Many companies have developed strategies that include investing heavily in information technology (IT) in order to enhance their performance. Yet, this investment pays off for some companies but not others. This study proposes that organization learning plays a significant role in determining the outcomes of IT. Drawing from resource theory and IT literature, the authors develop the concept of IT competency. Using structural equations modeling with data collected from managers in 271 manufacturing firms, they show that organizational learning plays a significant role in mediating the effects of IT competency on firm performance. Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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IT competency and firm performance: is organizational learning a missing link?

A fairly thorough account of multiple discrepancies theory (MDT) is presented, with a review of its historical antecedents and an examination of its strength in accounting for the happiness (H) and satisfaction (S) of nearly 700 university undergraduates. Basically, MDT asserts that H and S are functions of perceived gaps between what one has and wants, relevant others have, the best one has had in the past, expected to have 3 years ago, expects to have after 5 years, deserves and needs. MDT explained 49% of the variance in H, 53% in global S and 50% or more in 7 out of 12 domain S scores. The domains studied were health, finances, family, job, friendships, housing, area, recreation, religion, self-esteem, transportation and education.

Multiple Discrepancies Theory (MDT)

The distinction between basic and applied research is notoriously vague, despite its frequent use in science studies and in science policy. In most cases it is based on such pragmatic factors as the knowledge and intentions of the investigator or the type of research institute. Sometimes the validity of the distinction is denied altogether. This paper suggests that there are two ways of distinguishing systematically between basic and applied research: (i) in terms of the “utilities” that define the aims of inquiry, and (ii) by reference to the structure of the relevant knowledge claims. An important type of applied research aims at results that are expressed by “techical norms” (in von Wright's sense): if you wish to achieveA, and you believe you are in a situationB, then you should doX. This conception of “design sciences” allows us to re-evaluate many issues in the history, philosophy, and ethics of science.

The aim and structure of applied research

What is the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the human condition? In order to address this question, in 2012 the European Commission organized a research project entitled The Onlife Initiative: concept reengineering for rethinking societal concerns in the digital transition. This volume collects the work of the Onlife Initiative. It explores how the development and widespread use of ICTs have a radical impact on the human condition.

ICTs are not mere tools but rather social forces that are increasingly affecting our self-conception (who we are), our mutual interactions (how we socialise); our conception of reality (our metaphysics); and our interactions with reality (our agency). In each case, ICTs have a huge ethical, legal, and political significance, yet one with which we have begun to come to terms only recently.

The impact exercised by ICTs is due to at least four major transformations: the blurring of the distinction between reality and virtuality; the blurring of the distinction between human, machine and nature; the reversal from information scarcity to information abundance; and the shift from the primacy of stand-alone things, properties, and binary relations, to the primacy of interactions, processes and networks.

Such transformations are testing the foundations of our conceptual frameworks. Our current conceptual toolbox is no longer fitted to address new ICT-related challenges. This is not only a problem in itself. It is also a risk, because the lack of a clear understanding of our present time may easily lead to negative projections about the future. The goal of The Manifesto, and of the whole book that contextualises, is therefore that of contributing to the update of our philosophy. It is a constructive goal. The book is meant to be a positive contribution to rethinking the philosophy on which policies are built in a hyperconnected world, so that we may have a better chance of understanding our ICT-related problems and solving them satisfactorily.

The Manifesto launches an open debate on the impacts of ICTs on public spaces, politics and societal expectations toward policymaking in the Digital Agenda for Europe’s remit. More broadly, it helps start a reflection on the way in which a hyperconnected world calls for rethinking the referential frameworks on which policies are built.

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The Onlife Manifesto: Being Human in a Hyperconnected Era

There is a strong belief among technology educators that technology constitutes a type of formal knowledge that can be reduced to curricular elements. It is suggested that since technology has its own knowledge and structure, its study is similar to how one would organize the study of any other discipline in the school, such as algebra or physics (DeVore, 1968; 1992; Erekson, 1992; Savage and Sterry, 1990). Lewis and Gagle (1992), for example, contend that technology educators “have two clear responsibilities; first to articulate the disciplinary structure of technology and, second, to provide for its authentic expression in the curriculum” (p. 136). Dugger (1988) argues that technology should be considered a formal, academic discipline. Similarly, Waetjen (1993) emphatically states that technology education “must take concrete steps to establish itself as an academic discipline” (p. 9). This article suggests that technological knowledge is not a type of formal knowledge similar to that associated with the recognized academic disciplines. It has distinct epistemological characteristics that set it off from formal knowledge. A deeper understanding of technological knowledge opens the curriculum to possibilities that are obscured by a more restricted view. Greater direction is also given to the task of curriculum development. As Taba (1962) observes, confusion surrounding curriculum development often stems from insufficient “analysis of what knowledge in any subject or discipline consists of. This lack of analysis in turn causes misunderstandings about the role of knowledge in learning and curriculum” (p. 172). To be sure, technology embodies knowledge. Parayil (1991), for one,

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Werner-Reimers-Stiftung

Papers

Philosophy and Technology