The Nature and Areas of Technoethical Inquiry

As illustrated in the preceding chapters, social and ethical concerns about technology are multifaceted and cannot be resolved through methods derived from any one discipline. Instead, a multi-tiered approach that draws on an interdisciplinary knowledge base is recommended to guide a proper technoethical inquiry advanced through knowledge and insights derived from multiple disciplines and literatures. This approach is desirable for achieving a more comprehensive picture of technology at the core of human life and society. Knowledge derived from the cross-fertilization of relevant areas of inquiry represents a potentially powerful set of knowledge building tools that can be used for maximizing the positive and minimizing the negative ethical aspects of technology in society. To this end, a systems approach to technoethical inquiry (chapter 4) was highlighted as an ideal methodology for studying the multi-faceted nature of ethical aspects of technology. This, however, does not negate the use of other methods and tools available to guide technoethical inquiry. Neither does it capture the nature and scope of technoethical inquiry within the real world of technology and humans.

Information and Communication Technoethics

Vanderburg’s (2005) Living in the Labyrinth of Technology, describes the seemingly ambivalent state of life and meaning within a technological society. The ubiquity and invisibility of advancing information and communication technologies (ICT’s) challenges individuals sense of self and society, and their understanding of how meaning is communicated, by whom, for what purpose, and with what outcomes. The convergence of information, communication, and technology has become an important concern in academia as is apparent in the intersecting interests of technology studies, information studies, and communication studies in areas related to the role of technology in social interaction, meaning creation, identity formation, culture, and information exchange. This intersection of fields is partly due to the convergence of information and communications with advancing technological innovation. This has given rise to the ever-expanding convergence in academic research within communications and technology studies. This is exemplified through an amassing body of research publications focusing on technology, information, and communication, along with continued growth of technology and communication oriented research activities carried out within professional associations (Society for Social Studies of Science [4S] and the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology [EASST], International Communication Association, Canadian Communication Association).

Technoethics

A major struggle within our evolving knowledge society is that increasingly potent scientific and technological growth is forcing individuals to re-examine how technology is viewed. This is especially salient in the pure and applied sciences where technological developments offer ways to surpass current human capacities and affect life in ways that were not imaginable fifty years ago. New breakthroughs in medicine, information and communication technology, transportation and industry are juxtaposed with growing needs to deal with moral and ethical dilemmas associated with new technological developments. Increased reliance on new technology creates fundamental challenges revolving around security and privacy issues, access issues to education and health care, legal issues in online fraud and theft, employer and government surveillance, policies issues in creating and implementing ethical guidelines and professional codes of conduct, along with ethical dilemmas in a number of vital areas of research and development.

Global Technoethics and Cultural Tensions in Canada

Winston Churchill once said that history is written by the victors. This statement from Churchill highlights the challenge that marginalized local cultures face in the global world and how important parts of their cultural history can get left behind and forgotten in the drive for national prosperity in the global economy. This chapter focuses on the cultural tensions that arise when a technology rich culture threatens the sustainability of a technology poor culture. A pilot case study of cultural tensions between aboriginal people and dominant French and English Canadian populations. This pilot study explores how technoethical considerations are intertwined with historical, political, and social factors that have threatened the sustainability of aboriginal culture in Canada. Findings suggest that more attention must be invested to ensure that that globalization efforts by technology rich dominant cultures do not lead to the demise of technology poor marginalized cultures. Given the longstanding history and broad scope of aboriginal problems in Canada efforts to revive the cultural history and identity of aboriginal people is suggested as one option to help rebuild aboriginal trust and willingness to collaborate with dominant Canadian populations on global initiatives.

Global Technoethics and Society

As discussed in Chapter Five, Technoethics and Society is a branch of Technoethics concerned with the ethical use of technology to promote the aims of contemporary society. This includes the study of local organizations (micro level) as well as the study of broader global structures and processes (macro level). Although this section focuses mainly on global technoethics (macros level), it provides a sketch of organizational and global developments to better situate the discussion. Since the beginning of the 20th century, work in organizational studies reflects a continually evolving research area within communications and other fields (human resource management, industrial relations, business management) since the contribution of early classical models of organizations. Classical models provided a new technology (technique) for organizational leaders to help manage increasing large contingencies of workers within a top-down communication structure geared towards maximizing organizational performance and efficiency. The coming of the information age and the development of sophiosicated information and communication technologies (ICT’s) provides additional technology for transforming society and the institutions within it. This was the start of the trend towards the modern day multi-corporation. Continuing progress through human relations and human resource approaches, systems theory, and ideological perspectives (critical, cultural, and feminist) on organizations have reinforced this core work. Rapid technological developments within organizational life, the increasing power of multi-corporations, and the faster pace of organizational change processes, have helped nurture in globalization

