Social Impact Of Technology Research Articles

Convergence of Information and Social Technologies in the Digital Age

The article discusses the specifics of current convergent development of information (IT) and social technologies (ST) and their socialization as well as defines the characteristic features of ST implemented on a digital platform. The authors analyze the reasons for the increasing demand for ST and explicate their role in post-industrial society. The authors believe that the boom of ST over the recent decades is associated with the need to transform “vertical” management practices toward distributed and maximally individualized usage. The network communication format in modern society, established due to IT development, is correlated with “soft” social design technologies, which provide not just subordination and discipline, but highly motivated work, initiative, emotional involvement, and creativity. At the same time, personal boundaries, which have become the most important component of psychological well-being for a modern person, are quite permeable to the combined impact of ST and IT. The “capitalization of human capital” in the information age has obtained quite a literal meaning because individual knowledge, skills, and initiative become the main resource and competitive base in digital economy. Using the example of Agile, one of the leading practices in modern IT industry, the authors analyzed the specifics of work organization of compact creative groups. The article reveals the ethical aspects of using convergent information and social technologies. The authors conclude that the task of countering destructive influences from ST on the information platform is relevant and even urgent. However, the society has yet to formulate humanistic guidelines for constructive socio-technological design practices.

Mobile instant messaging or face-to-face? Group interactions in cooperative simulations

The capability of learners to work cooperatively and to coordinate efforts in a team is becoming more important to the success of any job and advancement of knowledge. In cooperative learning, the literature regarding the impact of social technologies is controversial. Because of this controversy, the object of this study is to examine students’ experiences and feedback regarding teamwork in cooperative simulation interactions. The research object was addressed in a two-phase study with an experimental design. The participants were 328 students of 6 classes from a large city in China. In this experiment, communication through face-to-face encounters, mobile instant messaging, and combinations thereof were executed based on qualitative and quantitative data. Our research results describe the differences between experimental treatments. Various relevant teaching implications are discussed as well.

The use of the Internet and social networks in the contemporary Cuban reality

This article presents some theoretical foundations that abound on the issues related to technological development and the social impact of technology. Internet and online social networks are an important part of the subject that is proposed to be analyzed with an unprejudiced view from Cuba. How has the computerization process taken place in Cuban society? What have been the policies followed by the Cuban State? The benefits and risks that the Internet provides for the Island are questions that also seek to be answered in this study.

The impact of social technologies on knowledge management processes

PurposeThe importance of e-literacy of staff in the digital life is fundamentally very crucial, to such an extent that it is considered as one of the primary conditions for successful utilization of knowledge management processes using social technologies within organizations. This study aims to explain and test a novel conceptual model to show the impact of applying social technologies on knowledge management (KM) processes in the context of Iranian organizations, considering the moderator role of e-literacy of employees.Design/methodology/approachBased on an in-depth study of the relevant literature, a questionnaire was designed. The sound questionnaires obtained from our sample size was 207 and respondents were experts in the field of information technology (IT) within the Central Office of Insurance companies in Tehran. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and path analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that the use of social technologies with the factor loading of 0.57 has the highest impact on knowledge exchange and 0.61 on knowledge utilization. In addition, the results indicate that e-literacy with the factor loadings of 0.69 and 0.74 has the highest impact on knowledge exchange and knowledge utilization, respectively. In addition, the impact of social technologies with the factor loading of 0.82 has the highest impact on e-literacy.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of this study was the generalizability of the findings, which may be limited, as it is focused on one developing country. Also, the lack of full implementation of KM and the use of social technologies in the insurance industry may affect the obtained results.Originality/valueTo the best knowledge of the authors, this study is among the first of its kind which examines the impact of social technologies usage on the KM processes considering an important variable, i.e. e-literacy of employees.

Digital Maturity: Perceiving the Digital-Panopticon [Last Word

India's government is promoting numerous initiatives with the goal of transforming India into a digitally-empowered society. Over 100 smart cities are being planned. By 2020, India is expected to be the second largest nation of connected consumers. By 2025, India is likely to have 850 million users online. Rural communities, which account for two-thirds of India's population, are forecast to represent the most growth in connectivity. By 2020, rural users are likely to constitute over 50% of all connected consumers. For the 300 million people without electricity, the government is promising solar-power and battery banks to achieve electrification for all. Entrepreneurs, such as Agritech startups, are being empowered by the government to equip rural communities with such farmer-friendly technologies as low-cost, hand-held sensors to assess soil health, and drones to assess crops. The strategy is to double the incomes of farmers by 2022. As rural communities have opportunities to improve their living conditions and connect to the world, the social impact of technology will continue to transform society positively.

