Peak oil is the claimed moment in time when global oil production reaches its maximum rate and henceforth forever declines. It is highly controversial as to whether or not peak oil represents cause for serious concern. My thesis explores how this controversy unfolds but brackets the ontological status of the reality indexed by the peak-oil concept. I do not choose a side in the debate; I look at the debate itself. I examine the energy outlook documents of ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, Total and the International Energy Agency (IEA) as well as academic articles and documentaries. Through an in-depth analysis of peak-oil controversy via tenets of actor-network theory (ANT), I show that what is at stake are competing framings of reality itself, which must be understood when engaging with the contentious idea of peak oil. / Graduate

This dissertation builds upon the existing body of criminological and socio-legal literature on Internet governance by looking at how this technology and its use are regulated in Canada. Rather than focusing on the regulation of specific web-based activities (e.g., illegal downloading, child luring, etc.) or the control of certain types of online content (e.g., hate speech, pornography, etc.), the dissertation considers the ways that regulatory bodies have responded to the emergence of this new medium. Three specific agencies involved in the governing of the Internet are studied in detail: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the Media Awareness Network (MNet) and the courts. Using a variety of theoretical and conceptual tools taken from both governmentality studies and Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the dissertation empirically documents how these agencies imagine the Internet and make it governable. Instead of searching for global accounts that look to either Society or Technology as a source of explanation for why the technology is governed in a particular fashion, this project examines how certain knowledges about the Internet and its regulation get produced in the first place. Attention is paid here to how these agencies initially problematize the Internet, the kinds of regulatory strategies and practices that have emerged and the general impact this has had for our understanding of the Internet and the way in which it should be governed. In keeping with the constructivist tradition in the field of Science and Technology Studies (S&TS), the dissertation approaches the regulation of the Internet as a site where the very nature of this technology – in terms of what it does, how it can be used and whether or not it can or should be regulated – gets invented and reinvented. However, rather than bracketing the building of the Internet from its governance, these processes are seen as mutually constitutive whereby the technology must be made governable in order to be governed. Consequently, given the many different and often competing visions about the Internet, the version that gets accepted (at least, momentarily) is shown to be crucial for how the technology is eventually received.

This study examines the way people use online resources within their personal healthcare practices to better understand how individuals manage their health issues in the age of the Internet. It specifically addresses the extent to which the Internet is used as an information database and associated patterns of use, whether the Internet represents a source of support or enables a supportive encounter and the implications of using the Internet as part of the health management across relationships with medical professionals and oneself. Using a sequential mixed methods design, the data was gathered within a larger multidisciplinary research project conducted in East York, Ontario. An initial quantitative analysis of 350 surveys describes Internet usage. The qualitative analysis of the 86 follow-up interviews of people recounting their personal health management processes demonstrated the importance of social networks, subjective health status and Internet user-style. The facile ability to engage with health information is transforming definitions and experiences of health and relationships with medical professionals. Examining medical encounters mindful of the aspects of trust, power, knowledge and privilege reveals an evolution to the doctor-patient relationship brought about by both information and personal empowerment. Using the Internet reinforces primary relationships and points to the development of new relationships that are sought at moments of meaningful life events or circumstances. New types of connections are being built across the Internet based on shared experiences, health concerns and health identities. Applying Actor Network Theory furthers an understanding of how search engines and online resources can emerge as actors in health information seeking and health management processes. Internet use is now a part of everyday life and is no longer limited to affluent early adopters as the gaps between those with access diminish in urban Canada. While its use is becoming intrinsically linked to health management it is not a panacea for improving health outcomes. As the populations’ collective health knowledge increases, so does the presumption that health management is a personal imperative. This notion that the achievement of good health is an individual responsibility or the theory of Healthism, frames the interpretation of the large percentage of the sample indicating they are striving to become healthier. Social workers need to acknowledge the place of the Internet within its practice and to balance the emphasis on individualized health management with the perspective that health outcomes reflect community mores. It is important for social workers to treat the Internet as a medium of relationships and for social workers to become knowledgeable about what these connections can provide in terms of support and information and what the limitations and risks of these relationships can be.

Criminologists and sociolegal scholars have become increasingly interested in studying media representations of crime in popular culture. They have studied representations using content analyses, often examining their “accuracy” against academic research. Alternatively, these scholars have also studied media effects. In contrast to these studies, I focus on the television production process of making entertaining, dramatic representations of crime. In doing so, I empirically address the following research question: how do TV writers know about crime, and how do they transform that knowledge into fictional representations? I answer this question using a triangulation of methods to gather data – specifically, ethnography, archival research, and interviews with writers and producers – and through the juxtaposition of several case studies. My case studies include the following Canadian crime television programs: 1) the police drama 'The Bridge,' 2) an original Canadian drama about insurance fraud, 'Cra$h and Burn,' and 3) crime docudramas, such as 'F2: Forensic Factor' and 'Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science.' Taking cues from Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory, I focus on the site-specific, concrete, dynamic processes through which each television production makes fiction. I conceive of the writers’ room as a laboratory that creates representations through collaborative action and trial and error. This research demonstrates that, during the production process, representations of crime are unstable, constantly in flux as various creative and legal entities compel their revision. Legal entities, such as Errors and Omissions insurance and broadcasters’ Standards and Practices, regulate the content and form of representations of crime prior to their airing. My findings also reveal the contingency of (commercial) success, the heterogeneity of people who make up television production staff, and the piecemeal state of knowledge that circulates between producers, network executives and writers.

