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In Search Of An Integrative Vision For Technology will stimulate its readers to consider the 'whole story that is information systems' within the context of an integrative vision of technology. It integrates disparate areas of debate and research while appreciating the contribution that philosophy can make to such thinking. It is deliberately broad in coverage, and designed to provide useful pointers so that researchers, students, practitioners, and developers can easily apply each point as needed. "Human issues of technology and their normative aspects" is a theme that runs throughout the entire book.
The integrative vision is centered on an understanding of human practice - the twin notions of structure and direction, and the leading and the founding functions of such practice. While this understanding applies to all technologies, it is worked out in more detail for information technology. From this philosophical understanding, many interdisciplinary areas of interest are identified.
List of contents
Introduction: In Search of an Integrative Vision for Technology.- Introduction: In Search of an Integrative Vision for Technology.- Artifacts and their Development.- Aspects of Knowledge Representation.- Reflecting on the Use of the Concept of Qualifying Function in System Design.- Elicitation of Highly Interdisciplinary Knowledge.- An Appreciative Critique and Refinement of Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology.- Socio-Technical Systems.- The Systems Character of Modern Technology.- Communication Without Bounds?.- Norms of Communication and the Rise of the Network Society.- Human Practices.- Evaluation of Systems in Human Practice.- Multimodal Investigation of Technology-Aided Human Practice in Business Operations.- An Aspectual Understanding of the Human Use of Information Technology.- Directional Perspectives.- The Idea of a Systems Ethics.- Normative Sources of Systems Thinking: An Inquiry into Religious Ground-Motives of Systems Thinking Paradigms.- Towards a 'Disclosive Systems Thinking'.- Critical Reflections.- Reflections on the CPTS Model of Interdisciplinarity.- Technology and Systems - but What about the Humanities?.
Summary
In Search Of An Integrative Vision For Technology will stimulate its readers to consider the 'whole story that is information systems' within the context of an integrative vision of technology. It integrates disparate areas of debate and research while appreciating the contribution that philosophy can make to such thinking. It is deliberately broad in coverage, and designed to provide useful pointers so that researchers, students, practitioners, and developers can easily apply each point as needed. "Human issues of technology and their normative aspects" is a theme that runs throughout the entire book.
The integrative vision is centered on an understanding of human practice — the twin notions of structure and direction, and the leading and the founding functions of such practice. While this understanding applies to all technologies, it is worked out in more detail for information technology. From this philosophical understanding, many interdisciplinary areas of interest are identified.
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From the reviews:
"The philosophy of technology can be an important resource for technology educators. … Some commentators have argued that technology is nothing else than the ‘glue’ that binds various disciplines together. … This book offers a more balanced view: there is both technology with a body of knowledge of its own, and there is a systems studies approach that integrates technology with other disciplines. … technology educators … would do well to read the book and reflect on its implications for their teaching." (Marc J. de Vries, International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Vol. 17 (1), 2007)
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From the reviews:
"The philosophy of technology can be an important resource for technology educators. ... Some commentators have argued that technology is nothing else than the 'glue' that binds various disciplines together. ... This book offers a more balanced view: there is both technology with a body of knowledge of its own, and there is a systems studies approach that integrates technology with other disciplines. ... technology educators ... would do well to read the book and reflect on its implications for their teaching." (Marc J. de Vries, International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Vol. 17 (1), 2007)
