Morley, Janine (2018) How Software Matters : Connective Tissue and Self-Driving Cars. In: Social Practices and Dynamic Non-Humans : Nature, Materials and Technologies. Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 173-192. ISBN 9783319921884
Morley_software_matters_AAM.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial.
Download (719kB)
Abstract
Drawing on the example of self-driving and connected cars, this chapter explores how the software that is being integrated into, and transforming, everyday objects might be conceptualised within theories of practice. It argues that although software is an especially dynamic and intangible ‘material’ it can still be accommodated within existing conceptualisations of materiality in practice theories. The automation that software enables can be positioned as part of practice complexes, even when it does not play a direct, constitutive role in any single practice. In addition, through performing varied work in connecting practices and enabling ‘feedback’ over time and space, software can be understood to form part of the connective tissue by which practice complexes hang together and change.