{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,6]],"date-time":"2026-07-06T21:57:47Z","timestamp":1783375067664,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,1]],"date-time":"2021-02-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1612137600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"name":"Austrian Science Fund","award":["V511-G29"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["V511-G29"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Visions of the future are omnipresent in current debates about the digital transformation. This introductory article and the full special issue are concerned with the function, power, and performativity of future visions and how they relate to the making and governing of digital technology. Revisiting existing concepts, we particularly discuss and advance the concept of sociotechnical imaginaries. In difference to ephemeral visions and partisan ideas, imaginaries are collectively held and institutionally stabilized. Nonetheless, we hold that they are multiple, contested, and commodified rather than monolithic, linear visions of future trajectories enacted by state actors. Introducing and summarizing the articles of the special issue, we conclude that imaginaries are increasingly dominated by technology companies that not only take over the imaginative power of shaping future society, but also partly absorb public institutions\u2019 ability to govern these very futures with their rhetoric, technologies, and business models.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444820929321","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,25]],"date-time":"2021-02-25T07:58:21Z","timestamp":1614239901000},"page":"223-236","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":203,"title":["Future imaginaries in the making and governing of digital technology: Multiple, contested, commodified"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7447-2957","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Astrid","family":"Mager","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Austrian Academy of Sciences (\u00d6AW), Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1897-2783","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christian","family":"Katzenbach","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Germany"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr50-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Modernity Al Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization","author":"Appadurai A","year":"1996"},{"key":"bibr1-1461444820929321","first-page":"199","volume-title":"Dreamscapes of Modernity: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the Fabrication of Power","author":"Barker J","year":"2015"},{"key":"bibr2-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Political Machines: Governing a Technological Society","author":"Barry A","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr3-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1368431006063343"},{"key":"bibr4-1461444820929321","unstructured":"Brennen JS, Howard PN, Nielsen RK (2018) An industry-led debate: how UK media cover artificial intelligence. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Factsheet, December 2018. Available at: https:\/\/reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk\/our-research\/industry-led-debatehow-uk-media-cover-artificial-intelligence"},{"key":"bibr5-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0953732032000046024"},{"key":"bibr6-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Contested Futures. A Sociology of Prospective Techno-Science","author":"Brown N","year":"2000"},{"issue":"5","key":"bibr7-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"173","DOI":"10.3917\/res.211.0173","volume":"211","author":"Cardon D","year":"2018","journal-title":"R\u00e9seaux"},{"key":"bibr8-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3306618.3314285"},{"key":"bibr9-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.11126\/stanford\/9780804777049.003.0005"},{"key":"bibr10-1461444820929321","first-page":"1904","volume":"126","author":"Cohen JE","year":"2013","journal-title":"Harvard Law Review"},{"key":"bibr11-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft. Market Concentration\u2014Competition\u2014Innovation Strategies (SOI Discussion Paper 2017-01)","author":"Dolata U","year":"2017"},{"key":"bibr12-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Proceedings of the thirty-first AAAI conference on artificial intelligence (AAAI-17)","author":"Fast E","year":"2017"},{"key":"bibr13-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-018-0071-z"},{"key":"bibr14-1461444820929321","volume-title":"The Internet Imaginaire","author":"Flichy P","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr15-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444809342738"},{"key":"bibr16-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Custodians of the Internet. Platform, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media","author":"Gillespie T","year":"2018"},{"key":"bibr17-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience","author":"Goffman E","year":"1974"},{"key":"bibr18-1461444820929321","volume-title":"The Politics of Environmental Discourse\u2014Ecological Modernization and the Policy Process","author":"Hajer MA","year":"1995"},{"key":"bibr19-1461444820929321","first-page":"65","volume-title":"Words Matter in Policy and Planning\u2014Discourse Theory and Method in the Social Sciences","author":"Hajer MA","year":"2006"},{"key":"bibr20-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203564370"},{"key":"bibr21-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444816639975"},{"key":"bibr51-1461444820929321","first-page":"1","author":"Jasanoff S","year":"2015","journal-title":"Dreamscapes of Modernity: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the\u00dfabrication of Power"},{"key":"bibr52-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226276663.003.0015"},{"key":"bibr22-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11024-009-9124-4"},{"key":"bibr23-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226276663.