The Social Shaping of Technology: Lessons for Eco-Innovators

Authors

  • David Mercer
  • Bob Brown

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v16i2.593

Keywords:

Science and Technology Studies, climate change

Abstract

A range of innovative technologies and applications offer exciting opportunities to address environmental issues. This is particularly relevant to computers and Information Technology (IT) more generally where new computational techniques and approaches to supporting business decision making have the potential to not only redress the carbon cost of that particular industry, but offer carbon savings to the broader community. In the following discussion paper we provide a overview of ways that insights from the interdisciplinary field of STS (Science and Technology Studies or Science Technology and Society) might assist eco-innovators in the IT sector. We identify four interlocking themes emerging from STS scholarship, drawing in particular on studies that have examined the links between technological change, environmental issues and IT that are of relevance. These are discussed and interpreted in the light of the theme of the paper

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Published

2010-03-01

How to Cite

Mercer, D., & Brown, B. (2010). The Social Shaping of Technology: Lessons for Eco-Innovators. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v16i2.593

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2010): Theme: ICT and Climate Change

Section

Research on ICT and Climate Change

License

AJIS publishes open-access articles distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Non-Commercial and Attribution License which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and AJIS are credited. All other rights including granting permissions beyond those in the above license remain the property of the author(s).