As an IEEE technical Society whose focus on all aspects of societal implications of technology complements the technical activities of all other IEEE Societies, SSIT members have a proud history of contributions to sustainable development and humanitarian technology. We have long focused on addressing ethical implications, interdependencies, context, and socio-cultural norms that are essential to avoid unintended and unanticipated consequences. One of our core strengths as a community has been our collaborative, partnership-based approach.
Tag: Showcase
Robots and SocioEthical Implications
By Katina Michael on March 7th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Societal Impact
Is it unreasonable for us to want more from the AI-inspired — something more than, for example, a robot that can get up off the ground, and recover from being hit with a club?
Refrigeration Nation
By Karl Stephan on March 5th, 2018 in Book Reviews, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
Jonathan Rees’s Refrigeration Nation has a great deal to say about the way refrigeration technology brought about profound changes in eating habits, agricultural practices, and even entire national economies over the last two centuries.
Book Review: Computer Accessibility Rights
By S. Henry-Buckmire on February 27th, 2018 in Book Reviews, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Petrick provides historic perspectives of how computer technology was developed in the United States allowing persons with disabilities full participation in their own lives and in the society.
Go “Get Chipped”
By Katina Michael on February 9th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
The big issue is the mass scale big data collection strategies using social media intelligence, CCTV, behavioral biometrics using facial recognition and visual analytics to monitor human activities, the keystroke-level tracking of end-users by third parties on Internet websites, the use of in-bound technology devices that conduct ICT surveillance and home monitoring, and even fitness trackers we carry alongside our mobile phone that are set to control our health insurance premiums.
Social Media and Disasters: Highlighting Some Wicked Problems
By Asslam Umar Alie and Robert Ogie on January 29th, 2018 in Communication Technology, Human Impacts, Leading Edge, Magazine Articles
Information generated on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Instagram are fast becoming powerful and ubiquitous new sources of time-critical data needed to aid decision making during extreme weather events and emergency situations.
Information Technology in a City Enterprise
By David Gancarz on January 19th, 2018 in Commentary, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
We must challenge ourselves to transcend our familiar notion of the IT artifact as just an inanimate tool standing by for our use like some sort of mechanical device, neatly separable and distinct from us. It is far more productive to view Information Technology as practice.
Citizen trust and confidence in the public institution and notions of the public good are, in many ways, the bottom line for the public sector.
Raising Teens to Live with Technology Responsibly
By Josh Shipp on January 15th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
Today, over 90% of U.S. teenagers are online. When it comes to social media, 50% of all teenagers log on at least once a day, with 22% logging on more than 10 times a day. We, like our parents and their parents before them, are worried about the effect that technology is having on the development of our kids. The author discussed the five rules for teaching teens to live with technology responsibly.
Digital Maturity: Perceiving the Digital-Panopticon
By Christine Perakslis on January 12th, 2018 in Last Word, Magazine Articles, Privacy & Security, Social Implications of Technology, Societal Impact
As technological advances disrupt existing markets and value networks, change can outpace our ability to adapt.
Appointment of the Planet’s Policy Custodian
By Joe Carvalko on January 6th, 2018 in Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
The Trump administration cannot simply reject current theories of climate change based on nothing more than that it may conflict with a constituency’s self-interest or one’s sheer lack of understanding.
Pervasive Technology: Aboriginal Communities and Oppression
By Alexander Hayes on December 31st, 2017 in Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Privacy & Security
Australian Aboriginal sovereignty is no longer just about Aboriginal communities retaining rights to their own land. The most brutal types of dispossession are the latest forms of data retention, decreased privacy, and unwarranted use of this personal data as a result of activities being collected, analyzed, and intelligently manipulated by geographically remote entities, all thanks to the Internet.
Engineers and Social Acceptance of Renewable Energy
By Nicholas Sakellariou on December 16th, 2017 in Editorial & Opinion, Environment, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
Unmet local concerns related to renewable energy projects can result in costly project delays or cancellation. Strong political and financial incentives encourage state authorities and renewable energy developers to address issues of social acceptance.
Advanced Frugal Innovations
By Balkrishna Rao on December 16th, 2017 in Human Impacts, Leading Edge, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
Frugal innovations are all the rage. Their appeal stems from lower costs to society at large.
Jeremy Pitt Appointed New Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine
By terribookman on December 16th, 2017 in Magazine Articles, News and Notes
The IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology announces the selection of Jeremy Pitt, Professor of Intelligent and Self-Organizing Systems at Imperial College, London, U.K., as Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine, beginning January 1, 2018.
We Need to Talk about the Web
By Martin Stewart-Weeks on October 24th, 2017 in Commentary, Health & Medical, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
The conversation about “Web Science” is becoming more urgent and more central to the future of the planet and the way we live a life worth living.
Biometric Surveillance and the Right to Privacy
By Angus Willoughby on October 5th, 2017 in Commentary, Ethics, Magazine Articles, Privacy & Security
Using biometric technology to identify and monitor people raises human rights concerns. In particular, biometrics are often associated with intrusions into privacy.
The Next Generation of Socio-Technical Systems
By Steghofer on September 29th, 2017 in Human Impacts, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
The next generation of socio-technical system can be seen as a kind of “focal point” for the convergence of a number of current trends in computing, information systems, and information technology. These trends include the technology-driven instrumentation of infrastructure by ubiquitous computing and/or “intelligent” devices, with the prefix “smart” now taking precedence over the prefix “e-,” i.e. SmartGrids, SmartCities, SmartMotorways, etc., rather than the e-commerce. e-health, e-learning initiatives commonplace at the turn of millennium.
On Country
By Alexander Hayes on September 26th, 2017 in Editorial & Opinion, Magazine Articles, Robotics, Societal Impact
Mining has had an impact on many Aboriginal communities in Australia. As we move to a mining sector where dump trucks, underground excavators, loaders, and conveyor systems are transformed into partial or fully autonomous systems, there is little or no human labor required other than to maintain equipment or provide oversight using a range of distant surveillance technologies.
Tragedy of the Digital Commons: Amplified Zombies
By Renato Iannella on September 20th, 2017 in Editorial & Opinion, Magazine Articles, Societal Impact
There is an unshakable faith in our industry that we can do anything and that everything we do must be good and beneficial to society. Our industry has had similar crises before, such as dot-com busts, that exposed our assumptions, but the ideas are still here. As an industry and society, can we continue to develop solutions that unduly amplify human behavior – so that we provide and support a way for harm to be normalized? As an industry and society, can we continue to promote solutions based on long-held and dominate theories – so that the wider community is misled by influential advocates? The answer is a clear “no” to both.
Go “Get Chipped”
By Katina Michael on September 18th, 2017 in Editorial & Opinion, Human Impacts, Magazine Articles
In 1997 Eduardo Kac became the first human to implant himself with a non-medical device in the performance art work titled “Time Capsule”