Search

Collaborative technologies such as group support systems (GSS) are often developed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of teams; however, the satisfaction users have with the processes and outcomes of the teamwork itself often determines the ultimate adoption and sustained use of collaborative technologies. Much of the research on teamwork has focused on meetings in particular and, consequently, satisfaction with the process and outcomes of meetings, referred to collectively as meeting satisfaction. Research on meeting satisfaction in GSS-supported groups has been equivocal, indicating the need for advancement in our theoretical understanding of the construct. To that end, this paper presents a causal model of meeting satisfaction derived from goal setting theory. The model is tested with an empirical study consisting of 15 GSS groups and 11 face-to-face (FTF) groups engaged in the 'lost at sea' task. The results of analysis using structural equation modeling indicate support for the model's integrity across both GSS and FTF groups. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed, including how the model can be used to improve future research on the use of collaborative technology to support teamwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of social subsystem costs and benefits in information technology (IT) investment choices has been a difficult problem for IT decision-makers. Past research has shown that although some organizations adequately and consistently consider social subsystem issues when making IT investment decisions, many do not. This demonstrates a discrepancy between prescriptive theory and descriptive evidence. Our study addresses this theory-practice disconnection by investigating which firms, and under what conditions IT investments are likely to follow or violate prescriptions. Data collected from a national sample of 200 firms shed light on the firm and situational factors that affect the consideration of social subsystem issues during the IT investment decision process. The amount of social subsystem disruption associated with the IT in question, the strategic relevance of the IT to the organization, and the firm's continuous-learning culture each have direct or interactive influences on the decision process. Specifically, they impact the consideration of social subsystem costs and benefits for IT investments. Organizational size and industry are unrelated to this facet of decision-making. Overall, the empirical results help us better understand (1) what kinds of IT decisions cause stronger evaluation of social subsystem costs and benefits, (2) what types of firms give the greatest consideration to these issues, and (3) which intangible social subsystem costs or benefits are seen as the most important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a set of information technology variables which can be used in designing organizations. We first discuss traditional design variables and then present a series of options enabled by modern information technology (IT). We use these IT design variables to describe four prototypical organizations that are beginning to appear in the workplace: virtual, negotiated, traditional, and vertically integrated. It is argued that an organization designer must also consider how structure and technology influence job tasks and people in order to be successful. We then discuss potential implementation difficulties, particularly in motivating traditional organizations to take advantage of IT design variables. We conclude that the design of information technology and the design of organizations are largely becoming the same task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central argument of this paper is that the design, implementation and use of technologies that underpin general semantic search have implications for what we know and the way in which knowledge is understood. Semantic search is an assemblage of technologies that most Internet users would use regularly without necessarily realising. Users of search engines implementing semantic search can obtain answers to questions rather than just retrieve pages that include their search query. This paper critically examines the design of the Semantic Web, upon which semantic search is based. It demonstrates that implicit in the design of the Semantic Web are particular assumptions about the nature of classification and the nature of knowledge. The Semantic Web was intended for interoperability within specific domains. It is here argued that the extension to general semantic search, for use by the general public, has implications for what type of knowledge is visible and what counts as legitimate knowledge. The provision of a definitive answer to a query, via the reduction of discursive knowledge into machine-processable data, provides the illusion of objectivity and authority in a way that is increasingly impenetrable to critical scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated monitoring devices are useful technologies for communities seeking to document and solve environmental problems. However, without deeper scrutiny of their design and deployment, there is a risk that they will fail to have the impact that many of their promoters intend. We develop a rubric for analysing how different kinds of monitoring devices help environmental advocates influence public debates. We apply this rubric in a study of environmental organizations in Pennsylvania that are choosing between recruiting volunteer citizen scientists and using automated sensor-based devices to gather water quality data in streams threatened by hydraulic fracturing for natural gas. Many organizations rely on volunteers using simple monitoring tools because they are affordable and produce easily managed data sets. An argument for this method of monitoring is that volunteering in the field also fosters citizen engagement in environmental debates. By comparison, we find the increased use of automated devices tends to reinforce hierarchies of expertise and constrains the agendas of nonprofessionals who participate in monitoring projects. We argue that these findings suggest that automated technologies, however effective they may be in gathering data on environmental quality, are not well designed to support broad public participation in environmental science and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the term was first coined, in the late nineteenth century, ‘social technology’ has had a mixed fate. Whereas ‘technology’ has become one of the keywords of the twentieth century, ‘social technology’ never quite seemed to settle in the vocabulary of social theory. In this article, we focus on the early history of ‘social technology’, tracing its spread from its origin in the sociology department at the University of Chicago, and describing the increasing competition from the term ‘social engineering’ starting in the 1920s. We argue that this shift in terminology is significant, because it is an index of changing ideas about the demarcation of sociology, about the application of science in the betterment of society and about the nature of technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on the sociological aspects of communication and information technologies (ICTs) including computers, social media, and Internet.

