A Brief Explanation About Actor-Network Theory

Some of you maybe already know about the term “Actor-Network Theory”. But there are still many people, especially those who learn and work in the technology field, who doesn’t know about this term. Indeed, this term is not really famous among people who work as programmers, product managers, etc, and it’s only famous among people who did research. Even though like that, this term is not only used in the technology field, but also it can be used in other fields such as healthcare, business, etc.

Without other words again, I’ll explain what is the actor-network theory in a simple way. Because honestly, when I studied this part, it took a long time for me to understand what this mean? And I want to share my simple understanding with everyone who needs to use this term for their research.

Definition

Actor-Network Theory as known as “ANT” was pioneered by Michel Callon (1986) and Bruno Latour (1987). Before we go to the definition, here are some key concepts that we should know about Actor-Network Theory.

This actor-network theory tests the motivations and actions of groups of actors that form elements linked by an association's heterogeneous network of aligned interests. The main point of this theory is that actors are considered both human and non-human (internet, chemical, things…