taylor@hplabs.HP.COM (Dave Taylor) (12/15/87)
I'm sure that you're all quite curious about the informal poll of
Computers and Society Digest (aka comp.society) readers that took
place a few weeks ago...well, now I can begin to tell;
I'm starting up a new quarterly publication called ``The Technology and
Society Journal''. It is initially under the aegis of LPI Publishing,
(they're currently providing a mailing address only) but I'm currently
questing for financial backing and periodical distribution and publishing
help. I am discussing the journal with a couple of university presses,
and have been doing some research into the National Science Foundation
grant program in Ethics and Value Studies.
In parallel to the T&SJ I plan on continuing with the Computers and
Society Digest (aka comp.society) as I believe it is a very nice counter-
point to the more formal journal format, and much more timely vis a vis
current events.
For the past few weeks I've been busy contacting a number of organizations
that I believe will be interested in the publication, mostly solicitations
for a display of interest rather than subscription requests, potential
author information, or financial need.
Among the group contacted so far are;
- The United Nations Educational, Social, and Cultural Organization
- International Association of Science and Technology for Development
- World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life
- International Association of Cities of the Future
- International Association for Ecology
- The World Food Council
- World Health Organization
- Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (UNESCO)
- The Club of Rome
- Computer Use in Social Services Network
- Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
- The International Association for Impact Assessment
- Program for Appropriate Technology in Health
and at least 40 more so far. I've received about 10 letters back so far
from the heads of the organizations, expressing great interest in the
venture, and expect quite a few more from overseas during the next few
months.
The editorial direction will be something that is a cross between the
feature articles in ``new scientist'' (a UK news/science weekly), and
``Issues in Science And Technology'' (an American quarterly journal).
Briefly, important and factual presentations of relevant aspects of the
issues, in a style that will hopefully be lively, interesting to read,
and provocative.
Each issue will be organized with a `decaying level of formality',
where the lead few articles would be 5-20 pages by experts in the
specific field, followed by shorter opinion pieces, then news, legal,
the arts, political (various political views are expected to continually
debate in this forum) and various summaries of recent events, finishing up
with what will be an extensive letters-to-the-editor and article
followup section.
An issue will be devoted to a specific theme as much as the number
and quality of the submissions will allow, with a tentative editorial
calendar including the following topics;
o George Orwell and the spectre of the totalitarian state with limitless
information
o Nuclear Power and Politics
o The Impact of Society on Technology
o Technological solutions to War (SDI, AI/Robotic Tanks, 'smart missiles')
o Individual Worldviews and the Effect of Faster Travel
o The Impact of World Wood Needs (from the deforestation of the Third
World to the impact of man-made alternatives)
o Individual Worldviews and the Effect of Media Availability (the impact
of Television, Radio, Recorded Music, and Cinema on individual worldviews)
o The Phone System - From a point to point connection to a global
information system (discussing 976- numbers, conference lines, ISDN
(picture phones & phone systems that allow computer communications
to occur in parallel with voice)...)
o The Revolution in Childrens Toys - Computers as Playthings
o The Human Mind Enhanced - areas where technology has vastly improved
human abilities (mathematics, computer simulation, transportation...)
o The Human Mind as a sieve - areas where technology is having an
adverse effect on human abilities (calculators versus mathematical
knowledge, desktop publishing versus publishers ensuring quality
of publications)
o Computer Conferencing as form of Social Interaction
o Technology and the Disabled (being disabled in our society has become
enormously less of a 'disability' due to a number of excellent
technological innovations, including voice-activated wheelchairs and
fixtures, specially designed automobiles for parapalegics, computer
optics and braille readers, and many other fascinating topics).
o Technology and Morality - what's ``right'' and what isn't?
o World Food Supplies, Weather Forecasting, and Technology (the continuing
food crisis in Africa, and the varying response of the media, the
relevance of weather forecasting and the confidence of the farmers in
what is predicted...)
o Terrorism, Revolution, and Technology
o Technology and the Stratification of Society - the information and
technological rich and poor, and how that stratification compares to
other existing social classifications.
o Surviving the Information Age (information filtering)
o The Impact of the Automobile on Urban, Suburban and Rural Life.
o The Evolution of Spoken and Written Languages (the profound effect
that technology is having on the previously gradual evolution of
languages (it used to be that the only time languages were enhanced was
when a foreign power beat your country in war))
o The Impact of Technology on Our Perception of Reality (to discuss
'enhanced' audio versus the real thing (e.g. Concerts are less
pleasing than the album), the addition of computer-generated visuals
as a replacement for actual visions, the alteration of time and human
capabilities by cinema...)
o Printing, Publishing, and Society (a perspective on the impact Gutenberg
had on society, and the more modern effects of desk-top publishing,
computer writing, and so on).
o Appropriate Technologies - areas where technology has enhanced and
areas where technology has harmed life
o The Environmental Impact of Technology.
o Architecture, Construction and Technology - would Frank Lloyd Wright
have used a Macintosh?
o Education and Computers (computer based instruction, satellite
classrooms, interacting with students/teachers via computers, automated
grading (no partial credit)...)
o Freedom and the Flow of Information
o Technology and the Advances in Medical Care (with a section on the cost
and consequent lack of medical care in poorer third world countries)
o The Transfer of Information and the Third World (can we really expect
everyone on the planet to be helped by technology?)
o The Shadow of Propaganda - unpleasant uses of technology (subliminal
advertising, distribution of subversive/skewed information, the
difficulty of presenting opposing views...)
o Computers and Justice - what's going to happen to the legal system?
o The Media and Technology Biases - their Social Implications
There are most certainly a great number of other interesting and relevant
topics here, but this will give you an idea of the overall direction ``The
Technology and Society Journal'' will be taking.
Where I am now is that I need to either find some source of financial
assistance in this venture or need to be able to convince an existing
publisher that not only is this a good idea, and an interesting
journal, but that there will be a sufficiently large readership that
it will be worthwhile to assist in this venture.
Hence my informal survey - I was interested in the number of people
that would reply to the survey question, and also how well geographically
distributed the Digest was. The results are that almost 250 people took
the time to reply, so far (quite a high return rate for a survey).
and the readership is distributed throughout most of the Western
World, with readers not only in the US, Canada, and the UK, but in
France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong,
Israel, and more. Thank you all for replying without my having told you
what it was about.
So why am I posting this message?
Firstly, to let you all know why I took the informal survey (by the
way, I believe the readership to be more than 4,000 people total).
Secondly, to let you all know about ``The Technology and Society Journal'',
because not only will I soon need aspiring authors (oh - one thing I
forgot to mention above is that T&SJ will be paying authors for their
feature contributions) but I am currently in the midst of questing
for funding; if any of you are associated with any organizations that
might be interested in assisting, please contact me at the below
address for further information.
Finally, again, I do plan on continuing my editorship/moderation of
the Computers and Society Digest as it's a very different, but equally
interesting, vehicle for discussion.
For further information on the Journal, or to contact me at the new
`editorial address', please write to:
The Technology and Society Journal
c/o LPI Publishing
Post Office Box 4012
Menlo Park, CA 94025
-USA-
If anyone is interested in helping during these initial stages please
also drop me a brief note.
Thanks immensely for all of your help and assistance, and the absolutely
invaluable interaction that this digest has proven a forum for!
-- Dave Taylor