This paper examines unstated, but critical, social assumptions which underlie social analyses of computerization. It focuses on the popular, professional and scholarly literature which claims to describe the actual nature of computerization, the character of computer use, and the social choices and changes that result from computerization. Many articles and books in this large and diverse literature are written within the conventions of specific genres. These conventions of each of these genres limit the kinds of ideas which authors can explore and communicate effectively. This paper examines five common and important genres: technological utopian, technological anti-utopian, social realism, social theory, and analytical reduction. Each genre is characterized and illustrated. The strengths and weaknesses of each genre are described. A major theme of this paper is the way that any genre's conventions limits the kinds of ideas which authors can examine and communicate. In the 1990s, there will be a large market for social analyses of computerization. Technological utopian analyses are most likely to dominate the popular and professional discourse. The empirically oriented accounts of social realism, social theory and analytical reduction, are likely to be much less common and also less commonly seen and read by computer professionals and policymakers. These genres are relatively subtle, portray a more ambiguous world, and have less rhetorical power to capture readers' imaginations. Even though they are more scientific, these empirically anchored genres don't seem to appeal to many scientists and engineers. It is ironic that computing -- often portrayed as an instrument of knowledge -- is primarily the subject of a popular and professional literature that are Reading "All...

Economics has two problems with language. My 1985 (2 nd ed. 1998) book on rhetoric tried to talk about the first one, that economists don’t know they have been speaking prose all their lives. The Rhetoric of Economics revealed the unsurprising fact that economists are poets / But don’t know it. They use metaphors to speak of education as “human capital, ” for instance. The next book, If You’re So Smart: The Narrative of Economic Expertise (1990), revealed the unsurprising fact that economists are novelists, too, and again don’t know it. They tell, for instance, a story of expert economists who can make you rich, if you will but follow their excellent advice. The third book, which I purposely gave a dull title in order to avoid further shocking the conventional methodologists of economics, replied philosophically to the fierce denials of 1 these unsurprising facts (The Rhetoric received over fifty reviews, many of them

This paper summarises an interdisciplinary research project aimed at designing interactive, visual support in a networked community. A basic idea of the project is to use visual diaries as raw materials in the building of a shared, immersive 3-D world environment. The concepts of design patterns and genre are discussed in relation to there usefulness as analytical tools to support collaborative design. The generative possibilities of these tools are at the centre of the discussion. The conclusion is that the concepts of genre and design patterns, by their power to involve community members in an early phase of the design process, may prove to be useful analytical tools. Another important possibility is that these conceptual tools may provide fruitful common ground for the joint studies of digital media from the perspectives of Cinema Studies and Computer Science. Contents

This dissertation analyses two different paradigms used for the development of a software product, Operating Systems. The targets of research are two groups that operate in very different ways, Microsoft Corporation and the Linux Community. Through the observation of the strategies and methodologies used by these actors in their work, and taking into account the constraints to which they are subject, assesses, from a dynamic perspective, the relative strengths and weaknesses of their competing paradigms. In the dissertation I will analyse the efficiency of the development processes that they have adopted for the design, improvement and enhancement of their products. A theoretical model based on Giovanni Dosis "Technological Paradigms" framework, incorporating institutional, industrial, social and cultural aspects, is constructed and specifically adapted to the software industry case. The private management of technology issues considered during the analysis of the development processes inside different organisations are linked to questions having to do with the evolution of high technology, networked, markets. This analysis lends to assessment of some rationales and potential strategies for public intervention in the Operating Systems industry, taking into account some relevant concerns that have been raised about competitive issues and dominant position in this market, one of strategic importance for the future development of the Information Society

Economic ‘development ’ involves processes which often jointly produce both goods and ‘bads’— economic, environmental and social. Such ‘bads’, however, are often technologically invisible, not least in terms of the way decisions are informed and accounted for. This paper takes as its case study a major development proposal which had potential economic, social, and environmental effects. The paper involves and exploration of official ‘independent ’ reports leading to the proposal. Considered are the various factors taken into the decision, how the processes were reported on and, in that sense, accounted for. In particular, financial/economic factors and social/environmental factors are examined. From this, the paper considers possibilities for a role for accounting in making public discourse, debate, and ultimately, decision-making, more open and transparent. Accounting could have an important role in both informing public discourse and debate, and creating new visibilities which stimulate contested terrain and invigorate that debate.- 1-INTRODUCTION: PUBLIC DISCOURSE AND DECISION-MAKING It is well-accepted that major development decisions impact on both the economy and the social and natural environment, yet, in practice, the pursuit of economic development and growth often sees social and environmental impacts of economic processes ignored or discounted. “Goods ” and “bads ” are produced

Abstract: Several game-theoretical lab experiments helped establish the belief that economists are more selfish than non-economists. Since differences in behaviour between experiment participants who are students of economics and those who are not may be observed among junior students as well, it is nowadays widely believed that the origin of the greater selfishness is not the training they undergo, but selfselection. In other words, selfish people voluntarily enrol in economics. Yet, I argue that such explanation is unsatisfactory for several reasons. I also suggest alternative explanations for the observed differences, which have been so far unduly disregarded.