Ipro 341 - History


In the fall of 2005, IPRO 341 emerged as one of the first social science inter-professional projects: “Reviewing the past to understand the future.” In fall 2005, the project focused on researching four pervasive technologies: the internet, cell phones, video games, and optical drives. Using the information we found, we derived from it three major issues: 1) Globalization 2) Privacy 3) The acceleration of growth We found that we can no longer afford to be reactionary to technology and its ethical implications, but rather we must strive to be anticipatory, preventive, and proactive. Using strong public discourse and better distribution of information, we can forecast and prevent possible social, legal and economic issues associated with development of new technology.Our conclusion was that technology up until now had a an S-curve life-cycle, but due to globalization and the rapid availability of information, some emerging technologies are seeing a J-curve in their lifecycle, where additions and modifications to technology are not taken back to the drawing board but almost instantaneously replaced. Figure 1: S-Curve and J-Curve2 This kind of growth acceleration raises several questions of concern to the general public: What are the benefits, as well as the risks, of the new technology? How can ordinary people find out about new technologies before implementation, so that they can be informed consumers? Can consumers influence product design if they are informed of the implications of new technologies during the product development cycle, when changes to design are most easily incorporated? Does the “digital divide” become even wider? (For example, the digital divide could become wider because we are not sure how fast or how widely distributed nanotechnology could become. Computer and technology standards may grow in accordance with new innovations and leave people in the dust because of the steep learning curve. Also, nanotechnology products may prove to be more expensive than other items on the market and thus leave people behind in a financial sense.) The fall 2005 IPRO 341 team felt that nanotechnology would be the best emerging technology to study in the pursuit of answers to these questions. Nanotechnology was selected by IPRO 341 for a number of reasons. Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that has a number of potential benefits to many industries and also a number of potential risks and social implications that are fostering a lot of discussion in many communities around the globe. There are already a number of products on the market that are enhanced by the technology’s potential, and there is a rapidly growing investment in research and development into the process of creating newer products.
© 2006 Spring IPRO 341

In the fall of 2005, IPRO 341 emerged as one of the first social science inter-professional projects: “Reviewing the past to understand the future.” In fall 2005, the project focused on researching four pervasive technologies: the internet, cell phones, video games, and optical drives. Using the information we found, we derived from it three major issues:

1) Globalization

2) Privacy

3) The acceleration of growth

We found that we can no longer afford to be reactionary to technology and its ethical implications, but rather we must strive to be anticipatory, preventive, and proactive.

Using strong public discourse and better distribution of information, we can forecast and prevent possible social, legal and economic issues associated with development of new technology.Our conclusion was that technology up until now had a an S-curve life-cycle, but due to globalization and the rapid availability of information, some emerging technologies are seeing a J-curve in their lifecycle, where additions and modifications to technology are not taken back to the drawing board but almost instantaneously replaced.

Figure 1: S-Curve and J-Curve2

This kind of growth acceleration raises several questions of concern to the general public: What are the benefits, as well as the risks, of the new technology? How can ordinary people find out about new technologies before implementation, so that they can be informed consumers? Can consumers influence product design if they are informed of the implications of new technologies during the product development cycle, when changes to design are most easily incorporated? Does the “digital divide” become even wider? (For example, the digital divide could become wider because we are not sure how fast or how widely distributed nanotechnology could become. Computer and technology standards may grow in accordance with new innovations and leave people in the dust because of the steep learning curve. Also, nanotechnology products may prove to be more expensive than other items on the market and thus leave people behind in a financial sense.)

The fall 2005 IPRO 341 team felt that nanotechnology would be the best emerging technology to study in the pursuit of answers to these questions. Nanotechnology was selected by IPRO 341 for a number of reasons.

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that has a number of potential benefits to many industries and also a number of potential risks and social implications that are fostering a lot of discussion in many communities around the globe. There are already a number of products on the market that are enhanced by the technology’s potential, and there is a rapidly growing investment in research and development into the process of creating newer products.