ITR: Understanding "Code": How Information Technologies Regulate Behavior

嵌入在诸如因特网的常用信息技术中的特定协议和机制(例如，“cookie”、“inger”命令、消息报头的设计)具有影响在线环境中的体验并规范行为的能力。将进行一系列历史案例研究，以了解这些机制的使用如何产生社会后果。这些案例研究将涵盖互联网的历史发展，以及言论自由、隐私和知识产权等社会价值观如何与这些发展交织在一起。研究方法采用文献资料法和定性访谈法。这些案例研究的结果将使我们能够更好地理解在在线环境中建立规范、习俗和共识的过程。此外，这项研究将有助于开发理论模型，以帮助政策制定者理解对IT(及其各种机制、协议等)设计的敏感性。可能是制定新的法律和法规的替代办法，以利用新的信息技术取得积极的社会成果。最后，这项研究探讨了互联网的商业化和私有化与我们既定的宪法和社会价值观之间的关系。

Particular protocols and mechanisms (e.g., "cookies," "finger" commands, the design of message headers), as embedded in commonly used information technologies such as the Internet, have the ability to affect experiences in online environments and to regulate behavior. A series of historical case studies will be conducted to understand how the use of these mechanisms can have social consequences. These case studies will encompass the historical development of the Internet as well as the ways in which social values such as free speech, privacy, and intellectual property rights have intersected these developments. Documentary methods and qualitative interviews will be used. The results of these case studies will allow a better understanding of the processes that build norms, customs, and consensus in online environments. Further, this research will aid in the development of theoretical models to assist policy makers in understanding how sensitivity to the design of IT (and its various mechanisms, protocols, etc.) may be an alternative to formulating new laws and regulations to achieve positive social outcomes from new information technologies. Finally, this research addresses the relationship between the commercialization and privatization of the Internet and our established constitutional and social values.