Responsible choice for appropriate technology  (Page 7/11)

Iii. what you are going to do.

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In this section, you will learn about five cases of technological choice. you and your group will be assigned a case and will carry out a series of exercise in relation to it. specifically you will…

1. Learn about your case by reading the article on which it is based and discussing it with other members of your group.
2. Describe your technology: (a) Identify its key features; (b) Provide a history of its social construction; (c) Identify its competitors. (Think about the racing versus safety models of the early bicycle)
3. Prepare a socio-technical description of your case: (a) Identifies it major components. Start with hardware, software, physical surroundings, stakeholders, procedures, laws, and information systems. Add or subtract as required by the particularities of your STS. (b) Describe each component in detail (c) Provide a table that summarizes your description
4. Assess your case’s technology using the questions on appropriate technological choice presented in the previous section
5. Draw conclusions about the instances of technological choice portrayed in your case. Is it appropriate or inappropriate? Explain your group’s position.
6. Prepare a poster summarizing your group work and present it to the class
7. Listen carefully to the presentations of the other groups in your class

Iv. cases of responsible choice of appropriate technologies

A. technological choice in amish communities

• “Amish Technological Choice: Reinforcing Values and Building Commitments” by Jamison Wetmore
• How do the Amish choose and modify technology so that it is compatible with community values and supports community ways of life
• Values: Amish values are centered around the community’s Orduung. In general, Amish evaluate technologies in terms of the values of humility, equality, simplicity, and community. (See Wetmore)
• Examples: (a) Using power tools with rechargeable batteries to work around the need to connect to Electric company power grids; (b) Refraining from plugging into the grid of public utilities; (c) Purchasing cars and phones but restricting ownership to the community and use to business purposes; (d) Negotiating accommodations on government regulations so as to minimize impacts on community values and ways of life. (Example of not delivering milk on Sundays); (e) Securing community and individual identity by drawing, through technological choice, contrasts with the outside, surrounding, English community.

B. removing gender bias from airplane cockpit design

• “Manufacturing Gender in Commercial and Military Cockpit Design” by Rachael Weber
• This case describes the process of changing the design of airplane cockpits to remove gender bias.
• Values: (a) gender parity and equality; (b) respect (recognizing capabilities of women and designing airplanes around these capabilities); (c) justice in the form of an equitable distribution of the role and the benefits and burdens attached to the role of airplane pilots
• Article describes changes in the STS: (a) Norms: how do changes in society’s norms help facilitate the redesign of airplanes and the cockpits? (b) Laws: how did changes in laws and regulations help uncover the gender bias in designs and spur the development of new designs that removed this gender bias? (c) Markets: The initial reaction of airplane manufacturers and consumers was that this would make airplanes prohibitively expensive. What changes in the market or financial context averted this threat? (d) Architecture: How did changing the JPATS help to solve this problem?