This dissertation builds upon the existing body of criminological and socio-legal literature on Internet governance by looking at how this technology and its use are regulated in Canada. Rather than focusing on the regulation of specific web-based activities (e.g., illegal downloading, child luring, etc.) or the control of certain types of online content (e.g., hate speech, pornography, etc.), the dissertation considers the ways that regulatory bodies have responded to the emergence of this new medium. Three specific agencies involved in the governing of the Internet are studied in detail: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the Media Awareness Network (MNet) and the courts. Using a variety of theoretical and conceptual tools taken from both governmentality studies and Actor-Network Theory (ANT), the dissertation empirically documents how these agencies imagine the Internet and make it governable. Instead of searching for global accounts that look to either Society or Technology as a source of explanation for why the technology is governed in a particular fashion, this project examines how certain knowledges about the Internet and its regulation get produced in the first place. Attention is paid here to how these agencies initially problematize the Internet, the kinds of regulatory strategies and practices that have emerged and the general impact this has had for our understanding of the Internet and the way in which it should be governed. In keeping with the constructivist tradition in the field of Science and Technology Studies (S&TS), the dissertation approaches the regulation of the Internet as a site where the very nature of this technology – in terms of what it does, how it can be used and whether or not it can or should be regulated – gets invented and reinvented. However, rather than bracketing the building of the Internet from its governance, these processes are seen as mutually constitutive whereby the technology must be made governable in order to be governed. Consequently, given the many different and often competing visions about the Internet, the version that gets accepted (at least, momentarily) is shown to be crucial for how the technology is eventually received.

This study examines the way people use online resources within their personal healthcare practices to better understand how individuals manage their health issues in the age of the Internet. It specifically addresses the extent to which the Internet is used as an information database and associated patterns of use, whether the Internet represents a source of support or enables a supportive encounter and the implications of using the Internet as part of the health management across relationships with medical professionals and oneself. Using a sequential mixed methods design, the data was gathered within a larger multidisciplinary research project conducted in East York, Ontario. An initial quantitative analysis of 350 surveys describes Internet usage. The qualitative analysis of the 86 follow-up interviews of people recounting their personal health management processes demonstrated the importance of social networks, subjective health status and Internet user-style. The facile ability to engage with health information is transforming definitions and experiences of health and relationships with medical professionals. Examining medical encounters mindful of the aspects of trust, power, knowledge and privilege reveals an evolution to the doctor-patient relationship brought about by both information and personal empowerment. Using the Internet reinforces primary relationships and points to the development of new relationships that are sought at moments of meaningful life events or circumstances. New types of connections are being built across the Internet based on shared experiences, health concerns and health identities. Applying Actor Network Theory furthers an understanding of how search engines and online resources can emerge as actors in health information seeking and health management processes. Internet use is now a part of everyday life and is no longer limited to affluent early adopters as the gaps between those with access diminish in urban Canada. While its use is becoming intrinsically linked to health management it is not a panacea for improving health outcomes. As the populations’ collective health knowledge increases, so does the presumption that health management is a personal imperative. This notion that the achievement of good health is an individual responsibility or the theory of Healthism, frames the interpretation of the large percentage of the sample indicating they are striving to become healthier. Social workers need to acknowledge the place of the Internet within its practice and to balance the emphasis on individualized health management with the perspective that health outcomes reflect community mores. It is important for social workers to treat the Internet as a medium of relationships and for social workers to become knowledgeable about what these connections can provide in terms of support and information and what the limitations and risks of these relationships can be.

Criminologists and sociolegal scholars have become increasingly interested in studying media representations of crime in popular culture. They have studied representations using content analyses, often examining their “accuracy” against academic research. Alternatively, these scholars have also studied media effects. In contrast to these studies, I focus on the television production process of making entertaining, dramatic representations of crime. In doing so, I empirically address the following research question: how do TV writers know about crime, and how do they transform that knowledge into fictional representations? I answer this question using a triangulation of methods to gather data – specifically, ethnography, archival research, and interviews with writers and producers – and through the juxtaposition of several case studies. My case studies include the following Canadian crime television programs: 1) the police drama 'The Bridge,' 2) an original Canadian drama about insurance fraud, 'Cra$h and Burn,' and 3) crime docudramas, such as 'F2: Forensic Factor' and 'Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science.' Taking cues from Bruno Latour’s actor-network theory, I focus on the site-specific, concrete, dynamic processes through which each television production makes fiction. I conceive of the writers’ room as a laboratory that creates representations through collaborative action and trial and error. This research demonstrates that, during the production process, representations of crime are unstable, constantly in flux as various creative and legal entities compel their revision. Legal entities, such as Errors and Omissions insurance and broadcasters’ Standards and Practices, regulate the content and form of representations of crime prior to their airing. My findings also reveal the contingency of (commercial) success, the heterogeneity of people who make up television production staff, and the piecemeal state of knowledge that circulates between producers, network executives and writers.

