Making sense of technology protagonism
FutuProta
Funders
Project information
Project duration
-
Funded by
Research Council of Finland - Academy Project
Funding amount
484 618 EUR
Project coordinator
University of Oulu
Contact information
Project leader
- Associate Professor
Contact person
Researchers
Project description
The FutuProta project examines ‘technology protagonism’, i.e., how the future citizens, as private persons, employees, entrepreneurs, or policymakers – and also as technology developers – would be able to act as technology protagonists who have the ability to question digital technology use and demand for socially sustainable technological solutions that augment humans and societies, and even design such technologies themselves. Sustainability is here understood widely, to cover the ethical and societal aspects of technology design and use.
Theoretically, the study relies on nexus analysis as its research framework. Social sustainability and value co-creation lenses are integrated together, with the aim for value co-creation to all stakeholders, leading to empathetic understanding of others. Data will be collected with children, teens and young adults. Data collection methods are qualitative and include observation, interviews, design workshops, and essays written by participants. Genuine participation of everybody is aimed for. Data will be analysed taking discursive perspectives. Participants are invited to analyze data and evaluate findings together with the researchers.
The project creates 1) a theoretical framework of technology protagonism, 2) methodological guidelines for supporting technology protagonism to emerge in design and making context, 3) methodological guidelines for nexus analytical enquiry into technology protagonism, and 4) methods for evaluating development of technology protagonism for researchers’ and practitioners’ use, to help understanding the progress.
The four-year project started in fall 2022 and is funded by the Academy of Finland.