|
Human choice and computers, Computers and Society, Social Informatics, are terms referring to a similar preoccupation: How is the human being and its societal environment kept in the centre – How to build up an “Information Society for All” [UNESCO, 2002], [eEurope, 2002] when developing our more and more complex ICT (Information and Communication Technology) systems?
The term "Social Informatics" emerged from a series of lively conversations in February and March 1996 among scholars with an interest in advancing critical scholarship about the social aspects of computerization, including Phil Agre, Jacques Berleur, Brenda Dervin, Andrew Dillon, Rob Kling, Mark Poster, Karen Ruhleder, Ben Shneiderman, Leigh Star and Barry Wellman. As the conversation developed, it became clear that labels that could energize scholars in one sub-community could readily turn off participants in other communities. Various participants preferred different labels; a sufficient consensus emerged around "Social Informatics" that it can serve as a working label.
SI studies aim to ensure that technical research agendas and system designs are relevant to people's lives. The key word is relevance, ensuring that technical work is socially-driven rather than technology-driven.
Our conference should include analyses of the impacts, policies, system concepts, and methodologies related to information technologies and changes in society and culture. “Some of the key information technologies include computers and telecommunications; the sites of social change include home life, workplaces, schools, communities and diverse organizations, as well as new social forms in cyberspace.” [Information Society, An International Journal]
It should favour the practice of interdisciplinarity: between policy makers, social scientists, communication scientists, computer scientists or informaticians, industrialists… The success of the Conference may well depend on having an appropriate balance of scholars and practitioners in the field.
The term "Social Informatics" emerged from a series of lively conversations in February and March 1996 among scholars with an interest in advancing critical scholarship about the social aspects of computerization, including Phil Agre, Jacques Berleur, Brenda Dervin, Andrew Dillon, Rob Kling, Mark Poster, Karen Ruhleder, Ben Shneiderman, Leigh Star and Barry Wellman. As the conversation developed, it became clear that labels that could energize scholars in one sub-community could readily turn off participants in other communities. Various participants preferred different labels; a sufficient consensus emerged around "Social Informatics" that it can serve as a working label.
SI studies aim to ensure that technical research agendas and system designs are relevant to people's lives. The key word is relevance, ensuring that technical work is socially-driven rather than technology-driven.
[Kling, 2001a]
Our conference should include analyses of the impacts, policies, system concepts, and methodologies related to information technologies and changes in society and culture. “Some of the key information technologies include computers and telecommunications; the sites of social change include home life, workplaces, schools, communities and diverse organizations, as well as new social forms in cyberspace.” [Information Society, An International Journal]
It should favour the practice of interdisciplinarity: between policy makers, social scientists, communication scientists, computer scientists or informaticians, industrialists… The success of the Conference may well depend on having an appropriate balance of scholars and practitioners in the field.