AUTHOR
Teresa Torres-Coronas, María Arántzazu Vidal-Blasco, Ricard Monclús-Guitart, Mario Arias-Oliva, Margarita Ortí-García, M. José Simón-Olmos and Antoni Pérez-Portabella

ABSTRACT

The current situation and the continuing and rapid changes occurring in the digital world are affecting the way in which organizations work and do business. The emergence of Enterprise 2.0 model incorporates this idea of change focused on the development of collective intelligence, social interaction and social capital building as sources of knowledge creation. Digital workers must know how apply this model to facilitate compliance with the corporate mission and the business strategy.

In the present landscape of technological change there is a growing shift on the need to support the acquisition of knowledge and competencies to continue learning throughout life. “With respect to ICT, we are witnessing the rapid expansion and proliferation of technologies that are less about “narrowcasting”, and more focussed on creating communities in which people come together to collaborate, learn and build knowledge” (McLoughlin & Lee, 2007, p. 664).

In this context, on line communities (or e-communities) are designed to provide users with a range of tools for personal development. E-communities use web technology and social software to help members pursue new ways of learning and also, as stated by Ala-Mutka, Punie and Redecker (2008), e-communities enhance learning outcomes by:

• Supporting different senses with multimedia visualizations and representations.
• Supporting collaboration with new online production and networking tools.
• Supporting diversity by supplying a wide variety of methodological tools.
• Empowering learners to personalize their learning process through interaction, combining formal, non-formal and informal learning.

Collaborative development and sharing of media content (e.g. blogging, podcasting, Wikipedia, Flickr®, YouTube™) and social networking (e.g. MySpace™, Facebook®, SecondLife®) are transforming knowledge sharing, social capital and the learning society.

As learners have different background and competences several different learning approaches are needed. This implies that the skills needed and the most adequate learning styles will vary with professions and industries (Kolb, 1984). Thus, for instance, Oblinger and Oblinger (2005) characterize Net generation (“N-gen”) students as digitally literate, always connected via networked media, used to immediate responses, preferring experiential learning, highly social, preferring to work in teams, oriented toward inductive discovery, feeling more comfortable in image-rich environments than with text and, having a preference “for structure rather than ambiguity”. This means that there is a growing need to stimulate the creation of successful strategies for learning. Information technologies, including interactive and multimedia technologies, are tools for building up such strategies and enriching learning. Modern technology not only makes learning a daily need for people but also makes it easier to learn. The Net generation, the workers of the future, are ready for connectivism as a new learning paradigm.

So, constructivist approaches have grown to include social constructivism, which refers “to learning as the result of active participation in a ‘‘community’’ where new meanings are co-constructed.” (Brown, 2006, p. 111). Different learning strategies have been designed based on a community supported constructionist approach in which constructionism strategy is situated in a supportive community context (Bruckman, 1998). This approach emphasizes the importance of social aspect of learning environment. The construction of new knowledge and social capital is the aim of the constructivism.

But beyond constructivism and social constructivism new paradigm are emerging. Brown (2006) focus on navigationism as a learning paradigm shift. In this new learning paradigm the emphasis will be on knowledge navigation. Learning will take place when learners solve contextual real life problems through active engagement in problem- solving activities, and networking and collaboration. Siemens’ principles of connectivism (Siemens, 2004) provides a summary of the connectivist learning skills required within a navigationist learning paradigm:

• Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes or information sources.
• Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known.
• Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning.
• Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
• Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
• Decision making is itself a learning process.

Connectivist learning skills are required to learn within a navigationist learning paradigm. And this is why Brown (2006) states that “connectivism is part and parcel of navigationism,” (p. 117) a learning paradigm that needs further development. The main practical implication of Brown’s work is that teachers and trainers should become coaches and mentors within the knowledge era and learners should acquire navigating skills for a navigationist learning paradigm. To enhance learning in the connected learning society, it is vital to integrate learning experiences with ICT tools as the key solution to equipping people with the evolving knowledge and skills that will be needed to adapt to the continuously changing nature of the learning society and the Enterprise 2.0 model.

