2. • QUESTION: What is the relationship between human and technology?
• METHOD: Comparing two theories and analyze two relevant case studies.
3. TECHNOLOGICAL DETERMINISM
• Machines change us (Textbook, Baym)
• Technology is conceptualized as an external agent that acts upon and changed society
(Textbook, Baym)
• “FIRST, TECHNOLOGY IS A CHANGE AGENT. TECHNOLOGY ACTS UPON THE SOCIAL
WORLD; THE SOCIAL WORLD DOES NOT SHAPE TECHNOLOGY [2]. ANY ATTEMPTS TO
ACT UPON TECHNOLOGY, DIVERTING FROM ITS NATURAL COURSE, ARE BOUND TO
FAIL. IN THIS SENSE, TECHNOLOGY IS NEUTRAL WITH RESPECT TO VALUES OR BIASES
(LEONARDI & JACKSON, 2004).”
4. SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNOLOGY
• People have the power (Textbook, Baym)
• The theory focuses on how social forces influence the invention of new technologies
(Textbook, Baym)
• ACCORDING TO THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF TECHNOLOGY: STRUCTURAL
CONSIDERATION, “SCOT CAN THROW LIGHT ON ISSUES TO DO WITH SOCIAL
STRUCTURE AND POWER RELATIONSHIPS (KLEIN, 2002).”
5. CASE STUDY# 1
• SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF INFORMATION SYSTEM IN BANKING SECTOR
• A case study to analyze how information system influence workplace
operations. This article mainly explained how workplace employees’ adaptation
to a new technology. The article analyzed the case by looking at the relationship
between human and technology
6. CASE STUDY #2
• CASE STUDY #2: SHAPING COMMUNICATION NETWORKS: TELEGRAPH,
TELEPHONE, COMPUTER
• In this case, the author explained the multiple connections between people’s
interaction and communication technologies. It claims that all the
communication devices changed our ways of interaction and communication.
7. IMPLICATIONS
The technological determinism believes that machine changes us, and
technology changed our communication, values, and lifestyles. The social
construction of technology is that the human actions and the society shaped the
development and invention of the technology. From my perspective, the effect is
mutual. I think that the relationship between technology and human is not a
simple cause-effect relationship, it is an ongoing changing, learning, and
feedback seeking process.
