Technological change is inherent to human progress. Technology, by definition, serves to augment human capacities and, in so doing, alters the environment in which we act. In a very real way, social reality and technology co-evolve or are co-constructed. It could be said that the industrial and information revolutions have fundamentally transformed the functioning and conception of human society.
A group of researchers are collaborating on an emerging research program that aims to examine the relationship between digital tools and social transformation. This collaboration is part of a longer-term effort to re-examine the new relationships between technology and social transformation by questioning a merely technological approach to innovation and the reprioritization of human knowledge and behaviour in tool design and use.
Currently, the program is beginning to examine four overlapping areas:
- Technology and individual and collective consciousness: the relationship between digital tools and individual and collective consciousness.
- Agency in technology adoption and use: educational activities (especially for young people, their families and those in the community that interact with them) that morally and socially empower individuals to make sound choices related to digital tools.
- Technology design: hardware and software design that positively affect consciousness and reinforce such educational activities.
- Technology policy and regulations: related regulatory and policy frameworks that motivate companies to make those design choices.
Projects and publications
The activities of the lab include keeping current with the literature by discussing and summarizing publications (articles and book chapters), authoring joint publications, designing and carrying out studies and action-research, identifying conferences to attend/submit publications to, identifying relevant courses to take, pursuing funding and carrying out innovative design of hardware and software.