Johnston, S.F. (2005) Shifting perspectives: holography and the emergence of technical communities. Technology and Culture, 46(1), pp. 77-103.
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Publisher's URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/technology_and_culture/v046/46.1johnston.html
Abstract
Holography, the technology of three-dimensional imaging, has repeatedly been reconceptualised by new communities. Conceived in 1947 as a means of improving electron microscopy, holography was revitalized in the early 1960s by engineer-scientists at classified laboratories. The invention promoted the transformation of a would-be discipline (optical engineering) and spawned limited artist-scientist collaborations. However, a separate artisanal community promoted a distinct countercultural form of holography via a revolutionary technology: the sandbox optical table. Their tools, sponsorship, products, literature and engagement with wider culture differentiated the communities, which instituted a limited ‘technological trade’. The subject strikingly illustrates the co-evolution of new technology along with highly dissimilar user groups, neither of which fostered the secure establishment of a profession or discipline. The case generalises the concept of 'research-technologists' and 'peripheral science', and extends the ideas of Langdon Winner by demonstrating how the political dimensions of a technology can be important but evanescent in the growth of technical communities.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | professions; holography; research technology; peripheral science; technical communities; emerging science |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Johnston, Professor Sean |
| Authors: | Johnston, S.F. |
| Subjects: | Q Science > Q Science (General) |
| College/School: | College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability |
| Journal Name: | Technology and Culture |
| Publisher: | The Johns Hopkins University Press |
| ISSN: | 0040-165X |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2005 The Johns Hopkins University Press |
| First Published: | First published in Technology and Culture 46(1):77-103 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher |
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