The Social Construction of Technological Systems (Technology): SCOT
http://lamb.cba.hawaii.edu/pubs/bijker04.html (review of Bijker's book by Roberta Lamb)
From the review above:
Goal: to understand and act on issues of sociotechnical change
What happens with new technology:
technology is created by engineers working alone or in groups
marketing people make the world aware of the technology
consumers decide to buy / not buy it, and then after buying modify the technology in ways unimagined by the engineer
Bijker proposes that social processes construct technology in the following ways:
New technology has interpretive flexibility - whether or not something works depends on who uses it and for what purpose
New technology may develop multi-dimensionally - or assume more than one basic form
Relevant social groups interpret / redefine the purpose of the artifact and adapt it to their purposes
Each group has a technological frame for the artifact - or a perspective they see it, based on previous related technologies they associate it with
Groups modify the artifact to address problems they have with it
The form / interpretation of the artifact will stabilize over time
Once stabilized it will be difficult to change the interpretation / use of the object - interpretive flexibility is significantly reduced