Category: Social Implications of Technology

We would act wisely if we turn to alternative ways of thinking, other wisdom traditions, and learn from them. Ubuntu philosophy can help to draw attention to social issues, for example, the horrors of colonialism, exclusion, and oppression, and to find ways to promote social justice. Aboriginal wisdom can help to apply diverse ways of knowing, for example, knowledge that is related to place, to kinship, to stories, to patterns—not only knowledge in books. The Indigenous cultures and wisdom of the Americas can teach us how to organize economic and political systems more sustainably and to develop more caring relationships with nature. And Confucian culture and wisdom can help to design and apply technologies in ways that support us as relational and developmental beings.

While it is true that technology is addressing problems and making elements of some people’s lives easier, there are aggregate measures that suggest a troubling trajectory.

This dialogue occurred between Katina Michael and ChatGPT on 2 January 2023 on the topic of mental health and the usefulness of digital mental health apps.

This SSIT Guest Lecture was presented by Prof Ali Hessami, Vega Systems, UK at a Chapter Meeting organised by IEEE…  Read More

How can local (grassroots) contributive justice be used as a driving force for the common good?

The IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (SSIT) has had many volunteers step into leadership positions for purposefully limited terms over the past half-century. We address the challenges and opportunities of our day and then move on, unlike some world leaders who cannot bear to fade away.

PeaceTech is “the movement to use technology to end violent conflict and extremism.”

Scholars critique physical infrastructure approaches as ineffective because flooding routinely exceeds defense structures and disaster assistance and removes the incentive for property owners to reduce their risk. As an educational and engagement tool, the flood resilience challenge (FRC) game aims to build the capacity of stakeholders to improve flood resilience and enhance flood risk governance, including collective decision-making.

IEEE ETHICS-2023: Ethics in the Global Innovation Helix – Call for Papers – DEADLINE EXTENDED: Poster Abstracts and Full Draft Papers (short length and regular length) due January 13, 2023

In this time of massive growth in the scale and scope of technological innovations, it is more important than ever to look critically at the nature of these innovations and to challenge a naïve, techno-utopian attitude that innovation is synonymous with progress.

This SSIT Guest Lecture was presented by Prof Clinton Andrews, Rutgers University / President of IEEE SSIT (2021 – 2022)…  Read More

People around the world are increasingly holding corporations accountable for their practices and seeking ways to rectify their unequal distribution of the risks and benefits among differently positioned populations.

Call for Papers – ISTAS23 – Submission deadline March 1, 2023 – “Technology and Analytics for Global Development”. 13-15 September 2023, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales

Organizations are gaining awareness that digital products and services targeted at the children’s market segment need to go beyond adopting the “mindset” of a child. Rather, it is necessary to actually invite children to participate in the design process.

This SSIT Guest Lecture was presented by Dr. Nizar Rokbani, Tunisia Section SIGHT at a Chapter Meeting organised by IEEE UK…  Read More

“Securitization for Sustainability of People and Place: A Call to Transdisciplinarity”
The Fifteenth Workshop on the Social Implications of National Security (SINS22

Ruth Lewis, IEEE SSIT Standards Committee Chair, has been named a 2022 recipient of the IEEE Standards Medallion for leadership in promoting the development of IEEE technology and society standards.

The call for responsible innovation is a call to address and account for technology’s short- and long-term impacts within social, political, environmental, and cultural domains. Technological stewardship stands as a commitment to anticipate and mitigate technology’s potential for disruption and especially harm and to guide innovation toward beneficial ends. Dialogue and collaboration across diverse perspectives is essential for developing actionable technological solutions that attend in responsible ways to the evolving needs of society.

The IEEE Workshop on Electronics for mitigating Climate Change (EmC2) will be a place to discuss issues arising by climate change such as the risk of passing a tipping point of planetary boundaries if we do not accelerate the path to reduce GHG emissions.

All the deep philosophical questions, starts the joke, were asked by the classical Greeks, and everything since then has been footnotes and comments in the margins, finishes the punchline.