How Artifacts Have Politics: A Study of the Role of Design in the Shaping of Political Society

温纳博士这项研究的基本假设是，在一个以快速、普遍的技术变革为特征的时代，政治思想的传统关注点必须扩大到可能只是技术选择的范围内。他认为，在生产、运输、信息、通信等领域建立新的系统不仅涉及效率、生产力、可靠性等问题，还涉及自由成员、权威、社区和社会权力分配等问题。在技术发展的设计阶段，可能会卓有成效地解决这些问题。根据这笔拨款，温纳博士正在研究技术开发中设计的三个方面。首先，他正在研究各种历史例子，以表明技术系统的设计如何产生政治后果。其次，他正在比较设计的三个传统--政治理论、建筑和工业工程--看看他们对他们思考的结构中的形式和内容的关系有什么看法。第三，他正试图发展一种设计的政治理论，一种可以为关于不断发展的技术系统的形态所做出的价值选择提供建议的理论。他将把这一理论应用于一些目前不断发展的社会技术领域，包括数字银行卡系统的设计及其对隐私和个人自由问题的影响。

The basic assumption upon which Dr. Winner bases this research is that, in an age characterized by rapid, pervasive technological change, the traditional concerns of political thought must expand to included choices that may seem to be merely technical ones. He argues that the building of new systems in production, transportation, information, communications, and the like involves not only matters of efficiency, productivity, reliability and the like, but also questions about freedom membership, authority, community, and the distribution of social power. One point at which these issues might be fruitfully addressed is at the design stage of technological development. Under this grant, Dr. Winner is examining three aspects of design in technological development. First, he is examining a variety of historical examples to show how the design of technological systems can have political consequences. Second, he is comparing three traditions of design- -political theory, architecture, and industrial engineering--to see what they have to say about the relationship of form and content in the structures they ponder. Third, he is attempting to develop a political theory of design, one that can offer advice on value choices to be made about the shape of evolving technological systems. He will apply this theory to a number of currently evolving sociotechnical fields, including the designs of digital bank card systems and their implications for issues of privacy and individual freedom.