Drawing on these ideas, this paper addresses how e-competences can be developed through formal learning. In this paper we refer to a web 2.0 learning experience developed at Universitat Rovira i Virgili during a summer course held in July, 2009. We show how to design a web 2.0 learning community to develop both digital competencies and management knowledge. In particular, the case presented focuses on the field of gender equality within the framework of labour relations in a non-real company created for this purpose, Quadratonics, SA. Through the Quadratonics’ case, web 2.0 tools and social software students improve their e-competencies and, at the same time, they are exposed to the most updated innovations in ITC. This course facilitates students’ encounter with the new digital world as it includes a theoretical background as well as practical experience of the various applications of web 2.0 tools and social software.

Our final reflection is that higher education academics should continue to expand their awareness of web 2.0 applications and the role they can play in optimizing learning and knowledge creation among their students, the digital workers of the future.

REFERENCES

Brown, T.H. (2006). Beyond constructivism: Navigationism in the knowledge era. On the Horizon, 14(3), 108-120.

Bruckman, A. (1998). Community support for constructionist learning. Computer Supported Cooperative Work: The Journal of Collaborative Computing, 7, 47–86.

Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.

McLoughlin, C. & Lee, M. J.W. (2007, December). Social software and participatory learning: Pedagogical choices with technology affordances in the Web 2.0 era. In ICT: Providing choices for learners and learning. Proceedings ASCILITE (pp. 664-675), Singapore. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/singapore07/procs/mcloughlin.pdf

Oblinger, D, & Oblinger, J. (2005). Is it age or IT: First steps toward understanding the net generation. In Oblinger, D. and Obligner J. (Eds.), Educating the Net Generation, Educause. Retrieved 15 February, 2009, from http://www.educause.edu/educatingthenetgen/5989?time=1236850547

Siemens, G. (2004). Connectivism: A learning theory for the digital age. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm

AUTHOR
Teresa Torres-Coronas, Maria Arántzazu Vidal-Blasco and Ricard Monclús-Guitart

ABSTRACT

The Third Sector is the sector where private non-profit organizations (PNP), worker- owned companies or cooperatives, mutualities and, similar service providers operate to achieve higher levels of social inclusion and cohesion. The Third Sector, which is included in the social economy, pays particular attention to the most vulnerable people in our society.

The Third Social Sector, which makes most of their income from private donations, has a growing role both in size and visibility within the social and economic systems. In recent years the development of the Third Social Sector in Spain has been really rapid, highlighting the development of social policies. There are currently over 25,000 NGOs and foundations that have created about 475,000 jobs.

The current situation and the continuing and rapid changes occurring in the digital world are affecting the way in which business organizations, in general, work and do business. The emergence of Enterprise 2.0 model incorporates this idea of change focused on the development of collective intelligence, social interaction and social capital building as sources of value for companies. It is then clear the importance of ICT for organizational growth and development. But also, Information Technologies and Communication Technologies, and now social software, are needed as support tools for knowledge creation and therefore as tools to step up social and economic development.

ICTs are transforming our society and also the way that public, private and nonprofit organizations are managed. Not only has ICT allowed organizations to acquire and share information in real time but, ICT has make it easier to broke communicational barriers by providing access to any geographical area and any stakeholder. This last issue is having a deep impact on both organizational effectiveness and efficiency through social capital building.

For the Third Social Sector, ICTs represent a key opportunity. On the one hand, in a context in which society demands greater transparency and accountability, ICT allows a more efficient management of resources. On the other hand, ICTs are used to search for new economic resources by strengthening communication between PNP and those institutions potentially interested in giving them economic support. Finally, ICTs allows them to be more effective in achieving their objectives through the use of technologies for collaboration, community building and knowledge sharing.

