IS 376Rapid Technology Changes:Issues and EffectsDr. Kapatamoyo08/26/14

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Just what is technology?

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Aphorism abouttechnology

“one-tenth inspiration and nine-tenths perspiration”

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Are we human or are we dancer?

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Paradigm Shifts

• Some major events: • Travel = Railways | Steamships | Aircraft -

mechanical• Communications = Telegraph | Radio - spectrum• Entertainment = Television | Film – digital

formats• Convergence = Internet (add whatever here).

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On Predictions• Arthur C. Clarke's Three Laws• When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that

something is possible, he is almost certainly right. • When he states that something is impossible, he is very

probably wrong. • The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to

venture a little way past them into the impossible. • Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable

from magic.

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DomesticationTheory• By Silverstone et al. 1992 –• The processes by which innovations, especially new

technology is 'tamed' or appropriated by its users. • First, technologies are integrated into everyday life

and adapted to daily practices. • Second, the user and its environment change and

adapt accordingly. • Third, these adaptations feedback into innovation

processes in industry, shaping the next generation of technologies and services.

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DomesticationTheory

• A social theory as it highlights the negotiations, challenges to power and control, rule-making and breaking that accompany the introduction of technologies into any social setting.

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DomesticationTheory• Domestication, essentially, is about giving

technology a place in everyday life.

• The concept catches the practical, temporal, spatial place, but most importantly, it underlines how this is mixed with the cultural as an expression of lifestyles and values.

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DomesticationTheory• A technology's capacity to leverage across a

range of tasks, adaptability to a range of different tasks, ease of mastery, and accessibility.

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TechnologicalDeterminism• Technological determinism argues that:• Technology is autonomous (that is, independent of

human will and develops by its own laws), and• It causes social change• Technological developments are unstoppable

(inevitability of technological progress)

• The technological determinist view is a technology-led theory of social change: technology is seen as 'the prime mover' in history.• Cause and effect relations between technology and

human society

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Cultural (Social) Determinism• Social determinism argues that society is

responsible for the development and deployment (use) of particular technologies• Technology mirrors our values, as well as our flaws. In

other words, technologies are subject to social forces.• It is “The making of the made world to suit perceived

human priorities”.• The same technologies mean different things (e.g.,

advantages and disadvantages) to different social groups and societies.

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Cultural (Social) Determinism• Technology determinism; not so simple

• Access,• Know how,• Interest,• Innovation should not sacrifice the good for

the perfect, or the future for the present.• Generative technology video

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Is TechnologyNeutral?• A central issue of contention between technological

determinists and social determinists is whether technology is neutral.

• Technological determinism holds that technology is value-free, and is therefore neutral.• Technical features determine how people may use a

particular technology

• Social determinism argues that technology is value-laden, and cannot be neutral (cannot exist in a vacuum)• What features are put there in the first place? Who

makes the decision?

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Technology:Fix or Solution?• Technological Fix – the idea that all problems can find

solutions in better and new technologies.• Now used as a dismissive phrase to describe cheap, quick

fixes by using inappropriate technologies; these fixes often create more problems than they solve.

• Social problems are typically more complex than a technological resolution.• Technology most likely offers a partial, one-sided solution

to complicated problems.• A systems approach as an alternative (consider

everything as an ecosystem)• Should creators be concerned with the social aspects of

technological problems? Do they have social responsibilities?

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Law of Unintended Consequences• Human actions have unintended or unforeseen

effects.• These effects can be positive or negative, and in

some cases perverse (totally in opposite to what was originally intended).

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Post-DevelopmentSocial Shapingof the Internet• The Internet was not developed for the distribution

of porn or to promote the causes of radical or terrorist groups – but its infrastructure enables those activities.

• The Internet was not developed for the perpetual surveillance of its individual users – but this is now a constituent feature of the system.

• The Internet was not developed for the purpose of illegal file sharing, online shopping or orchestrating flash mobs – but its users have identified the potentials for these new forms of action.

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Tech Drivers• Industry• Patents and Copyrights |Labs | Diffusion

• Start-ups (or individuals)• Working at the edges | Take risks

• Government• Broad goals | Policies

• Universities (education sector)• Research | Patents and copyrights | Publications and

white papers

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The ABCs ofTech Advance• Technology is developed based on decisions

representing a range of social and technology elites:• A: Armed forces• Konrad Zuse – Programmable computer.• Vannevar Bush – the MEMEX.• DARPA; in case of the Internet.

• B: Bureaucracy• (did Al Gore invent the Internet?, policies, visibility)

• C: Corporate power• (Financing, Profits, etc)

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CriticalQuestions• In what ways does technology seek to improve the

efficiency of human activity?

• To what extent does the Internet personalize your usage of information?

• What is the difference between data and knowledge?

• How many terms can you think of that are derived from computing technology and now commonly used in everyday life?

• How critical is digital connectivity in the conduct of your daily affairs?

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