Hi Douglas,
I meant to reply to this post earlier but it got caught up in other
things...
I was interested in your page on "social technology" and the absence of
specific references to be found to the term on the Net as evidenced by an
Altavista search.
The term is actually in fairly common use among those working in
technology applications in organizations, schools, training and so on.
The meaning is slightly different from what you have presented in that it
refers to the non-technical methods and approaches which are
systematically used in introducing or operating technology in
organizations etc. A common use would be for example, "a buddy system is a
frequently used 'social technology' in an organization to have one person
help another in learning new software".
The design of "virtual organizations" where the interface between the
technology and the organizational system has to be self-consciously
developed and managed is a prime area for the application of "social
technologies".
But you are correct in that I don't recall seeing the term used in any
research or professional publications although it is often used in
oral presentations and in informal conversations among
practitioner/consultants.
regs
Mike Gurstein
On Sat, 7 Nov 1998, Douglas P. Wilson wrote:
>Readers of Futurework may be interested in several webpages and a
>mailing list about social technology. The Social Technology Page,
>http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/soctech.html gives several different
>definitions of social technology, and is intended to be inclusive,
>supporting all of them. But to say it briefly: social technology can
>be described at the technological or engineering counterpart to the
>social sciences.
>
>Where social science might analyze an economy or a society to find out
>why there is unemployment, social technology would be more concerned
>with doing something about unemployment -- it has a built in bias
>against arguments and for algorithms.
>
>The Social Technology mailing list is also intended to be inclusive,
>supporting a variety of viewpoints about social technology, and in
>the interest of stimulating discussion it is unmoderated. To
>discourage spam, it will accept messages only from list subscribers.
>There is also a daily digest, and subscribers to the digest can also
>post to the main list.
>
>To obtain information about the Social Technology mailing list and its
>digest, vist http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/stml.html or send a message
>to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the single word
>
>info
>
>in the message body. I would encourage potential subscribers to read
>about the list first, but if you are sure you want to subscribe
>immediatelly, substitute 'subscribe' for 'info' and send the message
>to the same address.
>
>An abridged version of this announcement has been posted to FW-L.
>
>Please visit my home page, http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/index.html
>which begins with these few sentences:
>
> Imagine a future world in which it is easy to find a good job.
>
> Imagine a future in which it is easy to find a truly compatible
> spouse or sexual partner. Imagine a world in which it is easy to
> find good long-term friends.
>
> While you're at it, you might as well imagine a future world
> without crime, since people with good jobs, good friends, and a
> compatible spouse or partner rarely commit crimes. And you should
> also imagine this world as affluent and prosperous, without poverty
> -- precisely what one would expect of a world where everyone has
> been able to find very suitable work.
>
> Traditional futurists have described worlds with humanoid robots
> and flying automobiles, but the world I dream about is one in which
> love and friendship are abundant, along with truly satisfying work
> in good jobs that are easy to find and keep.
>
>If you do read my home page and follow the links on it, you will soon
>see that I am quite serious about all this, and you should also notice
>that the solution I propose involves some very hi-tech stuff,
>including advanced mathematics.
>
>But of course it does! Any real solution to social problems has to be
>based on something more than wishful thinking. It will take a lot of
>systems analysts, computer programmers, and mathematicians working
>very hard to make this dream a reality, but that is only to be expected.
>
> dpw
>
>Douglas P. Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/index.html
>
>
Michael Gurstein, Ph.D.
ECBC/NSERC/SSHRC Associate Chair in the Management of Technological Change
Director: Centre for Community and Enterprise Networking (C\CEN)
University College of Cape Breton, POBox 5300, Sydney, NS, CANADA B1P 6L2
Tel. 902-563-1369 (o) 902-562-1055 (h) 902-562-0119 (fax)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Http://ccen.uccb.ns.ca ICQ: 7388855
