Social Science Research Council

As the Internet's potential became clear in the mid-1990s, policymakers, experts, and activists began to ask some basic questions about the social uses and benefits of the new information and communcation technologies.  What purposes should they serve?  Why does access matter? What is privacy in the new digital environment and how can it be protected?  How do we judge who wins and loses (and what these terms mean) in the governance of IT systems, globally and locally?

In many respects, the rapid commercialization of the Internet moved these questions to the sidelines. The Information Technology and Social Transformations (ITST) project  was started in 2001 to revitalize thinking about the purposes and aims of the new IT systems, as part of the broader program on Information Technology and International Cooperation (ITIC).

ITST consisted of five research projects focused on these more basic questions of the purposes of the new technologies, especially as they related to key groups of practitioners--scientists and engineers, government officials, activists, and business leaders. These projects--led by Ron Diebert, Catherine Mann, Rafal Rohizinski, Rohan Samarajiva, and Steven Weber, respectively--ran between 2001 and 2003, and provided a framework for a range of cross-cutting and collective explorations and meetings.  These produced a range of research outputs and have continued to inform SSRC program work on media and communications technologies and regulatory frameworks.