Technology-Based Social Change

vivekg writes "BBC has published an article featuring the highlights of technological social change from around the world for this year. It is amazing to find out how technology is being used in very different ways for very different communities. Victims of the Tsunami disaster, Virtual Wallets in Japan, and the Indian government, bringing technology to rural areas, all have been touched by the positive use of technology. Hope to see more good community-based collaboration in 2006."

Comments

Too connected?

[Scoth]

I miss the days when I could go out and have a nice dinner without people yammering on cell phones, tapping on PDAs, talking about computer problems, etc. Sometimes I think people are a little too connected and socially technological these days.

I'm sure there have been positive effects too though.

Re:Too connected?

[pete6677]

The problem is that some people do not use good judgement about the use of technology. They must forget that their cell phone has voice mail and that they don't necessarily have to answer their phone every time it rings. Some people just naturally have poor judgement and don't think about why they shouldn't be yapping on the phone during a meeting/concert/church or other place where quiet is expected. I think eventually social manners regarding technology will catch on, and shouting into a cellphone while ignoring your dinner companion will be considered to be about as rude as picking your nose at the table.

Re:Too connected?

[travail_jgd]

Rude people will find a way to be rude, technology or no. The people on cellphones would just be having loud conversations with someone in their company. Some of the folks using PDAs would have their little black books, or planners, or folios with them. Teens always find a way to be loud (been there, done that :).

Sure, there's bad with the good. Technology hasn't changed human nature, it's just a visible scapegoat.

Re:Too connected?

[metlin]

The relationships between humans become more superficial, as technology-induced connectivity goes up.

You miss body gestures, nuances and postures and become completely dependent on technology to get to know a person. I mean, you communicate at least as much on the phone and on IM/e-mails as you do in person; and while they maybe fruitful communications, they just aren't the same.

Heck, I communicate with my room-mates over IM far more than actually walking down to their room and talking to them about something. While it certain has benefits, it also has downsides.

Re:Too connected?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

You miss body gestures, nuances and postures and become completely dependent on technology to get to know a person.

In other words, the rest of the world becomes just like I've been all along. I've got Asperger's Syndrome (NOT self-diagnosed) and I always felt weird growing up. No wonder I'm far more verbal in text based communications than in real life.

Re:Too connected?

[Animats]

I've seen couples in Palo Alto coffee houses where both people had laptops up and running. Twice in the last two weeks. They were dating, not having a business meeting or doing homework. Seeing half a dozen people having a meeting in a coffee shop, laptops at the ready, has been going on for a while. But now people are taking all this gear on dates.

One good-looking young couple had in use, between them, two laptops, two cell phones, a Blackberry, and a graphing calculator. Plus at least one iPod. But no annoying ringtones. They're using the gear, not showing it off.

Girl gamers?

[mister_llah]

This could mean good things for the gamer guys... but something tells me that the author (whose photo looks rather mousey) ... won't be as lucky as others...

Poor guy!

Article hopelessly incomplete

[Anonymous Coward]

Says absolutely nothing about porn

Not to mention Podcasts: returning to old tech

[goldenglove]

Seems we're also reverting back to old technology while developing new ones: Podcasts are simply unregulated radio, only the more advanced ones having video (Marcus Hates His Job) as an example. Technology is always advancing and changing our world, but it seems that as we advance, we often look back to old technologies and adapt to changing settings..

Approaching overflow

[mister_llah]

I have to agree... with the internet expanding exponentially and more and more collaborative tools being concocted... there is a point at which there becomes just too much information out there...

Sure, you can find something on anything, but the lines of truth blur in the presence of so much information... and valid opinions and ideas become easier to overlook...

I don't know, there are definate upsides, it is easier to communicate with people who I couldn't keep in close touch with, but in the old days, they would have just slipped away... and one day wondered 'I wonder how mister_llah is doing?' ... and then they would call me... now... they will know, and won't call, the curiousity is sated....

Plus there is something to be said for face to face conversation and *whoa* physical contact... *shrug*

Re:Approaching overflow

[LionKimbro]

What would you prefer as an alternative?

Would you rather have more valid opinions and perspectives expressed, and thus a blurier truth, or would you rather have a clearer truth, with fewer valid opinions and perspectives..?

