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Social Benefits

In this section, some approaches to defining the social good with respect to information technology will be explored.  Each of the approaches is taken from a statement about science and technology, the information technology industry, or some aspect of technology today written by an organization.  The one exception to this is the article by Andrea Schikele on the internet as a quasi-public good.

The first article is from The Carnegie Commission on Science Technology and Government.  It relates to many aspects of information technology policy, but of particular interest to this report are sections articulating a laundry list of social goals to which science and technology relates.  The Alliance for Public Technology, a non-profit organization of organizations has published a number of public interest papers.  The one selected for incorporation into this project deals with universal access and the reasons for it.  Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility's early report on a "national information infrastructure" describes hopes and fears for an inter-network network.  In their economic assessment, the Advanced Technology Project, an organization sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (part of the Department of Commerce), develops ideas of the economic desirability and under funding of basic research in technology and, implicitly, the social desirability as well.  NII: Agenda for Action is the NTIA's (a government agency apparently under the Department of Commerce) answer to CPSR's report, stating the government's goals (and, by their omission, non-goals) for the NII.  Information Technology and R&D: Critical Trends and Issues is a lengthy Office of Technology Assessment report with broad goals.

Next: The Carnegie Commission

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