The social impact of technology on millennials and consequences for higher education and leadership

Millennials interact with technology like no other generation before them and this is affecting how they want to be taught in higher education and how they want to lead and expect to be led in organizations, after graduating. Though stating that they want to be enlightened in academia, some qualitative comments from millennials indicate the opposite, namely that they want to be prepared but also to be kept naïve as to what business really entails. This is expected to help keep motivation levels high, as motivation is seen to be the key element to success in life. Millennials expect also to be led authentically and to be treated as valued human beings. This is in contrast to the current autocratic leadership profile found predominantly in Portuguese organizations, at the time of writing. This study had a sample of one hundred and eleven millennial students who answered a survey on attitudes towards leadership and their desired approach to higher education. Three interviews with seasoned executives were also performed, to establish a contrast and see other perspectives.With this research, we conclude that we may be in the presence of a hard working millennial generation, contrary to previous research findings which has indicated that they are lazy. Finally, information technology (IT) is a precious partner in class, in particular Padlet.com, Moodle, and online News Forums, as well as the challenge to create original videos about course content. Future research should focus on how technology has made society more transparent with employees wanting more democratic leaders in times when hierarchies are seen to hinder rather than aid productivity levels.

The shift from Media Art to the Future Art-Design-Think-Tank

In the coming decades, new technologies will change our lives and the way in which we perceive them in hitherto unimaginable ways.Future Design is acreative collusion of science, technology and art– an experimental laboratory for new art forms and perspectives on the social impact of technologies within Europe.Future Design explores the future of digital technology from atoms to bits and from bits back to atoms again, highlighting the ways in which these technologies are adapted in different cultural contexts. The chief objective is to attract widespread attention to these technologies, to generate debates and interest in their use among independent artists and otherwise under-represented groups.Future Design provides new and critical views on imagination and new insights into reality.In view of the risks and possible collateral damage connected to these new technologies, scientist and artist must make a stand for their values, and do so by openly discussing the potential and risks, and by formulating a vision for the Earth and BEYOND.

Seductive Events: A Critical Examination of Youth Sexting

The social impact of technologies is evident among both teenagers and young people. Youth now experience and engage in most aspects of daily life “online” through the use of social media, mobile phones, and the Internet. This has led to a host of concerns, from parents, educators, advocates, and law enforcement regarding the ways in which this technology is being used, with the debate focused primarily on the issue of “sexting” or sharing of naked and semi-naked selfies. This paper explores sexting behavior from a critical perspective, examining the individual and institutional narratives that continue to shape and influence opinion and policy. Drawing from narrative criminology I argue that there are competing narratives surrounding the sexting debate that serve to amplify the deviance associated with these behaviors, resulting in the criminalization of youth and masking the more insidious social problems, such as gender-based violence.

VP140 Methods For Ethical Analysis In The Health Technology Assessment

INTRODUCTION:This paper is based on a narrative review to identify and describe approaches to incorporate ethical aspects in Health Technology Assessment (HTA). On the first decade HTA was being established as a new area of research, the social and ethical dimensions seemed to play an essential role. This perspective, centered on the social impact of technology contrasts with the current definition, which focuses on the technical conditions of technology, especially properties and effects. Some authors have discussed the obstacles to include the ethical dimension into this area to a large extent. Those authors were motivated by the perception that there are few sections explicitly dedicated to these dimensions in the evaluation reports.METHODS:We searched these scientific databases: Pubmed, Cochrane Library, Centre for Review and Dissemination (CRD), PDQ - Evidence and Virtual Health Library (VHL), and selected studies that presented procedures and methodologies for the inclusion of ethical analysis in HTA.RESULTS:A total of 308 articles were retrieved, nine of them were included. The identified methods were classified into four groups according to the parameters and procedures: (i) normative-based evaluation, (ii) case comparison-based evaluation; (iii) predefined questionnaire application-based evaluation and iv) debate and deliberation-based evaluation.The result showed a great diversity of approaches (1 - 3) for the inclusion of the ethical dimension in the evaluation studies of health technologies, which can even be used together. It is suggested that its use considers the characteristics and needs of each different application contexts.CONCLUSIONS:This work presented as methodological base of approaches for the integration of the ethical dimension in the HTA field. Nonetheless, the proposed approaches to the incorporation of philosophical field of ethics into the systematization and objectivity field of the HTA reveal a considerable approach diversity that is applied productively. Since it has been agreed that technology evaluation is contextual, different approaches would help to meet the needs for possible adjustment.

