ICS 131: Social Analysis of Computerization Lecture 3: Identifying and analyzing social issues

Key Ideas Technical content operates in a non-technical context. Social context is central to technology.

Identify Social Issues Goals of Project Assumptions Stakeholders Impacts

Goals of Project Why do it? Who’s deciding?

Example: Blog software Goals –Online journal –Rapid sharing of information –Easy to start up and use –Others Who’s deciding? –Coders

Assumptions Something that must be true in order for the rest of the discussion to be relevant. Implicit -> explicit Pre-conditions (make it possible) vs. post- conditions (make it relevant) Degree of importance/relevance (e.g., the Earth isn’t going to stop spinning)

Example: Blog software Assumptions –Pre-conditions Common technology. Networked computers. Freedom of speech. Technically feasible. –Post-conditions Someone uses it. Interested readers. –Others…

Stakeholders Designer Client Society Others…

Example: Blog software Stakeholders: –Software Designers –Bloggers and potential bloggers –Readers –Society as a whole –Politicians –Businesses

Stakeholders What do we know about them? –Backgrounds –Goals/Motivations –Preferences/Needs

Example: Blog software Stakeholder - Readers: –Background: Technically competent Interested in topic –Goals/Motivations: Keep up with events Keep up with friends –Preferences/Needs: Seeking information Ease of use

Impacts Intended - What does it do for the client when it operates correctly? Side effects - What else does it do? Externalities - Side effect to someone other than the intended client.

Example: Blog software Impacts: Intended –Lets a blogger tell his/her friends what their cat ate for dinner, or who they’re going to vote for and why. –Lets a reader find out about their friends and see what other people think.

Example: Blog software Impacts: Side Effects –Makes bloggers famous –Gets the word “blog” in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary

Example: Blog software Impacts: Externalities –Changes to political landscape. Howard Dean –Campaign greatly helped by grassroots blogging. –Until that fateful scream. –Others?

Example: Camera Imagine that someone invents a small, self- contained, wireless, web camera, and asks you to write software to allow anyone on the net to see what that camera sees in real time. Questions: –What are the goals? –What are the assumptions? –Who are the stakeholders? –What are the impacts?

Reading Herbert Simon –Economics, computer science, psychology, design Definition of design –“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” (1969)

Software Design Understand existing situations Conceive of preferred ones –Preferred by whom?

A Note on Readings You may need a dictionary. Terms I looked up the first time I read this: –Club of Rome - global think tank –Externalities - defined earlier –Bounded rationality Rational - “acts in pursuit of its goals” Bounded - “experience limits in formulating and solving complex problems and in processing (receiving, storing, retrieving, transmitting) information” (Simon) –Desideratum - “something desired as essential”

Discussion Process –Questions –Talk about them with neighbors –Several people called up to the front to answer them and discuss.

Slashdot Summarize Who are the stakeholders? What are the impacts?

And our lucky contestants are... …come on down front! ALLISON, RYAN KEVIN DIGIUSEPPE, NICHOLAS MILLER, ERIC BRANDON MUNGUIA, EDWIN IGNACIO SALANGA, JEREMY PATRICK VASANDANI, SANJAY LAL WEN, TIMOTHY ZAVALETA, RODRIGO DANIEL, JOHN MICHAEL FURUYAMA, DARYL SEIICHI HOSSEINY, SARA

Next class Thursday Social Aspects of Technical Questions I