Technology-Based & Technology-Generated Decisions: Call for proposals
[Online]
30 janeiro 2022 · 00h00
Congresso Anual do ICOHTEC - International Committee for the History of Technology
17-18 junho, 24-25 setembro e 15-16 outubro, de 2022
2022 Virtual Symposium
Technology-Based & Technology-Generated Decisions
The meeting will take place online and will be separated in three parts: 17-18 June, 24-25 September, and 15-16 October 2022.
This year's Kranzberg Lecture will be given by Maria Paula Diogo.
Maria Elvira Callapez is ICOHTEC's Secretary General.
Open call
The 2022 International Committee for the History of Technology’s 49th Symposium will take place virtually. It will occur in 3 phases, each lasting two days. The 1st meeting will be in June (17, 18), the 2nd in September (24, 25), and the 3rd in October (15, 16). The Kranzberg Lecture will take place in June.
The general theme is “Technology-based and Technology-generated decisions”. Whereas technology-based decisions have a long history, technology-generated decisions of so-called artificial intelligence, AI, are on the horizon since the turn of the 21st century and might gain decisive influence within the next years. Which decisions we are willing to handle over to technology? How to define ethical guidelines for this development? The symposium aims to contribute to this discussion, based on a transnational perspective of the history of technology.
The deadline for proposal is Sunday, 30 January 2022
For a long time, societies have considered technology a value-neutral instrument for various purposes, including decision-making by organizations. Between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, technology progressively increased its pivotal role in societies: governments, companies, or individual people considered technology essential for living and surviving. But due to increasing over-saturation with technology, negative outcomes became visible and thus, subject of public discussion.
Technology is involved in decision-making in two ways: decisions based on technology and technology-generated decisions. Human societies are used to base their decisions thanks to technologies permitting them, for instance, data collection. Cartography was helpful in decisions such as financing exploratory expeditions traveling, trade, or military operations since the early modern era. In the contemporary World, high-resolution satellite images are the base for the decision-making process in military operations or identifying places where it could be possible to extract mineral and oil resources. Moreover, new technologies often inspire new ways to perform old tasks (e.g., imaging technologies in medical diagnosis) and inspire taking on new tasks (think military rockets being applied to spaceflight). Second, the design and manufacture of technology require decisions that affect how it works, how it is used, how it is manufactured, etc. Certain decisions regarding material properties, usage scenarios (e.g., usability), and areas of application require different types of production. Conversely, the type of production chosen (technology, process, etc.) influences the possible uses of the technology and its artifacts.
Suggestions for more specific questions, derived from the main question:
- What are the social/historical/cultural conditions of technology related decision-making?
- Decisions on science and technology: inclusion and citizen participation
- What are the ethical conditions of technology-generated decisions?
- Which transnational perspectives can be taken regarding technology-inherent decisions?
- How do these technology-inherent decisions affect the critique of technology (e.g., impact factor in science, “publish or perish”)?
- Technocracy is a well-researched topic. What is the state of the art in this field? Any new approaches, theories, empirical findings?
- Data recording and processing is a core task now carried out with computers. Which technologies were used – and where and how – before the advent of computing?
- Modern challenges and technology based/generated decisions (e.g., climate change, COVID-19 pandemic, individual health, and public health); artistic strategies involving technology/generated decisions; body, dis/ability, and technology based/generated decisions
- The role of images (maps, photographs, etc.) in decision making.
The symposium covers all periods and all areas of the globe. In keeping with a cherished tradition of the field, the meeting is open to scholars from all disciplines and backgrounds. Gender-related and worldwide topics are specifically welcome. Besides contributions to the main theme of the symposium, paper and session proposals on different topics of the history of technology are welcome.
More information here.