As the culture of information technology grows and with it the exacerbation of associated problems, so does the body of literature that seeks to reflect on its impact and prospects. The advancements in information technology tend to be outpacing critical reflection and solid ethical analysis. The quality of the foundational ethical work done in information technology ethics has been inadequate, consisting of applied ethics or an appeal to law. This article considers how the richer perspective-the common good, as expressed through the lens of the Roman Catholic Church-can serve as a hermeneutic in the field of information technology ethics, offering a more substantial foundation to address pressing controversial issues associated with this burgeoning field and function as a guide for future developments in this industry. The common good can supplement the operative ways of appealing to law and business ethics to address crime and abuse associated with the World Wide Web with a specifically Roman Catholic paradigm and, in turn, offer a broader and richer appreciation of the societal-wide context that information technology impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to combine the state theory of money with institutionalism. These theoretical traditions have a lot in common and this paper is a further attempt to clarify the connections and benefits of their relations. Recent developments in social ontology as well as the expansion of the theoretical analysis of institutions have provided new tools and new sets of arguments in support of such an endeavor. A conception of money that combines institutionalism with chartalism does not need to suffer from the shortcomings and the inconsistencies of the descriptions of money within commodity theory, while it subsequently enjoys sounder ontological foundations. This framework of study can also address questions in which the neoclassical analysis of money has proved unable or misleading; it can provide a dynamic account for the evolution of money and a clear understanding of the relation between money and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the work of Clarence Ayres is held in high regard within the tradition of American Institutionalism, it has made little impact upon the study of technology more generally. Moreover, even within the Institutionalist tradition, his work is seen to embody a tension - on the one hand his dichotomy between technology and institutions is too strict, but to the extent that it is "softened," his main contributions are undermined. This paper argues that Ayres' work does have something to contribute to current technology debates, but that this contribution cannot be made if his conception is "softened" in the way that recent contributions suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'digital divide' is generally considered to be the gap between people who have access to information and communication technologies (ICT) and those who do not, and an issue of significant social justice. This paper presents findings from research that explored the digital divide within the regional city of Albury. The study focused on assessing whether there was a digital divide; identifying strategies to address any divide; and developing a methodology that could be used to explore the digital divide in other contexts. Data were gathered using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and a telephone survey of city residents. Findings demonstrated that a digital divide existed in that there were differences in computer access in relation to income and different locations within the city, and for access to the Internet by age, education and income levels. Overall, the patterns indicated that those with lower education and income and the elderly reported lower levels of access to ICT. Drawing on the research findings we suggest some practical ways of addressing the digital divide that could be applied to other similar locations where a digital divide exists, such as providing technical support and training, improved access to and awareness of ICT services, and facilitating access to ICT services such as the provision of appropriate hardware and software for disadvantaged groups. Our view is that the mixed-method approach we employed provided helpful, reliable information at reasonable cost and could be considered by other researchers and local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides information on the slavery and medicine in the Caribbean at the sunset of the Ancien Régime based on the analysis of Francisco Barrera. In his book "Reflexiones," he mentions in the first part of the treatise the diseases that struck the slaves during the Middle Ages. The second part discusses the vicissitudes that surround the arrival of new slaves in the sugar mills. Moreover, the Caribbean region was a place of great social experimentation which adds to the development of imperial technologies that provide successive waves of tropical European expansion.

