Technology and values: lessons from central and eastern Europe

ABSTRACT

Technology does not develop independently of its social context. Rathe r, there is a range of social, cultural and economic factors (in addition to technical factors) that define the parameters for the development and use of technologies. This paper presents a case study of the social shaping of one aspect of digital libraries, the development of national union catalogs (NUC), in four countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It examines the specific choices and values that are embedded in the design of a NUC, and how these might be transferred to other cultural contexts.

REFERENCES

• 1: Christine L. Borgman, From Gutenberg to the global information infrastructure: access to information in the networked world, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000
• 2: Lass, A. and R. Quandt. (eds.). Library automation in transitional societies. Oxford University Press, NY, 2000.
• 3: Caidi, N. The information infrastructure as a discursive space: A case study of the library community in Central and Eastern Europe. PhD dissertation, Department of Information Studies, UCLA, 2001. (Adviser: C.L. Borgman).

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.1 MODELS AND PRINCIPLES

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY

Keywords:
central and eastern europe, information infrastructure, national union catalogs, social shaping of technology