approaches to adoption (for example, Innovation Diffusion or TAM), suggest an essence is largely responsible for rate of adoption (Tatnall, 2011) or a new technology introduced may spark innovation. The socio-technical factors in implementing an innovation are largely flouted by researchers and hospitals. Innovation Translation is an approach that purports that any innovation needs to be customised and translated in to context before it can be adopted. Equally, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) is an approach that embraces the differences in technical and human factors and socio-professional aspects in a non-deterministic manner. The research reported in this paper is an attempt to combined the two approaches in an effective manner, to visualise the socio-technical factors in RFID technology adoption in an Australian hospital. This research investigation demonstrates RFID technology translation in an Australian hospital using a case approach (Yin, 2009). Data was collected using a process of focus groups and interviews, analysed with document analysis and concept mapping techniques. The data was then reconstructed in a ‘movie script' format, with Acts and Scenes funnelled to ANT informed abstraction at the end of each Act. The information visualisation at the end of each Act using ANT informed Lens reveal the re-negotiation and improvement of network relationships between the people (factors) involved including nurses, patient care orderlies, management staff and non-human participants such as equipment and technology. The paper augments the current gaps in literature regarding socio-technical approaches in technology adoption within Australian healthcare context, which is transitioning from non-integrated nearly technophobic hospitals in the last decade to a tech-savvy integrated era. More importantly, the ANT visualisation addresses one of the criticisms of ANT i.e. its insufficiency to explain relationship formations between participants and over changes of events in relationship networks (Greenhalgh & Stones, 2010).

Fresh Freud: no longer lost in translation

The new translations of Freud into English highlight the question as to the nature of Freud's quest and achievement. They show a livelier Freud than the Strachey translations (Freud, 1953-1974), who used everyday language in his work instead of trying to establish a new technical vocabulary for an esoteric new discipline. However, with the new Penguin editions thus far, fresh Freud is no longer lost in translation. The Standard Edition was created importantly to create an authoritative international trademark and was made more natural "scientific" in appearance. The fresh translations show a Freud in tune with Karl Popper's (1976) approach in his later work that viewed science as essentially problem solving. The example of "Mourning and Melancholia" (Freud, 1917/ 1964, 1917/1981, 1917/2005) is discussed as an exercise in exploration, conjectures, criticism, construct formation, and problem solving. Translation issues are discussed. Instead of being a particular trade mark, the very fact of there being new and different translations opens Freud's works to further questioning about their meanings and intents in the marketplace of ideas and practices

RFID translation into Australian hospitals: an exploration through Actor-Network Theoretical(ANT) Lens

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that has been deployed successfully for asset tracking within hospitals aimed at improving the quality of processes. In the Australian hospitals context however, adoption of this technology seem sporadic. This research reports on a long-term investigation to gain a deeper understanding of the socio-technical factors involved in the adoption of RFID in Australian hospitals. The research was conducted using interpretive multiple case methodology and results analyzed through the Actor-Network Theoretical (ANT) Lens. © 2013 Infonomics Society.

Developing physical and physiological employment standards: translation of job analysis findings to assessments and performance standards - a systematic review

Physical employment standards (PES) are developed with the aim of ensuring that an employee's physical and physiological capacities are commensurate with the demands of their occupation. While previous commentaries and narrative reviews have provided frameworks for the development of PES, this is the first systematic review of the methods used to translate job analysis findings to PES tests and performance standards for physically demanding occupations. A search of PubMed and Google Scholar was conducted for research articles published in English up to and including March 2015. Two authors independently reviewed and extracted data.

The search yielded 87 potentially eligible papers, including 60 peer reviewed journal articles and 17 technical reports. 57 papers were excluded leading to a final data set of 31 papers, representing 22 studies. Job analysis was most commonly conducted through subjective determination of job tasks followed by objective quantification and validation. Determination of criterion tasks was evenly distributedthrough subjective and objective methods with criterion tasks being defined most commonly as most demanding, critical and/or frequent. Generic predictive and task-related predictive tests were more commonly observed in isolation or in combination when compared to task simulation tests. Performance standards were more commonly criterion-referenced than norm-referenced with a variety of statistical methods utilised. This review provides recommendations for researchers when developing physical employment standards for a variety of occupations.