Social capital (Coleman, 1990), democracy's wellspring (Putnam, 1993; Tocqueville, 1835/2000), must now accrue within a social fabric that has been changed by the ubiquitous adoption of technologies such as television and the Internet. Three studies (N = 313) of college students supported a theory of ersatz social behavior, which proposed that: a) the use of technological (replacement/ersatz) alternatives to real social interaction may be less conducive to the skill building and opinion formation that foster social capital; b) ersatz activities involve fewer costs (effort, risk of rejection) than real interactions; and c) ersatz alternatives are regularly chosen, even though real interaction is ostensibly preferred. The results provide increased understanding of when and how mediated interaction can be detrimental to social capital formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the evolving participation of instructors and learners in an after-school web page-design course intended to improve technology practices. Defined here as technology fluency, these practices emerge through a highly fluctuating dance among social interactions with others and with the technology. In this digital divide initiative, White suburban high-school boys teach web page design to middle-school-aged African-American youths. Using sociotechnical and cultural sociology theories, this qualitative case study explores the development of technology practices as they evolve through social, technical, and cultural interactions. Attention is given to the transformation of instructor schemata and practices as instructors and learners interact throughout the course. The methodology uses case-study and design-research approaches to analyse observational, video, fieldnote, and e-mail data. The results offer a conceptualization of change as well as the affordances and constraints of that change, and provide insight into the design of emergent technology programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As virtual environments (VEs) become increasingly central to people's lives (Terry, 2002), understanding reactions to VEs may be as important as understanding behavior in the real world (Yee, Bailenson, Urbanek, Chang, & Merget, 2007). Immersive Virtual Environment Technology (IVET), which is now being used in psychological research (Blascovich et al., 2002), can provide greater experimental control, more precise measurement, ease of replication across participants, and high ecological validity, making it attractive for researchers. It also can create links between researchers who study basic social psychological processes and those who study new media. In two studies we examined people's reactions as they navigated through a virtual world and interacted with virtual people, some of whom needed help. Participants' compassion and tendency to experience personal distress predicted emotional reactions (concern) and proxemic behavior (gaze orientation and degree of interpersonal distance) to a virtual person in need but not to a control person. The results support the use of IVET and proxemic variables to measure compassion unobtrusively and they encourage the use of IVET to advance our understanding of people's behavior in and reactions to virtual worlds and new media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines Internet discussion boards devoted to Major League Soccer, the leading United States professional soccer league, on BigSoccer.com, a U.S.-based website. MLS fans use discussion boards to build virtual communities around a league and teams lacking strong identities and traditions. MLS exists in sports landscape characterized by a fragmented soccer culture, domination by more established sports and limited coverage by traditional English-language media. The tenuous nature of MLS as a business enterprise strongly influences the discussions on BigSoccer. While most BigSoccer threads deal with field-of-play topics, business and cultural issues permeate much of the discourse. These include 1) the soccer consumer's experience, 2) soccer's place in American sport, 3) the status of the U.S. in world soccer and 4) the role of Latinos in U.S. soccer. It remains to be seen whether soccer boards will promote or discourage the development a more unified soccer culture in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about how culture affects users' perceptions and beliefs after they have adopted an information technology (IT). This study constructed and verified a research model, based on interaction theory and the cultural lens model, that focuses on the relationship between users' cultural profiles and post-adoption beliefs in the context of the mobile Internet. The results of large-scale on-line surveys in Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan indicate that four cultural factors—uncertainty avoidance, individualism, contextuality, and time perception—have a significant influence on users' post-adoption perceptions of mobile Internet services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay investigates the rhetorical practices of socio-technical deliberation about free and open source (F/OS) software, providing support for the idea that a public sphere is a socio-technical ensemble that is discursive and fluid, yet tangible and organized because it is enacted by both humans and non-humans. In keeping with the empirical shift manifest in recent public sphere scholarship and Bruno Latour's idea that socio-technical deliberation is characterized by the inscription of non-humans, I describe the rhetorical manners in which volunteer citizens define and mobilize a mundane artifact - a web site - in a deliberation over the value of F/OS technologies for their government-funded project. Through inscription of the web site as a rhetorical resource and as the embodiment of their disposition toward computer technologies, the volunteers formed and expressed competing understandings of the role of F/OS technologies in sustaining a public sphere. I argue that these competing views are consequential, for they link technical artifacts and political agents in practice, by way of aspirations, obligations, and forms of authority. Furthermore, by claiming a form of agency for technologies in the public sphere, the proponents of F/OS technologies are inviting scholars of the public sphere to question the status assigned to technical artifacts in their investigations and theories of the public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to study how corporate actors participate in the cultural construction of the Information Society. By means of a case study, the article explores how a multinational corporation is involved in forming consumer identities—making up the subjects of consumption—by shaping the interpretive repertoires and cultural practices that are available for consumers as members of the emerging information society. The article elaborates on the ways in which the corporation invokes a discourse of shareholder value in its visionary strategic narrative entitled Mobile Information Society, and how this discourse operates to mobilize consumer conduct in particular ways, by making up, framing and formatting the consumer as a mobile subject of the global economy. The article’s aim is to contribute to the empirical bases of policy debates about the roles and responsibilities of different market actors in the production of the information society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a developmental systems approach to applied developmental science (ADS), which provides a framework to design and evaluate technology-rich programs that promote positive development by emphasizing the strengths and assets of young people instead of focusing on diminishing or preventing risk-taking behaviors. Until now, most of the psychoeducational programs conceived within the ADS model have not focused on the role of new technologies in young people's lives. This absence is particularly striking given that, in today's world, new technologies play an important role in different areas of the lives of young people, such as education, entertainment, socialization, and communication. This article presents the concept of identity construction environments (ICE), an interdisciplinary model that proposes guidelines to design and study new technologies purposefully created to promote positive youth development (PYD). Two types of ICE have been developed: one focusing on stand-alone technologies for learning, such as the Zora virtual city; and the other focusing on an approach for developing technologically rich learning contexts, such as the Project Inter-Actions robotics workshops. This article presents both examples of ICE and describes how their design fosters the 6 components of PYD. Initial findings from pilot studies conducted with very different populations of youth engaged in both types of ICE—such as young children, adolescents, and chronically ill children—are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an interview with anthropologist Bonnie A. Nardi. Ms. Nardi's opinions of the role of technology in society, the advances in communication and areas of research are presented. In conclusion, Ms. Nardi provides a brief comment on her current project and states that a sense of historicity is essential to the proper study of societal changes.

