Social Analyses of Computing: Theoretical Perspectives in Recent Empirical Research
ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR)
Value conflicts and social choice in electronic funds transfer system developments
Communications of the ACM
U.S. computer export control policies: value conflicts and policy choices
Communications of the ACM
The Micro Millennium
Taking “computer literacy” literally
Communications of the ACM
Computer literacy: people adapted for technology
ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society
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Computing technologies importantly affect the social climate of the organizations into which they are introduced. Widespread computing developments are rarely socially neutral, since they absorb scarce resources, and re-allocate them by limiting access to the data, equipment, expertise, and other resources they utilize. This paper examines the value conflicts engendered by computing developments in two different institutional settings: electronic funds transfer systems and instructional computing in primary and secondary schools. The paper identifies five value positions which are central to debates about computerization in each of the two settings. The value positions identified differ somewhat in each area. In addition, the policies which advance more egalitarian values also differ in each setting. In the case of electronic funds transfer, policies aimed at correcting imbalances can be focused on services closely linked to computer-based technologies. In the case of schooling, difficulties of computerization are more far-reaching institutionally, and are bound up with national and regional policies of school funding. While specific values depend upon culture and upon the character of the particular institutional setting studied, these two cases can serve as instructive points of departure for examining the value conflicts which generally accompany different modes of computerization.