In fact I think we will have both: We continue to find ways for our tools to help us organize our communications and information, and to help us form a clearer picture of a multiplicity of perspectives.

When I read what you wrote, I thought: "Whoah-- somebody feels that their version of the truth isn't the one that's being heard." I feel like you think that there are people who should be considering your thoughts, who should be communicating with you. But that they aren't. I would suggest that perhaps the Internet tools make that more possible, to do, and not less possible. Perhaps you just need to use the tools in front of you?

I think valid opinions and ideas are getting to be easier to find, not harder.

I'm also not clear on what you mean, when you said that the lines of truth are becoming "blury." Do you mean like: "I go to Wikipedia, and I'm not sure how much of what I see, that I can trust?"

I think that everyone's doing a lot more thinking about how our information and knowledge systems work. "Science. Okay, what is science, actually? How does that work? Why should we trust science more than other things? Is it a body of work, is it a process, what?" Perhaps it's just my company, but it does seem to me that these discussions are happening more frequently now.

I notice how much attention is paid to public opinion, and to who thinks what, and to who is advocating what and saying what is true. All of this points, to me, to greater fidelity in vision.

Before, people didn't know about these things. People literally thought that if it was printed in the paper, it was true-- and to be suspicious of anyone who thought otherwise. Wealthy people knew this, and they did purchace newspapers in order to control people.

Are the lines of truth more blury now, or in the past?

Perhaps they are blurier, but they're probably more accurate now.

Also remember, when you read that Wikipedia article: It usually has links to trustworthy sources. Let's look at Wikipedia:Common Cold, for instance. See at the bottom, you can get links directly to websites edited by MDs, and the Common Cold Centre.

It's so easy now to investigate why you believe what you believe, to investigate sources, etc., etc.,.

I think the truth is not getting blurred. We're just developing an understanding of the complex.

Necessity is such a mother...

[ackthpt]

This month I've conceded, again, to having a Cell Phone.

I was an early Adopter of cell phones back when they were bag phones (it still works and has power and range a hand held only dreams of!) Then I moved to a hand held Motorola unit, which would still nearly split a pocket in my jeans.

In 2000 I had been living in California and was searching for a while and found I needed one to secure a new appartment. Being able to get in touch or be got in touch with was a necessity as I found during the late dot-com era. I picked up one of those Micro Tac jobbies and found little use for it after scoring a new domecile and dumped service.

After a crash while cycling it became apparent I should again have one in the event of another serious injury (collar bone is healed nicely, but torn muscles are still giving me fits)

This go round is pay as I go. While doing some holiday shopping, however, I could scarcely believe my eyes on how many outlets there are for cell services. This crap must be hugely profitable.

Off topic humor, ">Not quite the Mona Lisa smile.

Women gaming clubs

[Rowan_u]

As far as the article on women in games go, I'd like to agree with the social aspect. That is often what brings the women into gaming. I've seen women pick up titles as diverse as Burnout 3, Call of Duty, or Dead or Alive, but only after being dragged to a LAN party by significant coercion. Once games are properly experienced nobody (Male or Female) sets them down lightly. The games speak for themselves.

What is significant here is the gaming stereotypes that are keeping women away from gaming in the first place. You only need to turn on G4$ T.V. for approximately 5 seconds to see what I'm talking about. What you need to do to bring women into gaming is to stop marketing to 13 year old boys alone. It's pretty simple.

Re:Women gaming clubs

[GospelHead821]

I don't think your assessment is entirely true. I think that the difficulty getting women into gaming is similar or identical to the difficulty getting women into the sciences. They're both on the rise, fortunately, but there is a social stigma present that is hindering progress. Very simply, gaming is perceived as a male pursuit. Although gaming companies often cater to this perception, women themselves often decide not to explore gaming simply because they've been taught to direct their energy elsewhere.

I have noticed this especially with regards to games that require analysis and strategy (although my examples come from the field of board games, the same trends apply to video games.) Plenty of women I know play games like Apples to Apples, Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, and Balderdash. They're called "party games" for a reason. Their style of play lends itself to parties -- social events. Thus, they emphasize traits that women are encouraged to posess. Women are not encouraged to play analytical games, such as Risk or chess. Those are war games and "properly" belong to the domain of men. In short, women are encouraged to play games that emphasize cooperation while men are encouraged to play games that emphasize competition. Since most one-player video game modes are adversarial in nature, they will fall into a regime that women have not been encouraged to explore.