Many critical approaches ascribe a deficit of meaning to technology. The theory of technological action developed in the paper treats technology as an important, eventful terrain for collective life. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s idea of problematisation, it places contemporary technological actions in settings suffused by power relations. It finds in the work of Gilbert Simondon ways of explaining how technological action overflows social norms, forms, identities and structures. Based on analysis of processes of abstraction and concretisation in a spectrum of symptomatic examples, it contends that cultural theory should develop understandings of the potentials that give rise to technological acts as a way of being with others. The paper suggests how cultural theory can engage with the specificities of these actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT. This essay explores contemporary accounts of the significance of the Internet and the intersections of these cyberspace narratives with theoretical material construals of queer identity, agency, and community. The author discusses evidence of the ongoing mediative role of artifacts in the fashioning of identity in community in order to explore the notion that queer is always-already virtual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the development of imagination as a cultural resource by communities to cope up with unprecedented environments and allow them to make sense of the ambiguous situations brought about by new computer technologies. The author points out that new information technologies are making living and working environments that people may find disorienting and this can be seen as general effect of the arrival of new artifacts that disrupt preexisting routines and destroy the previous distribution of work. The development of imagination along with memory is necessary to orient people in the computer-mediated environments. Computer systems are widespread, yet people's understanding of their function as mediation artifacts is poor. It is significant to overcome the confusion.

Recently, computers have been introduced within the field of social work, which is a female-dominated profession. A direct relationship is often assumed between gender and attitudes to technology. However, when people are introduced to computers at work they have already acquired a specific way of reasoning through their training. A way to understand the specific attitudes to computers among social workers is therefore to focus on the nature of the problems they are supposed to solve and the way of reasoning acquired through their training. There is much overlap between the skills of this profession and those generally attributed to the female gender. Thus one can hardly discern between the professionally related and the gender related in attitudes to a new technology; rather the case-study reveals how gender is embedded within jobs and tasks. Social work belongs to the 'soft' professions, with care and human communication as its main tasks. Thus the study also reveals some incongruence between computer systems and human communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper provides an overview of the sociology of technology. It reviews different arguments about the sociology of technology and examines the path to social change. After reviewing those classical and contemporary theories which define the impact of technological processes, this paper explores the effects of society on technology and suggests that technological change derives from different societal traditions and as such accumulates and reflects social processes and cultures. It is argued that these views could build the basis for the analysis of social conflicts in industrialized countries. Most traditional theories on the nature and relationship between technology and society, and subsequently, innovation, are divided into two classic approaches, namely technological determinism mad social determinism. However, in both cases there have been significant advances over the years in the direction of integrating relevant factors from both the 'social' and the 'material' realm. The only partial consideration of relevant factors in research and the still not clear or direct connection between theoretical and empirical investigations or the macro and micro level of analysis still remain problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the relation of teleconferencing technologies to organizational culture as an instance of the social impact of information technology. Topics include laboratory studies of the use of teleconferencing, the use of cultural analysis as a form of linguistic ethnography, and the role of reputation as a concern in the use of teleconferencing.

The article presents a discussion on the sharing of technologies between nations. It mentions the issue on the kind of technology which members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will export to Eastern Europe. The article provides a review of the literature on technology management and its effects on NATO. It mentions the issues confronting U.S. technology management, including the problem of interpreting Soviet military reforms, the decreased U.S. influence on the global economy, and the exporting of technologies to post-communist states. The article provides an overview of U.S. technology management.

Deals with a study which explored the foundations of a social influence based approach for the diffusion of an innovation or a technological standard. Role of network externalities in the process of individual choices; Description of the neural network model; Conclusion.