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr24-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444812450684"},{"key":"bibr25-1461444820929321","unstructured":"John N (2017) Sharing\u2014from ploughshares to file sharing and beyond. HIIG\u2014Digital Society Blog. Available at: https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/sharing-from-ploughshares-to-file-sharing-and-beyond\/ (accessed 25 February 2020)."},{"key":"bibr26-1461444820929321","first-page":"194","volume-title":"Busted! The Truth about the 50 Most Common Internet Myths","author":"Katzenbach C","year":"2019"},{"key":"bibr27-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Talking AI into Being: The Imaginaries of National AI Strategies and their Performative Politics","author":"Katzenbach C","year":"2019"},{"key":"bibr29-1461444820929321","unstructured":"Katzenbach C, Larsson S (2017) Imagining the digital society\u2014metaphors from the past and present. HIIG\u2014Digital Society Blog. Available at: https:\/\/www.hiig.de\/en\/imagining-the-digital-society-metaphors-from-the-past-and-present\/ (accessed 25 February 2020)."},{"key":"bibr30-1461444820929321","first-page":"152","volume-title":"Dreamscapes of Modernity. Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the Fabrication of Power","author":"Kim SH","year":"2015"},{"key":"bibr31-1461444820929321","first-page":"1598","volume":"131","author":"Klonick K","year":"2018","journal-title":"Harvard Law Review"},{"key":"bibr32-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Metaphors We Live By","author":"Lakoff G","year":"1980"},{"key":"bibr33-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2053951718821146"},{"key":"bibr34-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0306312716671433"},{"key":"bibr35-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1461444818757204"},{"key":"bibr36-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Imagining the Internet: Communication, Innovation, and Governance","author":"Mansell R","year":"2012"},{"key":"bibr55-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Technoscientific Imaginaries","author":"Marcus GE","year":"1995"},{"key":"bibr56-1461444820929321","first-page":"435","volume-title":"The Handbook of Science and Technology Studies 4th Edition","author":"McNeil M","year":"2017"},{"key":"bibr37-1461444820929321","volume-title":"The Digital Sublime (MIT Press): Myth, Power, and Cyberspace","author":"Mosco V","year":"2005"},{"key":"bibr38-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/978-1-349-94885-7_10"},{"key":"bibr39-1461444820929321","first-page":"17","volume-title":"The Social Construction of Technological Systems. New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology","author":"Pinch T","year":"1987"},{"key":"bibr40-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Poell T, Nieborg D, Dijck J, et al. (2019) Platformisation. Internet Policy Review 8(4). Available at: https:\/\/policyreview.info\/concepts\/platformisation (accessed 21 February 2020).","DOI":"10.14763\/2019.4.1425"},{"key":"bibr41-1461444820929321","first-page":"89","volume-title":"The Politics of Big Data","author":"Rieder G","year":"2018"},{"key":"bibr42-1461444820929321","volume-title":"Platform Capitalism","author":"Srnicek N","year":"2016"},{"key":"bibr43-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822385806"},{"key":"bibr44-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226817439.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr45-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09537325.2012.715478"},{"key":"bibr46-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9783110810721.203"},{"key":"bibr47-1461444820929321","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0162243903261947"}],"container-title":["New Media &amp; Society"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1461444820929321","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/1461444820929321","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1461444820929321","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T03:50:20Z","timestamp":1777693820000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1461444820929321"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,2]]},"references-count":51,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,2]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1461444820929321"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1461444820929321","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.31235\/osf.io\/zhjwk","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["1461-4448","1461-7315"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1461-4448","type":"print"},{"value":"1461-7315","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,2]]}}}