Search

This article describes a case study of virtual herding and digital fencing technology implementation for goats in Norway. With the abolishing of physical fences, the goats can roam free in a physical sense, but in the digital realm, they are controlled by a virtual fence. The virtual fence, or digital boundary, is set by the famers and interacts with a collar around the goats' necks. The collar first give a sound signal and thereafter a small electric shock if the goats cross a boundary, resulting in the creation of new classifications and orderings of reality. This article focuses on what this disruption means for contemporary goat farming in terms of practices, perceptions and policies of (smart) farming, as well as how the goats themselves are given new meanings and ways of being. We analyze this with the theoretical concept of "boundary object" and see how goats, which contain a multiplicity of agency and autonomy, are transformed by smart-farming technologies. Collaboration and interaction are made possible despite the fact that the actors have widely different goals. Through negotiations between multiple actors, a new type of goat emerges between nature-, culture- and technology. We conceptualize this as "CyborGoat." This boundary object facilitates new everyday agricultural settings, which brings new benefits and issues for different stakeholder actors involved. • Virtual herding and digital fencing are part of a transition to "smart-farming". • Farmers can set invisible boundaries that goats must learn to use. • New boundaryless boundaries create news ways of negotiating goat farming. • Structural needs and arrangements create interpretive flexibility of the technologized goat. • The "CyborGoat" is a product of nature-culture-technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silage bailer technology preserving harvested grass and turning it into silage by a baling machine attached to a tractor is common in most rural regions in Norway. In this paper, we argue that not only have silage bales become a common sight in rural areas, in certain cases, silage bales have also had profound significance for agricultural development without much attention paid to their profound role and implications. Norway represents such a case, and a deeper understanding of how such a now common agriculture technology became established could shed light on how the introduction of new technologies affects agricultural change on societal and structural levels. This includes how technologies interact with societal and organizational aspects of agriculture – the co-production of technology and societal practices on different levels. How does new technologies connect – influence and become influenced by – socio-cultural farm practices and societal, organizational and structural features of Norwegian agriculture? We use the introduction of the silag round bale press in Norway as a case study to shed light on this implementation process and its significance for the Norwegian agricultural sector. • Presents new data on the introduction and use of the round bale technology in Norway. • Points to a correlation between the emergence of automated milking systems and the round baler. • The baler has had a major role in transforming the Norwegian dairy structure into one of larger farms with more rented land. • The silage baler became a temporary solution to a permanent problem of increasing production. • Suggests that new technologies can have unintended consequences, policymakers should be aware of this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper develops a methodology for a balanced readiness level assessment of new agricultural technologies. • Technology readiness level (TRL) are supplemented with market readiness level (MRL), regulatory readiness level (RRL), acceptance level readiness (ARL), and organizational level assessment (ORL) to build the balanced readiness level assessment (BRLa). • The authors explore the applicability of the new methodology on 36 new agricultural technologies and one in-depth case study. • The new methodology includes a tool for illustrating results in the shape of a pentagon. In this paper a methodology for a balanced readiness assessment of novel agricultural technologies is developed and presented. The methodology expand on the well-known Technology Readiness Level (TRL) assessments, with a method for assessing TRL as well as Market Readiness Level (MRL), Regulatory Readiness Level (RRL), Acceptance Readiness Level (ARL), and Organizational Readiness Level (ORL) in concert. In the article the Balanced Readiness Level assessment (BRLa) methodology is employed and illustrated on 1) a set of 36 novel agricultural technologies, and 2) on the development of a technology for virtual agricultural fences. The empirical applications in this article indicates that the BRLa- methodology may serve as a fruitful approach for a compound assessment of emerging technologies. The methdodology is relevant for actors involved in advisory services, funding, investment and technology development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Care-robot gerontechnology in the homes of older adults is a novel test site. • Technology is used – domesticated – in different practical, symbolic and cognitive ways. • Domestication of technology theory should be expanded to include a social dimension. • Robot technology can have multiple effects on care networks and relationships. In this article we look at the home as an arena for care by exploring how care robots and technological care-systems can become part of older adults' lives. We investigate the domestication of robot technology in the context of what in Scandinavia is called "welfare technology" (relating to the terms "gerontechnology" and "Active Assisted Living,") that especially aims to mitigate older adults´ challenges with living in their own homes. Through our case study, we investigate a system called eWare, where a flowerpot robot called "Tessa" works in symbiosis with a sensor technology "SensaraCare." Together, they create a socio-technical ecosystem involving older adult end-users living at home, formal caregivers (e.g. healthcare workers), and informal caregivers (normally family members). We analyze our ethnographic fieldwork through the theoretical concept of "domestication of technology," focusing on an established three-dimensional model that includes practical, symbolic, and cognitive levels of analysis. We found that social bonds and different ways of using the same technology ecosystem were crucial, and so we supplement this model by suggesting a fourth dimension, which we term the social dimension of the domestication of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural sector is undergoing several transitions through "smart-farming" technologies. To make this innovation responsible, it is critical to support technological innovation at different stages of innovation with customized strategies for the individual technology. What are the critical support functions at different stages of technological innovation in agriculture? Four technologies are analysed: Automated Milking Systems (AMS), a digital fencing system for the virtual herding of goats, a technology for drone-based observation and management in agriculture and forestry, and round baler silage systems. These are analysed as sociotechnical constructions of multiple stakeholders, with heterogeneous pathways to societal acceptance and practical usage on the farm. To provide information about how such technology can be created in a responsible manner, the paper suggests a Balanced Readiness Level assessment (BRLa) to highlight five dimensions for technological maturity: technological, market, regulatory, social acceptance, and organizational maturity. Through this approach, the findings show that each phase of the technological development benefits from specifically targeted support and that support functions should not be underestimated in order to get technology to a higher level of acceptance. Agriculture is facing challenges that demand transition of the sector. Supporting invention to stimulate innovation is important; supporting implementation is also important, but identifying the supporting functions that can have an impact at the societal level is crucial to stimulating transition of the system. This paper clarifies the variations of the supporting functions. [Display omitted] • Exploring critical support functions at different stages of technological innovation in agriculture • Balanced Readiness Level assessment (BRLa) highlight technology, market, regulation, social acceptance, and organization • Technology is socio-technically constructed by multiple stakeholders negotiating technological innovation • Crucial to identify the supporting functions that have an impact to stimulate the system's transition at the macro-level [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]