Michael Gurstein <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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. Actually I've been tracking use of the phrase off and on for the past couple of years. It was once rare but has steadily become more common on the web, even without my own contributions. > The term is actually in fairly common use among those working in > technology applications in organizations, schools, training and so on. Apparently so. I've exchanged some mail with such people -- usually with interesting results. > 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. ... As I say on http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/stml.html which is the page for the SocialTechnology mailing list, "this list will take the broadest possible interpretation of the phrase 'social technology'. I do specifically include the social use of other technologies as a valid use of the phrase. > ... 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". I think that's actually the other interpretation of the phrase, the more strict use I prefer. Suppose you simply exchange some other phrase like 'corporate culture' for 'new software' in that sentence: > ... 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 corporate culture". That still makes sense to me, and I still see the buddy system as social technology, even though corporate culture as such is not really any kind of technology. To me social technology includes all tools and techniques for social use, and the buddy system is such a technique. > 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 see, the first use of the word 'technology' in that sentence is (I admit) commonly understood to be computers and such things, and really computers and their software are but a branch of echnology. As this usage has gotten common people are less and less aware of other technologies, to the point where I've seen people talk about railroads and airplanes as if they are not examples of technology. To me what you call "the organizational system" is a collection of methods or techniqes such as those taught in business school, and a collection of methods or techniques is a technology. You could call them business or financial technology, or management technology, but because such institutions are so fundamental to our society those are just branches of social technology. > 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. I've never seen it in a printed source, either, although Robert Jungk uses the related phrase 'social inventions' (or whatever the German original was). I've used 'social technology' for 20 years or more, and it has appeared in a few small privately printed documents I've given out to friends, but that's it. As I've said various times in various messages, I find it a rather liberating concept, because it takes a way the "aura" of special status that legal systems and governments claim, and reduces them to pieces of technology, susceptible to ordinary systems engineering. Well, anyway, thanks for your comments, and if you do stumble across the phrase in any interesting documents or web pages, I'd like to see them, so maybe you could let me know. I have a special interest in the term, having just acquired the domain name "SocialTechnology.org" for my new virtual server -- nothing on that site, yet, but I'll post a message when I've got it up and running. dpw Douglas P. Wilson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.island.net/~dpwilson/index.html
