Roger A . Søraa

NTNU, Department of interdisciplinary studies of culture, Faculty Member

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Roger A. Søraa is a Researcher at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture (KULT), with a PhD in Studies of Technology and Society. He works as a researcher for the DRIVERS-project. He also works as a project manager and EU project developer for NTNU Department of Neuroscience, on the projects eWare – Early Warning Accompanies Robotics Excellence and LIFEBOTS. He's affiliated with RURALIS, where he researcher on SmaT – Smart technology for sustainable agriculture. He is also the Editor in chief of the Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies (NJSTS).

Research Interests:

Robotization of gerontechnology, transport, and agriculture
Automation of work and practices
Digitalization of society and social media

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Fabrizio Romanelli

Università degli studi di Roma Tor Vergata

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Universidad de Santiago de Chile

Universidade Estadual de Campinas

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University of Adelaide

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University of Rome Tor Vergata

G. Kronreif

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masterstheses by Roger A . Søraa

Konnichiwa robot, sayonara human?-Construction and domestication of robots in Japan

articles by Roger A . Søraa

Boundaryless boundary-objects: Digital fencing of the CyborGoat in rural Norway

Journal of Rural Studies, 2021

This article describes a case study of virtual herding and digital fencing technology implementat... more 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.

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Mitigating isolation and loneliness with technology through emotional care by social robots in remote

Exoskeletons for all: The interplay between exoskeletons, inclusion, gender, and intersectionality

Children’s perceptions of social robots: a study of the robots Pepper, AV1 and Tessa at Norwegian research fairs

Counting the days

The relevance of acidic groups and metal ions in the production and end use of super-calendered (SC) magazine paper

Queering machines

Nature Machine Intelligence, 2020

Robots and AI are no longer confined to industry but can be found in healthcare, education, and r... more Robots and AI are no longer confined to industry but can be found in healthcare, education, and retail environments. However, the insertion of robots into society raises ethical, legal, and societal concerns. Discrimination and bias are known to be inherent problems of many AI applications [ref 1] and we wonder what this means for the LGBTQ+ community and whether they are considered at all in the development and use of robotics and AI.

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Spaces between

Diversifying diversity: Inclusive engagement, intersectionality, and gender identity in a European Social Sciences and Humanities Energy research project

Post-Gendered Bodies and Relational Gender in Knights of Sidonia

An introduction to Crafting Sustainability--exploring the interconnections between sustainability and craft

Energy consultants calculating sustainability for residential buildings

Why energy retrofitting in private dwellings is difficult in Norway: Coordinating the framing practices of government, craftspeople and homeowners

Crafting environmental policies into action: Energy consulting practices of craftspeople

Crafting practices in the framing of sustainable buildings

The Robotocene

An introduction to Crafting Sustainability--exploring the interconnections between sustainability and craft

by Håkon Fyhn and Roger A . Søraa

Craftsmanship in the machine: sustainability through new roles in building craft at the technologized building site

Mechanical genders: how do humans gender robots?

Konnichiwa robot, sayonara human?-Construction and domestication of robots in Japan

Boundaryless boundary-objects: Digital fencing of the CyborGoat in rural Norway

Journal of Rural Studies, 2021

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Mitigating isolation and loneliness with technology through emotional care by social robots in remote

Exoskeletons for all: The interplay between exoskeletons, inclusion, gender, and intersectionality

Children’s perceptions of social robots: a study of the robots Pepper, AV1 and Tessa at Norwegian research fairs

Counting the days

The relevance of acidic groups and metal ions in the production and end use of super-calendered (SC) magazine paper

Queering machines

Nature Machine Intelligence, 2020

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Spaces between

Diversifying diversity: Inclusive engagement, intersectionality, and gender identity in a European Social Sciences and Humanities Energy research project

Post-Gendered Bodies and Relational Gender in Knights of Sidonia

An introduction to Crafting Sustainability--exploring the interconnections between sustainability and craft

Energy consultants calculating sustainability for residential buildings

Why energy retrofitting in private dwellings is difficult in Norway: Coordinating the framing practices of government, craftspeople and homeowners

Crafting environmental policies into action: Energy consulting practices of craftspeople

Crafting practices in the framing of sustainable buildings

The Robotocene

An introduction to Crafting Sustainability--exploring the interconnections between sustainability and craft

by Håkon Fyhn and Roger A . Søraa

Craftsmanship in the machine: sustainability through new roles in building craft at the technologized building site

Mechanical genders: how do humans gender robots?

Communities of peer practitioners. Experiences from an Academic Writing Group

Mecha-Media: How Are Androids, Cyborgs, and Robots Presented and Received Through the Media?