Since the use of ICT and web 2.0 tools does not require big financial investments, these technologies are increasingly becoming a mass media communication channel, which are beginning to be used for organizations of the Third Sector. Though, it should be noted that, in general, the use of Web 2.0 tools in nonprofit organizations is still very unusual (Albaiges, 2007). It is also important to remember that not everybody working with social entities has access to these tools, which could create digital exclusion within the most vulnerable people. A lot of work has to be done to end with this digital exclusion where web 2.0 tools can play an important role.

In Spain, institutions such as the Observatorio de las Telecomunicaciones y de la Sociedad de la Información (http://observatorio.red.es), Fundación Orange (http://www.fundacionorange.es/) and Fundación Telefónica (www.fundacion.telefonica.com ) have been studying the changes that new technologies are causing in our society, but their effects in the Third Social Sector has been poorly studied. For that reason, the purpose of this paper is to see whether and how ICT and, in particular Web 2.0 tools and social software, are being used by social institutions of the Third Sector, thus moving towards a more participatory culture. Thus this paper will explore how the Catalan Third Social Sector is using web 2.0 tools to build social capital.

This paper will look at the use of web 2.0 tools for…

• enhancing connectivity and interactivity among PNP’s stakeholders.
• developing opportunities for higher participation among PNP’s stakeholders (from voluntary workers to society)
• facilitating collaboration and social capital building between social organizations.

Besides the possibilities that Web 2.0 technologies can have in transforming the way social entities are managed, it is important to evaluate their potential for improving their visibility and their public image. This is useful to raise awareness about PNP’s mission and social values, to mobilize the civil society and, to build a more participatory and collaborative culture. Obviously, in the connected society, web 2.0 tools, through social capital building, can greatly contribute to the social development that our society still needs.

REFERENCES

Albaigés, J. (2007). Usos y retos de las TIC en las organizaciones no lucrativas. Papers de Investigación del Observatorio del Tercer Sector (OTS). November. Retrieved 16 July, 2009, from http://www.tercersector.net/pdf/publicacions/2007-11_TIC_cs.pdf

Albaigés, J. (2008): Usos y retos de las TIC en las organizaciones sociales. Cuaderns d’Educació Social. Ecuació Social i Tecnologies de la Informació i la Comunicació. Col·legi d’Educadores i Educadors Socials de Catalunya. October, num. 12. Retrieved 16 July, 2009, from http://www.tercersector.net/pdf/publicacions/TIC_organitzacions%20socials_cast.pdf

Fundación Chandra & Centro de Estudios Económicos Tomillo (CEET) (2009): ¿Cómo utilizamos las TIC desde las organizaciones no lucrativas en España? Laboratorio de innovación social. Una experiencia práctica. Retrieved 16 July, 2009, from http://www.laboratoriodeinnovacionsocial.org/informe-final.pdf

Observatori del Tercer Sector (2009): Anuari 2009 del Tercer Sector Social de Catalunya. Taula d’entitats del Tercer Sector Social de Catalunya y Observatori del Tercer Sector. Retrieved 16 July, 2009, from http://www.anuaritercersectorsocial.cat/doc/2009-07-09_Anuari09.pdf

Proyecto SocialGNV (2009): Software libre y TIC en Entidades del Tercer Sector en España. Una visión panorámica 2009. Retrieved 16 July, 2009, from http://www.socialgnu.org/index.php/descargas/cat_view/52-proyecto-socialgnu/65- estudio-software-libre-y-tercer-sector?orderby=dmdatecounter&ascdesc=DESC

Vidal, P. ; Grabulosa, L. (2008): La investigación del tercer sector social en España: análisis y propuestas. Seminario de Expertos. Diagnóstico e identificación de los principales retos. Madrid. Fundación Esplai y Observatorio del Tercer Sector. Retrieved 16 July, 2009, from http://www.tercersector.net/pdf/recerques/2008- 09_seminario%20de%20expertos.pdf

