Technology and Government

Technology and Government



Abstract

The term technology is derived from the Greek word techné. The Greek word refers to all forms of skillful, rule-based mastery in any field of human praxis, originally encompassing both arts (like painting, sculpture, writing, and the like) and craftsmanship (like carpentry, shipbuilding, architecture, and the like). The Roman culture uses the Latin word arts for these domains. Accordingly the medieval terminology distinguishes between the seven free arts (grammar, rhetoric, logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, astronomy) and the mechanical arts (e.g., agriculture, architecture, tailoring), thus prefiguring the later distinction between arts (as linked to the study of humans and the humanities) and technology (as linked to engineering and the study and science of nature).

The term electronic previous term government next term (e-previous term Government)next term generally refers to the use of information and communications previous term technology next term (ICT) to change the structures and processes of previous term government next term organizations. Many previous term governments next term worldwide have invested heavily in this agenda but there is a lack of clear case material, which describes the potentialities and pitfalls experienced by organizations grappling with this change.

Technology and Government

Introduction

First, what exactly is technology? At its most simple, technology is just a complicated word for “tools.” According to Robert E. Snow, “Science embodies the desire to understand whereas technology is a product of the impulse to control”. Technology can be considered as “hardware,” that is, the equipment, machines, and instruments that humans use in productive activities, whether industrial or informational devices. Alternatively, the “technology” concept has been extended to “social technologies,” including the generic tasks, techniques, and knowledge utilized when humans engage in any productive activities (Eveland, 1986; Perrow, 1967; Thompson, 1967). Wiebe E. Bijker (1995) defines technology as having three layers of meaning: physical artifacts (such as hammers, dikes, or computers), human activities (such as hammering in a nail, making the dikes that maintain a dam, or laying fiber optic cable), and knowledge (such as the know-how to build a cabinet, construct a dike, or design an Internet infrastructure plan).

Second, what does governance mean? Governance comprises the mechanisms, processes, and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations, and mediate their differences. Governance is a broader notion than government, although it is meant to include actions by governments. Governance involves interaction between formal institutions and those of civil society (Kimball & Kerr, 2005). Because technologies often have profound global impact that transcends the local, we must also be attuned to the meaning of “global governance.” According to Lawrence Finkelstein (1995), global governance comprehends actions that do internationally, or across borders, what national governments to at home. Global governance comprises both decisions as well as their consequences.

That politics often harnesses, controls, governs, and utilizes technology is well established. Compelling examples of the politicization of technology include the positive: the United States' effort to put a man on the moon, the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the creation and ...