Mecha-Media

Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics, 2018

How are robots, androids and cyborgs presented and received in the media? This chapter applies a ... more How are robots, androids and cyborgs presented and received in the media? This chapter applies a social media analysis to this question by using empirical research on news stories that feature robotic technologies to see how robots are presented, consider what reporters focus on when writing about robots, and review how the public discusses and receives robots. The theoretical framework utilised focuses on how robot narratives are framed, how robot controversies are presented in different media, and how robots are domesticated through the media. The two main cases are a “robot hotel” in Japan, and a “killer robot” at a Volkswagen factory in Germany. News coverage of both stories shows widely differing ways for how the robot-narrative is framed.

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Post-Gendered Bodies and Relational Gender in Knights of Sidonia

This paper analyses representations of non-binary bodies in the animated television series Knight... more This paper analyses representations of non-binary bodies in the animated television series Knights of Sidonia. For some time, posthumanist and gender studies have used the gendered body of the future in television series and other media as a framework to reflect on contemporary human bodies. How are bodies imagined and experienced in this animated TV series, and how is our understanding formed by these representations? I argue that the bodies in Knights of Sidonia can be understood as “post-gendered”, which I analyse in relation to understandings of future gender representations drawn from science fiction. The main case study is the character Izana who, in the first episode, proclaims an agender identity that is biologically sexed as neither male or female. Izana’s biological gender is presented throughout the series as relational: it changes in response to the character they are in love with. A close viewing and analysis of the two seasons released so far shows that, although Izana...

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Balanced readiness level assessment (BRLa): A tool for exploring new and emerging technologies

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Mitigating Isolation and Loneliness with Technology through Emotional Care by Social Robotsin Remote Areas

This book chapter explores how experiences of isolation and loneliness in remote areas can be mit... more This book chapter explores how experiences of isolation and loneliness in remote areas can be mitigated through social robots’ emotional care. We first discuss the concept of being social and how that notion is changing with rapid digitalization. The research for this chapter zooms in the context of remote regions, characterized by vast geographical distances between cities, public services, and people’s homes, in concrete, in northern and southern European regions. Then, the chapter discusses the Scandinavian term ‘welfare technology,’ and investigate different technological advances aiming towards bridging the gap loneliness poses. We propose the use and development of social robots equipped with emotional care support as a way of mitigating loneliness, given that the users do not experience the implementation of the technology into their daily life as paternalistic. We close the article with reflections on the consequences of such a sensible choice. This paper is a postprint of a...

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Othering and deprioritizing older adults’ lives: Ageist discourses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Europe’s Journal of Psychology

The COVID-19 pandemic is showing troubling othering demographic discourses. For older adults in p... more The COVID-19 pandemic is showing troubling othering demographic discourses. For older adults in particular, there are concerning thematics that should be shined light on. In this editorial, we provide perspectives from three countries: Norway, Italy and the United States. We provide four topics of discussion that can be utilized to further understand othering discoures of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as potential future disasters.

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Social domestication of service robots: The secret lives of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) at a Norwegian hospital

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

The social dimension of domesticating technology: Interactions between older adults, caregivers, and robots in the home

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

Queering machines

Nature Machine Intelligence, Feb 12, 2020

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Energy consultants calculating sustainability for residential buildings

Facilities, 2018

This paper aims to investigate the role of a particular energy calculator in enhancing the energy... more This paper aims to investigate the role of a particular energy calculator in enhancing the energy efficiency of existing homes by asking how this calculator was developed and how it is domesticated by craftspeople working as energy consultants. The study is based on qualitative interviews with users and producers of the energy calculator (n = 22), as well as participation in energy consultation training. The paper finds that, in the energy calculator, there is a striking lack of connection between the domestication and script because of lack of energy consultants’ involvement in the design and implementation process. The enrolment of energy consultants as energy calculator users earlier in and throughout the design process could be valuable in making the transition to an energy-efficient and environmentally friendly building sector. The paper argues for recognition of the role of energy consultants, especially craftspeople, as participants in the design process for tools of governan...

An introduction to Crafting Sustainability – exploring the interconnections between sustainability and craft

Sustainability has become a critical issue, calling for new conceptualizations of both problems a... more Sustainability has become a critical issue, calling for new conceptualizations of both problems and solutions. This special issue of the Nordic Journal of Science and Technology Studies, explore the concept of “Crafting Sustainability”. Sustainability is a hot topic in contemporary scholarly debates, with methodological, theoretical, and conceptual contributions from a wide array of research areas, also from Science and Technology Studies. Craft on the other hand has been less of a focal point, although all humans relate to craft on some level.

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Roger A . Søraa

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