AUTHOR
J. Barrie Thompson

ABSTRACT

1. Context and Background

As stated in the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice [1]:

“Because of their roles in developing software systems, software engineers have significant opportunities to do good or cause harm, to enable others to do good or cause harm, or to influence others to do good or cause harm. To ensure, as much as possible, that their efforts will be used for good, software engineers must commit themselves to making software engineering a beneficial and respected profession”

However, it is not just Software Engineers that need to act in a professional manner; it should be a requirement for all of those working within the computing sector. Despite the fact that there have been many significant developments in computing and much of business and government is now totally reliant on IT systems we still have a situation of too many software projects that fail to meet all their objectives, also there is the problem of the termination of many partially completed projects. In addition, there are fundamental questions concerning the ways in which computer based systems have impacted on society and individuals.

The problem of poor quality software systems has been repeatedly highlighted in published studies (e.g. Glass [2]). The cost of these failures is enormous, for example, it has been estimated [3] that in the UK, between 2000 and 2007, the total cost of abandoned Central Government computer projects had reached almost two billion pounds. A lack of professionalism has been identified as an underlying cause for many of these problems time and time again, for example in the 2004 report on The Challenges of Complex IT Projects [4]. Despite all this we still appear to be very far from having a sector that fully accepts that it must adopt a much more professional approach in all its activities.

Significant efforts to advance professionalism in the computing sector, and in particular in the field of Software Engineering, have been made since the mid 1990s [5]. However, in many cases what has occurred may be viewed as “three steps forward and two back” and “a step to the left and a step to the right”. Progress, to say the least has been spasmodic and it is difficult to judge when there will be significant international success with regard to having an agreed set of professional standards to which every member of the workforce ought to aspire.

The paper will use the conference theme of “backwards, forwards and sideways” to chart and appraise selected efforts in the field of IT professionalism. Within each appraisal a clear focus will be on what is needed (or what should have been done) to make each effective.

2. Forwards, Backwards and Sideways

To illustrate particular forwards and backwards elements along with successes and failures two projects, both initiated in the 1990’s will be considered:

• The (initial) joint effort by the ACM and IEEE-Computer Society aimed to establish the appropriate set(s) of criteria and norms for professional practice in Software Engineering [5]
• The effort by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) directed towards defining an international approach with regard to professional standards throughout the whole of the Information Technology [6].

A further set of three illustrative examples, representing more recent efforts will be presented to demonstrate forwards and sideways elements along with views on what is needed for each to be effective. The efforts that will be considered are:

• The IEEE-CS Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) Program which is an international certification program for mid-level software engineers [7].
• The Professionalism in IT (ProfIT) programme created by the British Computer Society which had a key objective to build an IT profession that is respected and valued by its stakeholders – government, business leaders, IT employers, IT users and customers [8].
• The International Professional Practice Programme – I3P created by IFIP which it is claimed would support the development of a profession which is respected and valued for the contribution it makes to the exploitation and application of IT for the benefit of all [9].

3. Forwards or Simply Backwards and Sideways Again? Do we ever learn?

This year the British Computer Society is embarking on a major new initiative to transform itself into a global player in the field of professionalism. With a formal launch date of September 2009 the detail is yet to be made clear. However, it will be “BCS” that will be the brand (along the lines of HSBC?) with the logo “BCS the Chartered Institution for IT” and a significant emphasis will be placed on the value of the Chartered IT Professional designation [10].

The final paper will hopefully be able to provide more details and an analysis of this effort and relate it to those addressed earlier in the paper.

4. Evaluation

The final sections of the paper will provide an evaluation of the likely success of three of the selected initiatives that are currently ongoing:

• IEEE-Computer Society’s CSPD
• IFIP’s IP3
• BCS CITP and internationalisation

REFERENCES

[1] Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, 1999. Available at: http://www.acm.org/serving/se/code.htm [accessed April 2006].

