The development and introduction of a new technology to society can be viewed as an experimental process, full of uncertainties, which are only gradually reduced as the technology is employed. Unexpected developments may trigger an experimental process in which society must find new ways to deal with the uncertainties posed. This book explores how the experimental perspective determines what ethical issues new technologies raise and how it helps morally evaluate their introduction. Expert contributors highlight the uncertainties that accompany the process, identify the social and ethical challenges they give rise to, and propose strategies to manage them. Focusing on the introduction of new technologies and experimentation as ways to perceive new developments and changing contexts, a key theme of the book is how to approach the moral issues raised by new technology and understand the role of experimentation in exploring these matters.

This book explores how the experimental perspective determines what ethical issues new technologies raise and how it helps morally evaluate their introduction.

An anthology of writings by thinkers ranging from Freeman Dyson to Bruno Latour that focuses on the interconnections of technology, society, and values and how these may affect the future. Technological change does not happen in a vacuum; decisions about which technologies to develop, fund, market, and use engage ideas about values as well as calculations of costs and benefits. This anthology focuses on the interconnections of technology, society, and values. It offers writings by authorities as varied as Freeman Dyson, Laurence Lessig, Bruno Latour, and Judy Wajcman that will introduce readers to recent thinking about technology and provide them with conceptual tools, a theoretical framework, and knowledge to help understand how technology shapes society and how society shapes technology. It offers readers a new perspective on such current issues as globalization, the balance between security and privacy, environmental justice, and poverty in the developing world. The careful ordering of the selections and the editors' introductions give Technology and Society a coherence and flow that is unusual in anthologies. The book is suitable for use in undergraduate courses in STS and other disciplines. The selections begin with predictions of the future that range from forecasts of technological utopia to cautionary tales. These are followed by writings that explore the complexity of sociotechnical systems, presenting a picture of how technology and society work in step, shaping and being shaped by one another. Finally, the book goes back to considerations of the future, discussing twenty-first-century challenges that include nanotechnology, the role of citizens in technological decisions, and the technologies of human enhancement.

This book focuses on a key issue today: the role of values in technology, with special emphasis on ethical values. This topic involves the analysis of internal values in technology (as they affect objectives, processes, and outcomes) and the study of external values in technology (social, cultural, economic, ecological, etc.). These values — internal and external — are crucial to the decision making of engineers. In addition, they have increasing relevance for citizens concerned with the present and future state of technology, which gives society a leading position in technological issues. The book follows three main lines of research: 1) new perspectives on technology, values, and ethics; 2) rationality and responsibility in technology; and 3) technology and risks. This volume analyzes the two main sides involved here: the theoretical basis for the role of values in technology and a practical discussion on how to implement them in our society. Thus, the book is of interest for philosophers, engineers, academics of different fields and policy-makers. The style used lends itself to broad audience.​

This book contains a selection of articles from The 2014 World Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST'14), held between the 15th and 18th of April in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal, a global forum for researchers and practitioners to present and discuss recent results and innovations, current trends, professional experiences and challenges of modern Information Systems and Technologies research, technological development and applications. The main topics covered are: Information and Knowledge Management; Organizational Models and Information Systems; Intelligent and Decision Support Systems; Software Systems, Architectures, Applications and Tools; Computer Networks, Mobility and Pervasive Systems; Radar Technologies; Human-Computer Interaction; Health Informatics and Information Technologies in Education.

Much of the discussion about new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a "digital divide." Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education, and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States. A central premise is that, in today's society, the ability to access, adapt, and create knowledge using information and communication technologies is critical to social inclusion. This focus on social inclusion shifts the discussion of the "digital divide" from gaps to be overcome by providing equipment to social development challenges to be addressed through the effective integration of technology into communities, institutions, and societies. What is most important is not so much the physical availability of computers and the Internet but rather people's ability to make use of those technologies to engage in meaningful social practices.