Shaoying shares her experiences at the Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) in Seattle. Published 2 October 2025.
Last month, my doctoral research became part of the conversations at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) in Seattle. The conference theme, Reverberation, focused on how practices, technologies, and ideas move through various contexts and impact daily life and broader sociotechnical systems. This concept connects closely to my work on how people in China balance the demands of digital connectivity with moments of intentional disconnection.
Within the panel ‘Evaluating the Digital Good?’, I shared insights from diary-elicitation interviews that capture how individuals in China negotiate and manage constant digital engagement. Participants shared the pressures of cultural and professional expectations, the role of platforms in their daily lives, the tensions with the commodification of ‘digital detox’ and their aspirations for authenticity in their technology use. My preliminary findings suggest that what counts as ‘good’ is not fixed; people decide, balance, and adjust what is ‘good’ every day. By offering an empirically grounded Chinese perspective, this study contributes to a more globally inclusive understanding of how people evaluate and pursue desirable relationships with technology.
Colleagues further amplified the panel discussions. Ros Williams and Kim Snooks from the Digital Good Network introduced a reflexive tool for building blocks for a good digital society and shared their work on a Digital Good Index (DGI). The iterative DGI draws together insights from across the network to identify emerging values, such as equity, resilience, and sustainability, while emphasising that evaluation is inherently normative, shaped by who judges, what values are recognised, and in what contexts. The second talk, from Dharma Dailey and Anissa Tanweer, then highlighted the concept of ‘critical friendship’ within the University of Washington’s Data Science for Social Good Program. They described how the program supports cross-disciplinary, subject-matter-led teams in engaging ethically and context-sensitively with the meaning of ‘good’ in practice.
Beyond our panel, other sessions were particularly inspiring and thought-provoking. The roundtable ‘Positionality Resources: A Model from Psychology’ showed an interactive digital brochure that helps researchers think about how their background shapes their work, demonstrating how reflexive tools can reverberate across disciplines. Discussions on AI were also prominent: The panel ‘Know Th/AI Self: Mental Health, Therapeutic Divination, and Chatbot Conspirituality’ looked at how AI chatbots are used for mental health and spiritual guidance. It raised questions about empathy, trust, reliance, and privacy, and showed how technology interacts with human needs for connection and self-understanding. The panel ‘Emotional Algorithms: Exploring the Affective in Artificial Intelligence Development’ focused on emotional dimensions of AI. I found Chrys Alexander Vilvang’s presentation on the Apple Photos App particularly insightful, as it showed how AI-driven curation shapes memory practices and influences personal archives.
Outside of the conference sessions, I also enjoyed exploring Seattle. Visiting the University of Washington campus, taking in the views from the iconic Space Needle, and wandering through Pike Place Market offered a refreshing contrast to the intensive conference schedule. Overall, the 4S conference was an inspiring and intellectually energising experience, leaving me with new insights, connections, and renewed motivation for my research.
About the author
Shaoying Zhang
PhD student
Shaoying Zhang is a PhD student in resilience as part of the Digital Good Network, working with Professor Helen Kennedy and Dr Ros Williams to explore how people’s everyday digital disconnection practices intertwine with digital well-being.