[2] R. L. Glass, Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, Pearson Education, Boston, 2003.

[3] B. Johnson And D Hencke, Not Fit For Purpose: £2bn Cost Of Government’s IT Blunders,Guardian, Saturday January 5, p11, 2008.

[4] Royal Academy of Engineering , The Challenges of Complex IT Projects, 2004, available from: http://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/complexity.pdf

[5] Thompson J. B., Perspectives On Software Engineering Professionalism, in Wiley Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Engineering . Available at:: http://mrw.interscience.wiley.com/emrw/9780470050118/ecse/article/ecse948/current/pdf

[6] I. Mitchell, P. Juliff, and J. Turner, Harmonization of Professional Standards, International Federation of Information Processing, 1998.

[7] IEEE-Computer Society, Developing Software Engineering as a Profession, CD The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc, 2002.

[8] BCS Professionalism in IT Programme, covered in a series of articles in the May 2006 issue of IT NOW, British Computer Society, Swindon, UK.

[9] Hughes C. (2007), International Professional Practice Programme – I3P, IFIP News, September 2007, P5, available from http://www.ifip.org

[10] Update on the Future of BCS, issued with May 2009 issue of IT NOW, British Computer Society, Swindon, UK.

AUTHOR
Lucia Tello, Amaya Noain and Porfirio Barroso

ABSTRACT

The year 2010 we will be celebrating the eleventh edition of ETHICOMP (Ethics and Computer). Ten past or gone by editions in which this congress has become one of the most important and relevant congresses in the world about Computer Ethics and it has also become a central reference within the field of Computer Ethics. Some time has passed since the first edition that took place at the University of Leicester UK in 1995. We organized the second ETHICOMP in 1996 at Madrid, Spain. Many papers have been sent along with over 700 documents. Due to this wealth of material, it is necessary to do a qualitative and a quantitative analysis of the 82 Abstracts sent and approved in the year 2009, for the ETHICOMP 2010, in order to present next April in Spain.

This research aims to illustrate how many items appear and how many times, which is the frequency in decrees order from our 20 themes as a model of Computer Ethics subject. That topics or principles are the 20 lesson we teach in our Computer Ethics and Internet Ethics classes. This research we did with a numerous group of Official European Master Degree students and we will present as a full paper, we know in the decrees order which is the first and the last topics and we can present in a figure or table our all results.

Our methodology is a quantitative research on all 82 abstract approved to the next ETHICOMP 2010 in April in Spain. This group of students working, firstly translating the abstracts, from English language into Spanish, because not all the students know English language quite well, and all of them have to participate in our research. After have translated all the 82 abstracts we deepening on the idea, it would not be wrong to point out that the main objective of this article is to discover the key to the growth and development of the some topics more frequent than another. For example the PAPA (Privacy, Accuracy, Property and Access) appear more than another themes of the 20 we have in our catalogue or programmed. That is, we need to do an analysis of all abstracts sent to the ETHICOMP 2010. To accomplish this task, the chosen material could be no other than the 82 abstracts. Work that would allow us to extract the entire database from which we can perform our quantitative analysis from the point of view content and comparative analysis of all the abstracts presented and approved. We continued to the reading, analysis, and categorization of all articles submitted. This process was conducted in a systematic way to extract patterns and common modes of analysis to frame all presented abstracts in a series of common levels comparable among them. To accomplish such a task, we developed a thematic categorization of the abstracts according to a series of 20 ethical principles that served as a basis on which to frame and observe the range of thematic categories that appeared more frequently over the 82 abstracts.

