The Social Dynamics of Information and Communication Technology

Madely du Preez (Department of Information Science, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa)

The Electronic Library

ISSN: 0264-0473

Article publication date: 7 August 2009

682

Keywords

Citation

du Preez, M. (2009), "The Social Dynamics of Information and Communication Technology", The Electronic Library, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 743-744. https://doi.org/10.1108/02640470910979732

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited


A network of European researchers from telecommunication departments, universities and operators have been analysing the social dimensions of people's relationships to information communication technologies (ICTs). In September 2003, an international and interdisciplinary conference, The Good, the Bad and the Irrelevant: The User and the Future of Information and Communication Technologies was held in Helsinki. At the heart of this conference lay the principle that everybody benefits from looking beyond their own field of specialisation to appreciate the contributions that different disciplines, themselves containing multiple approaches, have to make. The issues that were discussed at the Helsinki conference included current theoretical frameworks, contemporary research projects, issues in and approaches to the design of ICTs, ways of analysing people's experience of these technologies and potential social implications.

The book, The Social Dynamics of Information and Communication Technology, brings together chapters that were developed from some of the original papers of the Helsinki conference. The selected chapters cover the socio‐dynamic character of ICTs, the factors that need to be considered when predicting their adoption and use, their relevance to people and how they should be evaluated. The empirical research presented in the book provides grounded insights into how and why different kinds of ICTs are, are not, or are only partially, accepted, used and integrated into everyday life. Some of the themes cut across both individual chapters as well as the five parts into which the book is divided.

The papers in Part I focus upon a variety of ways in which other disciplines provide insights. These papers show the diverse frameworks and approaches that were used within disciplines as well as between them, the methodologies and the research traditions that shape the questions asked. The Part II deals with the use of the internet as a tool to enhance the quality of life. ICTs in organisational settings are the focus of Part III. The Part IV looks at ways in which ICTs affect the boundaries of work and non‐work life, assuming that in future ICTs will dissolve the boundaries between working life and private life, enabling individuals to work from home, anytime. The Part V of the book discusses potential future developments of ICTs by reflecting on current issues and problems that have been identified in the two chapters in this part: the ethical question about the use of software “agents” that could be used to influence behaviour; and the disparities between the options open to disabled and more able‐bodied users.

The Social Dynamics of Information and Communication Technology is an excellent collection of empirical studies covering a broad range of everyday life and work settings. The book provides grounded insights into the social dynamics influencing the shaping of ICTs and how they are experienced. It should be read by researchers, policy makers and commercial decision makers who are grappling with the role of ICTs in everyday life. It should also be read by students seeking to carry out innovative “society and technology” research.

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