In reality, the problem is twofold. Although game manufacturers don't often emphasize traits of gameplay that hold traditional appeal to women, I think that society also establishes a standard for women that teaches them not to enjoy the sorts of games that are widely popular. This is not a new problem. Boys have always been discouraged from playing with dolls. Girls have always been discouraged from playing with toy guns. The real solution lies somewhere in the middle. Don't just make games that cater to traditional female tastes and don't just try to tell women that games really aren't for them. Instead, try to raise girls (and boys!) that are capable of appreciating a broader selection of themes and gameplay styles.

Re:Women gaming clubs

[VegeBrain]

Once games are properly experienced nobody (Male or Female) sets them down lightly. The games speak for themselves. In my case games have spoken for themselves and I booted them out. I played a whole bunch of top of the line games of all types (FPS, RTS, Simulations, Civs) a few years ago and simply got sick and tired of the whole idea of spending seemingly endless hours glued to my computer screen clicking with a mouse and pecking at the keyboard. Nowadays I'd just rather relax or take a walk outside.

Social change by defeating censorship

[cryfreedomlove]

I have a very positive emotional reaction whenever I see technology being used to defeat censorship from fearful totaliatarian governments around the world. This article describes how the current government of mainland China is struggling mightily to embrace information technology while at the same time censoring personal blogs. Their efforts are futile and I think that in 10 years you will see a very different system of government there.

The evils of Cell Phone use

[timpintsch]

I used to rail against the evils of cell phone use, from 1998 to present as I worked at various ISPs and ISP like entities, everyone around me was showing up with new pretty cell phones that lit up pretty colors and played deceptively good midi ringtones. Constantly these phones were getting smaller, thinner, and louder. And now, I have one. I can blame marriage, I can blame my wife, I can even blame my stepchild. But at the end of the day, it was the hamster dance in Midi that finally sold me.

They forgot something...

[komodotoes]

It is amazing to find out how technology is being used in very different ways for very different communities.

Like surveillance of the masses, more surveillance of the masses, tracking vehicle movements, really tracking vehicle movements, seriously tracking vehicle movements....



NeverEndingBillboard.com

The Next Social Equalizer?

[TheSixth1]

I see one of the big benefits of the spread of these new technologies is in the vein of social equality. Every few decades there seems to be a surge in society that, for better or worse, makes a great change in the way that people interact. I think the surge we are riding right now is acting as a social equilizer that has the potential to blind us to the bigotries triggered by economic status, religion, race, or whatever.

I am not saying that this technology makes everyone equal, but what I am saying is that this technology gives everyone the chance to start out on the exact same footing when they use these new technologies to interact. Whether you connect to the web via your own dual-processor hyper pentium uber-computer with a dedicated T1 at your house or from a free terminal at a public library, the packets are the same. At that point no one cares about your race, economic status, religion, whatever, the playing field is level for you to express yourself. Now, what happens after you post -- that falls back to the current social climate and really depends on what you the individual has to express.

A lot of hopeful thinking I know... but hey, it's that time of year.

Re:The Next Social Equalizer?

[nanopolitan]

I am surprised BBC has chosen to highlight the computer and internet technology in India. To me, the real story is the mobile phones (which just gets an honourable mention). It has been the big story for the last several years; and I am sure it will be so for the next several too.

The early nineties saw the rise of manned pay phone booths. It was seen as a big deal, simply because it made telephones accessible to everyone (amd also gave employment opportunities to a lot of people). For the first time, those in government realized (from this live 'experiment') that poor people may not be able to afford a phone, but they certainly can afford phone calls. Still, it was mostly an urban or semi-urban phenomenon.

Then the mobile revolution started. It invaded regions that had never seen a phone. With greater competition, the price of phone calls kept falling, and at about 3 cents a minute for local calls (we are being told that our rates are the cheapest in the world. is it true?), they are affordable to large sections of people: fisherfolks, maid servantss, sales people, smalltime shopowners, taxi drivers, et al. So much so that cellphone subscribers now outnumber those with landline connections.

The revolution is getting deepened with the falling price of the handset. Just today, Motorola unveiled its cheap mobiles for Rs. 1,700 (just below $40).