Findings: Computers and Ethics. Computer and Internet have enlightened many people but these technologies have also raised some ethical issues such as intellectual property, privacy and intimacy invasion, unauthorized access for children, rich and poor, men and women, young and old people, and use of computer systems. Mason (1986) was summarized ethical issues related to information technology usage by means of an acronym – PAPA (Privacy, Accuracy, Property, and Accessibility). Intellectual Property is one of the major ethical issues that have arisen in the context of information technology usage. Software piracy is globally widespread phenomena and costs software manufacturers billions of dollars annually. The ease of copying software has made the issue of piracy very well-known and widespread around the world. We got from our study on the abstracts of ETHICOMP 2010, on the PAPA, that the topic more frequent is Privacy second is Property or Intellectual Property, the third one is Access and the last one is Accuracy in the information. In the full paper we will show our results in decrees order in a table the most quantitative topics of the 20 one. What will be in the last place of the figure and what will be in the middle of the table?

Research limitation/implication: Although our research is limited to 82 abstracts presented already to the ETHICOMP 2010 and it is in a very specific context, we consider that this study will be very interesting, firstly to the organizers, conference directors, programmer committee, reviewers and finally to all presenters.

Practical implications: The paper calls attention to the need of discussing what are the more frequent and less frequent topics or themes are presented already in the next ETHICOMP 2010 in Spain, attending of the summary or minutes presented for the authors in their abstracts.

Originality/value: The paper contributes to know and show what are the themes or original topics that the authors in ETHICOMP 2010 are researching or teaching or they are working in them.

REFERENCES

Ali Acilar, Muzaffer Aydemir Student Attitudes On Software Piracy- The Gender Factor: A Case Of A Public University In An Emerging Country (This abstract is presented and approved for the ETHICOMP 2010 and we inspire on it and we quot here)

Barroso Porfirio (2007) Etica y Deontologia Informatica. Editorial Fragua, Madrid, 134 pages.

Barroso Porfirio and Gonzalez Mario (2009) Education On Informatics Ethics: A Challenge To Social Development (Abstract presented and appraoved to ETHICOMP 2010).

Harris Albert L. (2000). IS Ethical Attitudes Among College Students: A Comparative Study. The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference, 2000, v. 17.

Mason Richard O. (1986). Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age. Management Information Systems Quarterly, Volume 10, Number 1, 5–12.

AUTHOR
Mª del Mar López and Porfirio Barroso

ABSTRACT

Human suffering and pain in the media appear as front-page news. Sometimes, journalists deliberately select situations of suffering and pain, not for the so-called informative interest, but because they are images that speak for themselves: these images put tremendous emotional strain on the audience.

The main drive behind this research goes wide and deep: on the one hand, this study pretends to facilitate an explanation to the treatment that the media provides regarding such delicate topics, where there should even be a guarantee covering the maximum protection of the fundamental human rights of those who are suffering. On the other hand, the effects that they have on the receiver of traumatic information dealing with pain and suffering are analyzed. Lastly, a double analysis approach is being sought: an ethical dimension and a legal dimension directly connected with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the UDHR devoted to the rights of freedom of expression and freedom to hold opinions. In the writing of the UDHR and in the later work of internationalization of these Rights and Freedom, a very outstanding jurist was involved: René Samuel Cassin (1887-1976), Nobel Peace Prize winner for these contributions in the year 1968. The reason of connecting him with this research is because R. Cassin ended up being a grateful jurist due to the strong impression that the Dreyfus Affair was to have on him together with an article by Emile Zola “J’accuse.” The said case has great importance for its relationship with the history of journalism, and with the origin of the necessity of editing the UDHR in 1948. Also, this case has a connection with the right to legal information and special protection for those who are presumably guilty.