People, sensors, decisions

The ratio of healthcare professionals to care recipients is dropping at an alarming rate, particularly for the older population. It is estimated that the number of persons with Alzheimer's disease, for example, will top 100 million worldwide by the year 2050 [Alzheimer's Disease International 2009]. It will become harder and harder to provide needed health services to this population of older adults. Further, patients are becoming more aware and involved in their own healthcare decisions. This is creating a void in which technology has an increasingly important role to play as a tool to connect providers with recipients. Examples of interactive technologies range from telecare for remote regions to computer games promoting fitness in the home. Currently, such technologies are developed for specific applications and are difficult to modify to suit individual user needs. The future potential economic and social impact of technology in the healthcare field therefore lies in our ability to make intelligent devices that are customizable by healthcare professionals and their clients, that are adaptive to users over time, and that generalize across tasks and environments. A wide application area for technology in healthcare is for assistance and monitoring in the home. As the population ages, it becomes increasingly dependent on chronic healthcare, such as assistance for tasks of everyday life (washing, cooking, dressing), medication taking, nutrition, and fitness. This article will present a summary of work over the past decade on the development of intelligent systems that provide assistance to persons with cognitive disabilities. These systems are unique in that they are all built using a common framework, a decision-theoretic model for general-purpose assistance in the home. In this article, we will show how this type of general model can be applied to a range of assistance tasks, including prompting for activities of daily living, assistance for art therapists, and stroke rehabilitation. This model is a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (POMDP) that can be customized by end-users, that can integrate complex sensor information, and that can adapt over time. These three characteristics of the POMDP model will allow for increasing uptake and long-term efficiency and robustness of technology for assistance.

Disconnection Notices: Interview with Miranda July

An interview with Miranda July, writer—director of The Future (2011) and Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), in which she also acts. Topics include: July's surrealism, disturbing imagery, and social impact of technology.

Is there a role for social technologies in collaborative healthcare?

The exponential growth, variety, and sophistication of the information communication technologies (ICTs) plus their growing accessibility are transforming how clinical practitioners, patients, and their families can work together. Social technologies are the ICTs tools that augment the ability of people to communicate and collaborate despite obstacles of geography and time. There is still little empirical research on the impact of social technologies in the case of collaborative health. Defining a set of social technologies with potential for developing, sustaining, and strengthening the collaborative health agenda should prove useful for practitioners and researchers. This paper is based on an extensive review of the literature focusing on emerging technologies and the experience of the author as a consultant to health care professionals learning about social technologies. A note of caution is required: the phenomenon is complex and hard to describe in writing (a medium very different from the technologies themselves). Hardware and software are in continuous development and the iterative adaptation of the emergent social technologies for new forms of virtual communication.

The impact of social technologies on student performance in a collaborative learning environment

Research has shown that effective learning is attributed to the interaction of people with different experiences, knowledge and skills. Learning can also be maximised within a social setting that facilitates formal and informal interactions. However, this learning environment calls for incentives, a structured format for collaboration, and the support of an integrated set of interactive learning tools and resources. This research presents the design structure of an integrated IT senior capstone course that engages students in web-blended learning activities. Results support significant improvement in academic performance and advancement in the collective and intuitive knowledge of students at both the social and technical levels.

Lightning Wires: The Telegraph and China's Technological Modernization, 1860-1890 (review)

Reviews 353 Erik Baark. Lightning Wires: The Telegraph and China's Technological Modernization, 1860-1890. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1997. xii, 216 pp. Hardcover $69.50, isbn 0-313-30011-9. The telegraph transformed nineteenth-century commerce and statecraft, invigorating capitalism and giving advantages in diplomacy and war to the countries that possessed it over those that did not. China's early encounters with the new technology occurred in the context of struggles with the military and commercial incursions by the foreign powers into Chinese territory. The history ofthe adoption ofthe telegraph in China cannot be separated from China's encounters with capitalism and imperialism. Encounters with Western technology also sent shocks rippling through Chinese culture, the effects ofwhich emerged in realms as diverse as the philosophical ruminations ofthe literati and the fengshui worries of peasants. The telegraph was eventually accepted in China, but not before a series of rejections and conflicts that extended over several decades. Baark provides a well-researched account ofthe initial resistance to and eventual adoption of the telegraph in China between the 1860s and the 1880s. The book is able to offer a more in-depth account ofsome ofthis process than previous accounts by using material from the Copenhagen archives of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Danish Great Northern Telegraph Company, which had participated aggressively in the development oftelegraph lines in East Asia. These Danish materials provide a valuable supplement to more traditional historical sources such as the archives of the Qing government's Office for Foreign Affairs (the Zongli Yamen). Chapter 1 deals with general theoretical approaches to the study oftechnology transfer and the social impact oftechnology. The main theoretical rivals in the literature are said to be technological determinism and contextualism (the social shaping oftechnology). Baark's own approach is less theoretical and abstract than some previous work, and more densely historical. He prefers a detailed examination ofevents and associated discourses to show the complexity of the process by which a radical new technology was finally absorbed into a conservative society. Chapter 2 describes the evolving conflict between what have been called the yangwu modernizers and various qingyi traditionalists, who "saw in modern technology the instruments offoreign aggression and a subversion ofthe Chinese political order and cultural values" (p. 21). We meet familiar figures such as Li© 1998 by University Hongzhang, Prince Gong, Zeng Guofan, and Shen Baozhen, along with a number ofHawai'i Pressoflesser officials, all struggling to promote or preserve various national or sectional interests. Admirers ofLi Hongzhang will be interested to see how quickly he perceived the importance ofthe telegraph, and how accuratelyhe foresaw the 354 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 2, Fall 1998 pressures that would eventually force China to adopt it, despite initial resistance from some conservative officials. Chapter 3 provides a useful overview of the invention and spread of telegraph technology, its growing use in global commerce and diplomacy, and its spread into East Asia. Chapter 4 deals with the arrival oftelegraph companies in East Asia and their early attempts to introduce telegraph lines into China, the development of the submarine cable between Hong Kong and Shanghai, and the construction of selected lines in the foreign treaty ports, often with the acquiescence of local officials. Chapter 5, "The Telegraph Lines in Fujian, 1874-1877," describes the attempts to build the first land lines outside the treaty ports. In the 1870s, the attitudes of some early resisters changed as a result of the military incursion by Japan into Taiwan, when Qing officials found that the telegraph allowed foreigners in Beijing to know more about daily developments on the edges of the empire than the empire's own ministers. The defense of Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan was a prime consideration in changing the minds of some officials about the new technology . A short line was quickly constructed, with little overt opposition from the local population or local officials, and a second line was planned between Fuzhou and Xiamen, in what appeared to be a mutually beneficial agreement between the Great Northern Telegraph Company and the provincial government. However, disagreements among Chinese officials over the nature and desirability of the contract with Great Northern led to the...

