Objective
DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS MANY FIELD TRIALS WITH NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED IN EUROPE UNDER THE DESIGNATION OF "SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY". HOWEVER, THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS IS NOT WELL DEFINED, AND THEY HAVE RARELY BEEN SYNTHESIZED AND EVALUATED.
CONSEQUENTLY, IN 1985, THE COMMISSION OF TH EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES' FAST PTOGRAMME ESTABISHED A EUROPEAN NETWORK ON SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. REPRESENTATIVES FROM BELGIUM, DENMARK, FRANCE, THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, ITALY, THE NETHERLANDS, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, AND THE UNITED KINGDOMHAVE PERTICIPATED IN THE NETWORK ACTIVITIES.
THE AIMS OF THE PROJECT WERE
- TO COMPILE A COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF SOCIAL EXPERIEMNTS
- TO ELABORATE A GENERAL DEFINITION OF SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS
- AND TO EVALUATE THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
IN THE DESCRIPTION AND MAIN RESULTS RESEARCH PROJECT THE CURRENT STATUS OF SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WAS REVIEWED, AND A PROPOSED NORMATIVE DEFINITION OF SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS WAS PRESENTED. SUBSEQUENTLY, THREE EVALUATIVE HYPOTHESES ARE ELABORATED :A) SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS ARE SOCIALLY RELEVANT BECAUSE THEY ARE PROCESSES IN WITCH SOCIETY AS A WHOLE (AND NOT JUST THE COMPANIES DIRECTLY INVOLVED) CAN PROMOTE SOCIALLY BENEFICIAL WAYS OF UTILIZING NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.B) SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS ARE ECONOMICALLY RELEVANT BECAUSE THEY ARE RATHER PROMISING INSTRUMENTS FOR THE PRODUCTION EVALUATION, AND REFINEMENT OF SOCIALLY ADVANCED INFORMATION SYSTEMS.C) SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS ARE PROCESSES THAT INFLUENCE THE FUTURE (RATHER THAN BEING INSTRUMENTS PREDICTING THE FURTURE) BECAUSE THEY GENERATE SOCIAL AWARENESS AND CATALYZE SOCIETAL LEARNING PROCESSES REGARDING NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY.
Programme(s)
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
5230 ODENSE
Denmark