Under the Nazi regime in Germany (1933-1945) a calculated killing of chronic “mentally ill” patients took place that was part of a large biopolitical program using well-established, contemporary scientific standards on the understanding of eugenics. Nearly 300,000 patients were assassinated during this period. Nurses executed this program through their everyday practice. However, suspicions have been raised that psychiatric patients were already assassinated before and after the Nazi regime, suggesting that the motives for these killings must be investigated within psychiatric practice itself. My research aims to highlight the mechanisms and scientific discourses in place that allowed nurses to perceive patients as unworthy of life, and thus able to be killed. Using Foucauldian concepts of “biopower” and “State racism,” this discourse analysis is carried out on several levels. First, it analyzes nursing notes in one specific patient record and interprets them in relation to the kinds of scientific discourses that are identified, for example, in nursing journals between 1900 and 1945. Second, it argues that records are not static but rather produce certain effects; they are “performative” because they are active agents. Psychiatry, with its need to make patients completely visible and its desire to maintain its dominance in the psychiatric field, requires the utilization of writing in order to register everything that happens to individuals, everything they do and everything they talk about. Furthermore, writing enables nurses to pass along information from the “bottom-up,” and written documents allow all information to be accessible at any time. It is a method of centralizing information and of coordinating different levels within disciplinary systems. By following this approach it is possible to demonstrate that the production of meaning within nurses’ notes is not based on the intentionality of the writer but rather depends on discursive patterns constructed by contemporary scientific discourses. Using a form of “institutional ethnography,” the study analyzes documents as “inscriptions” that actively interven in interactions in institutions and that create a specific reality on their own accord. The question is not whether the reality represented within the documents is true, but rather how documents worked in institutions and what their effects were. Third, the study demonstrates how nurses were actively involved in the construction of patients’ identities and how these “documentary identities” led to the death of thousands of humans whose lives were considered to be “unworthy lives.” Documents are able to constitute the identities of psychiatric patients and, conversely, are able to deconstruct them. The result of de-subjectification was that “zones for the unliving” existed in psychiatric hospitals long before the Nazi regime and within these zones, patients were exposed to an increased risk of death. An analysis of the nursing notes highlights that nurses played a decisive role in constructing these “zones” and had an important strategic function in them. Psychiatric hospitals became spaces where patients were reduced to a “bare life;” these spaces were comparable with the concentration camps of the Holocaust. This analysis enables the integration of nursing practices under National Socialism into the history of modernity. Nursing under Nazism was not simply a relapse into barbarism; Nazi exclusionary practices were extreme variants of scientific, social, and political exclusionary practices that were already in place. Different types of power are identifiable in the Nazi regime, even those that Foucault called “technologies of the self” were demonstrated, for example, by the denunciation of “disabled persons” by nurses. Nurses themselves were able to employ techniques of power in the Nazi regime.

Marknadiseringen av det svenska postväsendet iscensattes genom en omregleringsprocess i början av 1990-talet. Det visade sig snart att en rad problem uppstod när det gällde att skapa villkor för en fungerande konkurrens på lika villkor mellan Posten och övriga aktörer. Några av dessa problem avsåg postboxsystemet, postnummersystemet och Postens prissättningssystem. Dessa blev föremål för myndigheters och andra aktörers ansträngningar att via omreglering och regeltillämpning påverka förutsättningarna för övergång från statligt monopol till fungerande marknad när det gäller brevförmedling. I boken beskrivs och analyseras marknadiseringen som en konstruktionsprocess som inte bara sätts igång genom en inledande regelförändring utan som kontinuerligt kräver insatser avseende regeltillämpning och omreglering. Bland de myndigheter som involveras är Sveriges Regering och Riksdag, Konkurrensverket, Stockholms Tingsrätt, Marknadsdomstolen och Post- och Telestyrelsen. I avhandlingen används den s.k. aktör-nätverksansatsen (ANT, Actor Network Theory) som analysmetod. Särskild hänsyn tas i ANT till den roll som artefakter, och i vilka sammanhang de är inkopplade, har för sociala förändringar i vidsträckt mening. Studien visar hur de ovannämnda artefakterna, dvs. postboxsystemet, postnummersystemet och Postens prissättningssystem rekonfigureras genom normeringspraktiken men också att det är svårt att åstadkomma en stabil ordning. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2004

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 272-287).