Changing Large Technical Systems

Jane Summerton (Author)

 Introduction - the systems approach to understanding technological change, Jane Ummerton. Part 1 Combining old and new technologies to reshape systems: recombining large technical systems - the case of European organ transplantation, Ingo Braun and Bernward Joerges; changing embedded systems - the economics and politics of innovation in American railroad signalling, 1876-1914, Steven W. Usselman; integrating supple technologies into utility power systems - possibilities for reconfiguration, Alexandra Suchard; the normal accident of July 1914, Arden Bucholz. Part 2 Crossing borders reconfigures systems: transformation through integration - the unification of German telecommunications, Tobias Robischon; multinationals in transition - global technical integration and the role of corporate telecommunication networks, Volker Schneider; the Australian electric power industry and the politics of radical reconfiguration, Stephen M. Salsbury; economics of changing grid systems - competition in the electricity supply industry, Olivier Coutard. Part 3 Confronting incompatibilities between changing systems and their cultures: the Internet challenge - conflict and compromise in computer networking, Jane Abbate; broken plowshare - system failure and the nuclear power industry, Gene I. Rochlin. Part 4 Controlling the car - will the system change?: car traffic at the crossroads - new technologies for cars, traffic systems and their interaction, Reiner Grundmann; rethinking road traffic as social interaction, Oskar Juhlin. Part 5 The logic of systemic technology: four notes on systemic technology, Svante Beckman. Part 6 Concluding comments: conclusion, Jane Summerton.