PhD student Samir Passi will be sharing some work in progress from his project "See Tester Play: Situating Software within Sociology of Testing".

Abstract: In this talk I will focus on an empirical case-study of software development to highlight certain aspects concerning the negotiated, temporal, and situated character of the various processes involved within software testing. What is and isn't software testing? When and where is software testing? What is the relation between testing, use, non-use, and the user? What is the distinction between software testing and software repair/maintenance? These are some of the questions that I will touch upon in this talk.

Theoretically, this talk is situated at the intersection of Information Science (IS) and Science & Technology Studies (STS). Within sociology of testing, several scholars have worked on different aspects concerning technology testing such as the work on user configurations (Steve Woolgar), scripts (Madeleine Akrich), programs and anti-programs (Bruno Latour), similarity relationships (Donald MacKenzie), role of the user (Trevor Pinch) etc. In this talk I will show how the particular case of software testing can help us think through some of these concepts in interesting and different ways.

Snacks from Manndible will be served - all are welcome!