Some of the premature conclusions are the following ones:

• The information on facts that involve pain deserves a special treatment, with accuracy and wisdom, so not to damage the sensibility of the audience or to increase more the pain of the victims and of its families. Consequently, this news generates many ethical problems related with the characteristic expression of the pain and the rising capacity of engaging the audience
• Media, mainly the audiovisual ones, trivialize in many occasions the deepest feelings in suffering and they also commercialize the human pain. They use the sensationalism when treating these topics to capture audience, mainly if through this sensationalism they can appeal to the most insane and latent curiosity in the human being.
• One of the reasons that took R. Cassin to participate in the elaboration of the UDHR was the great impression that the journalistic treatment of the Dreyfus Case caused on him: a clear case that damaged fundamental human rights, mainly the right to the presumption of innocence of who will be judged.

AUTHOR
Bernd Carsten Stahl

ABSTRACT

While it is hard to deny that technology has affected our individual and collective lives, it is more difficult to find agreement on the description and evaluation of these changes. One reason for this is the deep ambiguity of technology. Technologies can be used for a range of often contradictory purposes based on varying intentions and with often unpredictable results. Technological development has improved our lives in many ways, for example by lessening the requirement for physical labour, extending our life-expectancy but also in many more subtle ways, for example by providing improved communication channels or leisure activities. At the same time technology facilitates new ways in which humans can be exploited or marginalised. At the extreme, technology may threaten our very existence (e.g. through nuclear war) or essence (e.g. bio-engineering).

There is a multitude of research approaches that try to capture the changes. Many of these, predominant in computer and information ethics, concentrate on individuals, either the individual technology user or the professional involved in them. Simultaneously much research is undertaken to evaluate individual types or instantiations of technology. A further strand of research investigates how ethics and values can be incorporated into technical artefacts and the processes that lead to their development and design.

The proposed paper takes a different approach and suggests that a different understanding of the relationship of society and technology is helpful in conceptualising the social and ethical consequences of technology. The term “control society” is proposed to represent this new conceptualisation of technology and society and which incorporates the manifold ambiguities of this relationship. Central to the control society is the ever-increasing amount of control that is required to organise and manage modern and functionally differentiated societies. Control can represent a range of meanings of the word, which find their reflection in the use of technology. Control can mean power, command and domination but also regulation or restraint, as well as the avoidance of something undesired.

Technology can be used in the control society in order to control individual and social activities. The much-cited paradigm of the Panopticon is the most prominent example. ICT is used in modern societies in a number of ways in order to exert control. Public or employee surveillance are only one example. Students are controlled through their use of technology; but the same technology can control teachers. Criminals are controlled but at the same time, control mechanisms can affect law enforcement.

However, the control society is not a top-down society of subjugation. In fact, the control exerted in the control society is usually desired by the population (albeit not necessarily when it pertains to oneself). Control in the form of surveillance, for example, is seen as a way to avoid crime, terrorism, or antisocial behaviour. The predictability of one’s surroundings requires the ability to control the environment. This means that those who are subject to control via technology in most cases agree with the control measures.

A different but interrelated aspect of the control society is that it requires the control of technology. The risks of technologies have long been recognised and there are a number of strands of research that investigate how such risks can be mitigated. The entire field of computer and information ethics can be seen as an attempt to determine the ethical issues of technology that need to be addressed and ways of doing so. Similar discourses cover other technologies with the same objective.

A further important aspect of the control society is that it is necessitated by technology. Modern technologies require stable and predictable environments. An internetworked society needs reliable electricity but, more importantly, it needs a social structure that facilitates the maintenance of technology and a workforce that is willing and able to uphold technical regimes. The technological society is thus a cause of the need for control.

As a first brief summary, one can thus state that technology is a cause, a medium, and a subject of the control society at the same time. Technologically mediated societies need control and their advantages render the call for control alluring to their members.

In the proposed paper I will define the control society in more detail and give a first indication of the discussions it will require. There are similarities but also important differences between the control society and other conceptualisations of society, such as Beck’s risk society, Castell’s information society, or Ellul’s technological society. By developing the concept of the control society, I hope to provide a theoretical approach to technology that not only allows for a better understanding of current technical and social developments but also gives a framework for the understanding of ethical issues raised by technology.