Drawing on institutional theory and using examples from Israel, we offer a critique of technology's deployment in responses to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). We distinguish between technologies-in-use (“small ‘t' technologies”), the bundle of artifacts and practices that bring them into being, and “Big ‘T' Technology,” the latter being technology as an institution – shared meanings, structures, and practices that govern thought and action. Using the conceptual tool kit of institutional theory, we make three interrelated arguments. First, the deployment of technologies-in-use in response to the pandemic is embedded in diverse and contradictory institutions, the institution of technology among them. These technologies participate in the very construction of crisis, which fosters the revert to known and established ways of being and doing. Thus, technologies-in-use are not necessarily the most efficient and rational but rather the most legitimate and readily available. Second, putting certain technologies into action has not been happening by itself. Instead, we have witnessed contestations among relevant agents – like politicians and experts – who engage in institutional work to serve their interests. Third, despite its global reach, technology is locally adapted and implemented in specific contexts. All in all, institutional theory helps us to explore further and critique the naïve belief, common in public discourse, in technology as a remedy of all things. Instead, it offers a more critical understanding of the cultural dynamics involved in putting technology to work in the coronavirus crisis. This critical lens carries implications for policymaking and implementation in times of crisis.

借鉴制度理论并使用以色列的实例，我们对技术在应对冠状病毒疾病（COVID-19）方面的应用提出了批评。我们区分使用中的技术（“小型“ t”技术”），将其变为现实的一整套工件和实践，以及“大型“ t”技术”，后者是作为一个机构的技术–共有的含义，控制思想和行动的结构和实践。使用制度理论的概念工具包，我们提出了三个相互关联的论点。首先，针对大流行的使用中技术的部署被嵌入到各种相互矛盾的机构中，其中包括技术机构。这些技术参与了危机的建设，从而促使人们恢复到已知和既定的生存方式。因此，使用中的技术不一定是最有效，最合理的技术，而是最合法，最容易获得的技术。第二，将某些技术付诸实践并没有发生。相反，我们目睹了相关机构（例如政客和专家）之间的竞争，他们从事机构工作以维护自己的利益。第三，尽管技术遍及全球，但仍会根据具体情况在当地进行调整和实施。总而言之，制度理论可以帮助我们进一步探索和批判在公共话语中普遍存在的天真信念，即在技术作为万物的补救方法中。相反，它提供了对使技术在冠状病毒危机中发挥作用所涉及的文化动态的更批判性的理解。