Engineering and Environmental Technoethics

This chapter traces the development of Engineering Ethics, Computer Ethics, and Environmental Technoethics. It also covers the topic of military technoethics as an important new development that deserves special attention. The story begins in the late 19th century with the development of various engineering professional bodies to ensure that engineers were responsible for potentially harmful constructions. This in turn, gave rise to the creation of codes of engineering ethics to help guide professional conduct. As the public demand for engineering increased throughout the 20th century, so did the ethical implications and demand for codes of engineering ethics. In the 1950s and 1960s, the continued expansion of industrial growth lead also to a number of human caused environmental disasters ranging from oil spills to nuclear explosions to the release of toxic chemicals into the air and water supply. This brought on a public reaction among environmental organizations and increased public attention to ethical implications of technology and the environment. These developments helped nurture in studies in environmental technoethics and the ethical concern over human involvement in technology related environmental change. Also in the 1950s and 1960s, the public use of mainframe computers, promising outlook for computer networking, and scholarly interest in systems research raised additional interest concerning the ethical implications connected to computer innovation in society. This chapter provides a review of background developments, challenges, and current directions in each of these areas. It uses examples to illustrate the potency of technology in reference to key areas (i.e., access equity, software design, computer navigation systems, construction, mining, and other areas of technology use and misuse). It concludes with insider interviews from leading experts working in the field and recommendations on how to use technoethical inquiry to leverage the ethical use of science and technology in areas where technological innovation has created ethical challenges and dilemmas.

Information and Communication Technoethics

Vanderburg’s (2005) Living in the Labyrinth of Technology, describes the seemingly ambivalent state of life and meaning within a technological society. The ubiquity and invisibility of advancing information and communication technologies (ICT’s) challenges individuals sense of self and society, and their understanding of how meaning is communicated, by whom, for what purpose, and with what outcomes. The convergence of information, communication, and technology has become an important concern in academia as is apparent in the intersecting interests of technology studies, information studies, and communication studies in areas related to the role of technology in social interaction, meaning creation, identity formation, culture, and information exchange. This intersection of fields is partly due to the convergence of information and communications with advancing technological innovation. This has given rise to the ever-expanding convergence in academic research within communications and technology studies. This is exemplified through an amassing body of research publications focusing on technology, information, and communication, along with continued growth of technology and communication oriented research activities carried out within professional associations (Society for Social Studies of Science [4S] and the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology [EASST], International Communication Association, Canadian Communication Association).

Trends in Technoethics

The widespread integration of electronic technologies in contemporary organizations is transforming organizational operations and how people work. This can partly be attributed to the advent of reliable technological infrastructures, increased workflow efficiency, and operational cost savings that can be achieved by utilizing electronic technologies. New electronic technologies allow organizational members to exchange more information in less time and with greater flexibility than possible through traditional means. Electronic technology common to organizations includes, but is not limited to, computer monitoring and filtering systems, surveillance cameras, IM and other chat tools, electronic mail and voicemail, Internet, audio and video conferencing tools, personal data assistants, and mobile devices. Non-work-related use of electronic technologies may include personal use of electronic technologies as well as institutional uses of counter measure electronic technologies to control personal use.

The Nature and Areas of Technoethical Inquiry

As illustrated in the preceding chapters, social and ethical concerns about technology are multifaceted and cannot be resolved through methods derived from any one discipline. Instead, a multi-tiered approach that draws on an interdisciplinary knowledge base is recommended to guide a proper technoethical inquiry advanced through knowledge and insights derived from multiple disciplines and literatures. This approach is desirable for achieving a more comprehensive picture of technology at the core of human life and society. Knowledge derived from the cross-fertilization of relevant areas of inquiry represents a potentially powerful set of knowledge building tools that can be used for maximizing the positive and minimizing the negative ethical aspects of technology in society. To this end, a systems approach to technoethical inquiry (chapter 4) was highlighted as an ideal methodology for studying the multi-faceted nature of ethical aspects of technology. This, however, does not negate the use of other methods and tools available to guide technoethical inquiry. Neither does it capture the nature and scope of technoethical inquiry within the real world of technology and humans.

Technology Assessment and Technoethics Inquiry

Philosophical and historical conceptualizations of technology and ethics discussed in the first three chapters of this book helped to situate the reader within the general context of technoethical scholarship as it pertains to a knowledge society. This is important in providing a theoretical grounding for the field of Technoethics. How- ever, the field of Technoethics also has an applied research and practice orientation for guiding technoethical inquiry and its application to technology assessment and technology design. As such it offers practical tools for use within the technology oriented professions (e.g., engineering, computer science, medicine, technology studies).