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，在一个以迅速而普遍的技术变革为特征的时代，政治思想的传统关注必须扩展到包括可能看起来仅仅是技术问题的选择。他认为，在生产、运输、信息、通信等领域建立新系统，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。这些问题可能在技术发展的设计阶段得到有效解决。在这项资助下，温纳博士正在研究设计在技术发展中的三个方面。首先，他正在研究各种历史例子，以展示技术系统的设计如何产生政治后果。其次，他比较了三种设计传统——政治理论、建筑和工业工程——看看他们对他们所思考的结构中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，这种理论可以为关于不断发展的技术系统的形态的价值选择提供建议。他将把这一理论应用于许多当前正在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.