Technology is deeply integrated into the human society. The Department of Management Studies invites you all to the Eminent Lecture Series with our guest Prof Haribabu Ejnavarzala, for an engaging session on the economic, social, and other impacts of new technology on our lives.
Topic: Technologies are not disembodied artefacts: They are socio-technical systems
Date: December 22, 2021
Time: 10.30 am IST
About the Speaker:
Prof Haribabu Ejnavarzala is an Adjunct Senior Fellow, Research, and Information System (RIS) for Developing Countries, New Delhi and Former Vice-Chancellor-in-Charge, University of Hyderabad (UoH).
Abstract:
Technologies are socio-technical systems. The forces that shape the development of technology are social, economic, cultural, political, and ethical in nature. A technology introduced into society has consequences for interrelated domains -social (class, caste, gender relations), economic, political, cultural, and ethical. Technologies also affect the environment- water, soil, air, and non-human forms of life. In other words, technologies are embedded in societal and environmental contexts. In order to understand the values and interests underlying the construction of technological innovation and its consequences, we have to unpack the design of a given technology and its associated practices. Technologies are intricately related to the interests and meaning structures of stakeholders. In this lecture, I focus on genetic modification of crops to show that it is a socio-technical system deeply connected with interests, sometimes conflicting interests, and meanings of relevant stakeholders – farmers who use the technology, consumers of products produced by genetic modification of crops, government, regulatory agencies, judiciary, and civil society organisations in the Indian context. In conclusion, I argue that innovations that promote equity, inclusivity and justice will have more significant social acceptability.
Please join this spirited session with our eminent guest on December 22, 2021, at 10.30 am IST for the next edition of Eminent Lecture Series.