Hofkirchner et. al.: ICTs and Society: The Salzburg Approach

Hofkirchner, Wolfgang, Fuchs, Christian, Raffl, Celina, Schafranek, Matthias, Sandoval, Marisol, & Bichler, Robert (2007). ICTs and Society: The Salzburg Approach. Towards a Theory for, about, and my means of the Information Society

There is an increasingly important role being played by ICT in the social sciences. This article, in part, attempts to identify exactly what that role should be. It argues that ICT should be understood as a “transdiscipline”. It is a unique position taken by the Salzburg University that involves the creation of a center to promote ICT as a distinct discipline.

“By the term transdiscipline we mean something distinct from the term inter-discipline. This in two respects: first in the respect of the scientific status and second in the respect of the societal function” (7). In regards to the scientific status referred to in the above quote, the transdiscipline nature of ICT should be a transgression of different barriers that have been historically established between disciplines. This should also work as a force to “bridge several gaps” that exist between both natural and social sciences, involving the gap between specialists and generalist and the gap between basic and applied research. Regarding the societal function discussed in the quote at the beginning of this paragraph, “…the concept of a transciscipline does not adhere to the long held assumption of science being in an ivory tower, but implies a transgression from the scientist to the stakeholders affected by the results of research and a transformation into a new science that is human-centered, democratic, participatory” (12).

The future of information society, or the future information society, however you would like to construct the sentence as they are both highly correlative, can be assessed scientifically in three ways: through its aims, scopes and tools. The aims, “…would have to serve the practical purpose of meeting the demand for governance which has been rising exorbitantly” (15). The scopes would involve just about everything: …”sociosphere, ecosphere and technosphere” (15). The tools: “…a science of the Information Society is a science by means of Information society—by means of making use of possibilities technologies of knowledge provide for getting access to, comparing and assessing an ever increasing variety of knowledge” (16).

The creation of the Information and Communication Technologies & Society (ICT&S) at the University of Salzburg will pursue the following in a social context: “…develops both technological prototypes and policy recommendations for the implementation of ICTs for business, government, and civil society organizations…” and “…researches the design of ICTs as well as the design of the full range of societal…conditions of their implementation” and “…crosses the perspectives of engineering and social sciences and humanities and even other disciplines if appropriate” (19). The institution is dedicated to studying and approaching the interaction of technology and society as, “…a feedback-loop between science and technology, no the one hand, and society on the other, in times when the old modes of steering society have proven obsolete” (24). The eventual goal is to bring about a Global Sustainable Information Society (GSIS).

The GSIS involves sustainability, justice, fairness, equality, solidarity, harmony with nature, freedom, human efficiency, culture, politics, economy, technology, etc.

There is a further fleshing out of the scope, aims and tools that ICT&S will use to achieve GSIS, with an extensive discussion of the internet as a complex organization. The report concludes by reiterating the goal of the report, which was to make the case that ICT must be a transdisciplinary approach to tackling the complex problems that current society faces.