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Introduction. In the course of the study we have identified a contradiction consisting, on the one hand, in the increased requirements to the level of communicative training of technical specialists in post-industrial society. On the other hand, there is an almost complete lack of research on the problem of forming a discussion competence of future engineers. Based on the abovementioned, the author has formulated the goal of this paper. It consists in defining the place of the discussion competence in the structure of modern engineer training, caused by the networking and socio-technical transformation of technical activity. Theoretical analysis. The generalization of philosophical and pedagogical approaches to the study of engineering activity (EA) allowed us to classify the functions of a modern engineer according to the nature of the tasks to be solved. The classification revealed that under the influence of networking and socio-technical transformation of engineering activity there is a growing demand for engineers who are ready to implement professional tasks based on socio-technical functions. The correlation between the engineers’ mastery of the discussion competence and the effectiveness of their implementation of sociotechnical functions: design, research, organizational and managerial, was revealed. Conclusion. The study made it possible to draw a general conclusion about the need to distinguish the discussion competence as an independent element in the structure of universal competences and to include discussion training in the curriculum of technical universities in two directions: traditional (offline discussions) and network (online discussions).

This article contrasts the dark with the electrified light of datafied life to bring into relief the impact of data surveillance upon social transformation. Our argument is that darkness remains fundamental to creative social experimentation and thus to a society's capacity for change and sustained transformation. This argument might seem antithetical to the age of information. Yet, we find darkness encourages exploratory forms of engagement, intercourse and exchange, that electrified light forbids. We draw on Rancière's considerations of politics and the police to suggest that the policing by digitally-electrified light extinguishes the politics of experimentation that test the make-up and limits of social interaction. Our work is structured by first explaining the baseline of the digital electric policing through the conceptualization of Facebook's social graph, then switches to antithetical examples of politics enabled in the dark. We use the examples of the Dark Web, end to end encryption, and trustless infrastructures like Craigslist to illustrate generative tensions that are the signatures of what we understand as the dark social. We conclude that the dark social involves a decentralized capacity to experiment and transform what is social. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With social network sites (SNS) becoming a pervasive phenomenon, already existing conflicts with privacy are further intensified. As shown in this paper, online and (once) offline contexts increasingly conflate, thereby posing new challenges to the protection of the private sphere. SNS quickly evolve their features and challenge privacy preferences, often without user consent; ‘social graphs’ make social relations highly transparent; social plugins interconnect user traces from within and outside the SNS. As the large amounts of personal information available in SNS are processed with context-rich information, the individual’s informational self-determination is heavily strained. These data attract potential and real observers for behavioural advertising and also for profiling by security authorities. We argue that the emerging usage of SNS (social plugins, increasing role of biometrics and mobile computing) multiplies privacy challenges as all types of privacy become affected. This raises additional demand for public policy to foster privacy-by-design combined with awareness-raising mechanisms to improve informational self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Expectations held by different actor groups are of key importance for the shaping of socio-technical transformation processes. Foresight activities may be interpreted as a means to elicit, aggregate, modulate and contextualize expectations held by different actors. The paper proposes a conceptual framework that allows assessing and reflecting expectations in foresight initiatives that focus on sustainable sector transformations. For this purpose it draws on the recent literature on socio-technical system transformations and social expectation dynamics. The application of the framework is illustrated by experiences gained with the Sustainability Foresight method developed for the case of sustainable utility sector futures in Germany. The process was conceived as a series of participative scenario and strategy workshops involving about 120 stakeholders from the provision, use and governance of utility services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]