Information Ecologies: Using Technology With Heart

The authors are respectively trained in computer science and anthropology and are residents of Silicon Valley - the home of technology. They begin their work with reference to the 1926 movie Metropolis, a tale of the devastating consequences of blindly creating technologies for technology's sake.

The authors here, take the view that it's much more important, when relating especially to new technology, to ask the 'know-why' question than it is to ask the 'know-how' question. They warn against the dangers of simply accepting technology as something outside of human creation - of viewing technology as being "inevitable". Citing the example of two Microsoft executives who predict that all the information about all objects, including humans, will one day be online, they urge readers to become aware of the stories and rhetoric that creates and justifies the use of technology.

Suggesting that both the utopian and dystopian views of technology are accurate to some degree, they concede that these diametrically opposed positions have their drawbacks. They contend that technology be viewed in its context, part of a much bigger ecology that helps us better understand that which we use daily.

Nardi, B., & O'Day, V. (1999). Information Ecologies: Using Technology With Heart. Retrieved July 30. 2007, from http://webct.curtin.edu.au/SCRIPT/301516_300579_a/scripts/student/serve_page.pl/301516_300579_a/welcome.html?1122825876+1590035375+OFF+intro.html+Anchor-Lorem-49575