The Societal Effects of Computers: Partner or Placebo in Policy Analysis.

摘要

The supermarket case may be trivial, but the general problem is not. Computer technology needs to take more systematic account of social impacts, including particularly social behavioral (not just psycho-behavioral) phenomena. Furthermore, social phenomena need to be accorded a higher status than they often have, de facto, in computer applications. Recognizing that social goals are not conveniently given, to take them seriously probably requires that serious attention be paid in the design of information technology applications to the social processes that generate consensus about them and to the capabilities needed to adapt to goals once they are discovered.