Schriftenreihe der Europäischen Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-technischer Entwicklungen

Information and knowledge play an increasingly important role in the implementation of public policies, in particular those of the Central and Eastern European Countries. They are involved in many respects in the elaboration of scientific programs. They are more and more present in the political decision making process and as topic for scientific conferences. They are often at the centre of international discussions on related topics, for example, differences in approaches to produce and apply knowledge or different responses to social function of information. A major lesson of these past years applies to democracy. Europeans demand more involvement in decisions that concern them. This demand goes weH beyond decision making. For public action to be acceptable and efficient, the whole process should become more democratic, from the defmition of the problems, to the implementation and the evaluation of solutions. In the context of conducting research on the consequences of scientific and technological advance, the Europäische Akademie Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler in Germany and the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic organised a conference on the relationship between "democracy-participation-technology assessment" in February 1999. The objective of the workshop was to express and to the problems of transition "from exchange various viewpoints and attitudes information society to knowledge society. " The great response given to the international conference underlines the need not only for Central and Eastern European Countries to take into consideration more common projects like this for the future.

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Klappentext

The workshop provided an overview of the status and perspectives of Technology Assessment (TA) in the individual countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It also showed the complexity of creation of space for TA type activities in individual countries - for independent activity of both experts and the public based on individual responsibility. The book consists of the final version of the presented papers and new contributions initiated by the workshop. Moreover, the authors reflect the ideas and incentives sounded in the discussions. The book is addressed to researchers in the fields of social science, humanities, information technology and technology assessment in particular. It may also be of interest to policy-makers and the wider public concerned with the information society.

Inhalt
Outline.- I Introduction.- The Genesis of the Project TA-Eastern Europe.- II The Concept.- Science, Democracy and Technological Risks.- Concepts of Information Society and the Social Function of Information.- The Way Towards a Knowledge Society. Some Barriers not only for Countries in Transition.- Problems of the Production and Application of Knowledge in a Societal Transformation. The Czech Republic's Approach to Knowledge Society.- Innovation and Financial Intensity of R&D in Poland as the Polish Approach to the Knowledge Society.- Russian Way to Information Society and New Understanding of Information Security (Statement).- III The Application Fields of TA.- Information Technology and Organisational Change. The Concept of Technological Practice.- Data Information Knowledge. A Trail of a Technological Enlightenment.- Information Technology. The Forgotten Dimension of Modernisation.- Threats of the Global Net-Internet. The State of Development and Inquiry over the Information Society in Poland.- Scientific and Technological Progress, Democracy, Participation and Technology Assessment in Russia.- Transformation of Society and Values in Slovakia.- IV The Judgement.- Rationality and the Use of Language. Technology Assessment for Shaping the Knowledge Society.- Knowledge-and Value-Prerequisites of Evaluation and Decision-Making.- Ethical Norms for the Selection and Transfer of Knowledge.- List of Authors.