Reaction paper: Medical humanitarianism and human rights; reflections on Doctors Without Borders and Doctors of the World

The capability of learners to work cooperatively and to coordinate efforts in a team is becoming more important to the success of any job and advancement of knowledge. In cooperative learning, the literature regarding the impact of social technologies is controversial. Because of this controversy, the object of this study is to examine students’ experiences and feedback regarding teamwork in cooperative simulation interactions. The research object was addressed in a two-phase study with an experimental design. The participants were 328 students of 6 classes from a large city in China. In this experiment, communication through face-to-face encounters, mobile instant messaging, and combinations thereof were executed based on qualitative and quantitative data. Our research results describe the differences between experimental treatments. Various relevant teaching implications are discussed as well.

Impacts of programmable manufacturing technology: A review of recent studies and contingency formulation

This paper reviews the literature on the social impacts of programmable manufacturing technology (PMT). Several perspectives on the social impact of technology are identified ranging from simple additive models that view technology as having a set of individual and independent causal impacts to a contingency perspective which views the impact of technology as dependent on technical and organizational characteristics. The paper statistically summarizes 30 empirical studies within the 1986-1990 period and finds common trends in findings as well as contradictory evidence. The common trends are that PMT tends to lead to more organic organizations, but also meets with negative employee attitudes, stress, and perceptions of reduced job security and mobility. The contradictory evidence is that most studies report simple, additive effects, while a substantial portion find that the impacts depend on a wide range of contingency variables. The authors argue that simplistic views of PMT as being a homogeneous set of technologies with unidirectional, non-contingent social impacts is neither realistic nor useful. A number of future research directions in this area are suggested.

Public Opinion Toward Computers as a Function of Exposure

A mail survey of registered voters in California examines attitudes toward computer technology. Among both users and non-users, more positive attitudes are associated with greater exposure to computers. The influence of exposure extends to specific opinions and values as well as global affect. The fact of exposure, not benefits received or self-selection, appears to be the key factor in this shift of attitude. The results suggest that a "computer imperative" characterizes reactions to this technology. Keywords : social impact of technology, diffusion of innovations, home computers, computers and society, technological imperative, computer phobia, attitudes toward computers.

Social impact of technology

Technology and Social Shock. By Edward W. Lawless. Pp.616. (Rutgers University Press: New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1977.) $6.95.

The Moral Dimension in Political Assessments of the Social Impact of Technology

The Moral Dimension in Political Assessments of the Social Impact of Technology

Societal aspects of technology: Embedded within the energy crisis are lessons applicable to other areas of sociotechnical impact

As the year begins, the social impact of technology has never been more deeply felt across the globe. In the United. States, by mid-November of last year, President Nixon and his advisors were predicting a 17-percent fuel storage. Simultaneously, Senator Henry M. Jackson (D — Wash.) was warning of a 24-percent shortage. Further, a debate was raging over the identity of the villains responsible for the crisis. And the stage was set for a furious debate over methods to alleviate and eventually resolve the crisis.