Even though we have seen scorching growth rates in the telecom industry of over 50% in the recent past, this revolution is quite young; only 10-15 percent of the population is connected even now. Investors are clued into this huge potential; the stock prices of telecom companies are zooming up, up and away.

Given this scenario, I would still say the mobile revolution is far, far bigger than the 'rural internet cafe' that the Beeb seems to want to highlight.

Negative changes, anyone?

[tlk nnr]

What about negative changes?

• UK plans to build a national database of all vehicle movements
  
• European Commisions decides to create a database of all phone calls (Only numbers - the actual content will be added to the bill in two years), all sms messages (I'm not sure if the content is included)
  

I'm sure the US list is similar.

---

Please click me, it won't hurt

Just a question.

[Asakusa]

But how come they don't have photos of any cute girl gamers?

Is this because they don't exist? And I almost got my hopes up.

Ugh.

[Golias]

Victims of the Tsunami disaster, Virtual Wallets in Japan, and the Indian government, bringing technology to rural areas, all have been touched by the positive use of technology.

Obviously grammar-checking is one area where technology still lags.

Does this apply?

[Asakusa]

I wonder if this feeling applies to solely older persons. Being 21 years old, I don't remember a time when you could go to dinner without people yammering on cell phones, as you point out. Having grown up with technology, it seems a natural order of life. I enjoy it. I use 3 different e-mail addresses, AIM, my cell phone, texting, Myspace and so on. I have about 7 ways to contact a single person, but it's convenient and it doesn't bother me. Maybe in 30 years when everyone is connected directly to the back of my brain I will reminisce about when we used to use cell phones and PDAs.

Re:Does this apply?

[jacksonj04]

The next logical step would be turning those 3 emails, AIM, cellphone, myspace and so on into a single address.

When there's a single address which *will* get hold of you if you are available, there's only one thing to turn off.

Social Based Technology Change

[catmistake]

I think this is a case of wag the dog.

If one thing is clear from the history of technology, its that people do not change. Technology changes.

Technology becomes commonplace

[Ucklak]

I want my lightsaber and a personal transporter.
I do not want a flying car because that means that the drivers who are idiots will then be in the air. (Disclaimer-I am a pilot)
I don't want technology displacing pilot education and the requirements to become a pilot.

There are a good bit of us here that remember when-
you couldn't buy a phone, you had to rent them.
when Russia was the bad guys. (anybody born in the '90s -huh?) Now everyone has a spycamera.
Pull strings on toys. (Today's See and Says are battery powered, Mrs. Beasley - huh?)
Movies used to have cartoons in front of them
    I remember the MGM movies had Tom and Jerry, UA movies had Pink Panther. Now it's only Pixar and commercials.

facebook

[SnprBoB86]

I am amazed that no one has mentioned http://www.facebook.com/
facebook has had an increadable impact on the social lives of college students.

Not to mention, it is an increadable well designed web app.

The illusion of connectedness

[sjames]

It seems that the more 'connected' a person makes themselves through technology, the less they actually connect. Just how meaningful can a conversation be when it consists of:

RING

Hello?

A: Hi Z! How's it going *BEEP*

Z: Hang on, another call *CLICK* Hello?

B: Howsit going?

Z:It's cool, but I'm on another call, can I call you back?

B:Sure, cool.

Z: *CLICK* Hey man, sorry about *BEEP*, hang on...

C: Hey man, whatcha doing?

Z: Actually, I was just talking to A, can I

C:Hey! I haven't heard from A in a while, tell him to call me when you're Done.

Z: Sure, talk in a few. *CLICK* Sorry man, Hey, I just heard from C, he said *BEEP* hang on...*CLICK* Hello?

C: Hello!

A:Hey C! Whatcha up to?

C: I'm sitting right next to you. We're on a date remember?

A: WOAH! Sorry about that, so why'd you call me on the phone?

C: That's the only

Z: *BEEP* hang on a sec, I gotta answer that *CLICK*

E: Hey man, what's up?

Z: I'm on a date with C! How 'bout you?

E: Just chilling man

A: Hey? Where are you going? What's wrong? Man WOMEN. I can't believe she just walked off without saying a word. OH MAN she HUNG UP on me too!

E: Yeah, go figure *BEEP* Hold on man *CLICK*

That MIGHT be a little exaggerated, but I doubt it.