The Role of Institutions in the Design of Communication Technologies

Title: The Role of Institutions in the Design of Communication Technologies

Research Question: How do different institutions influence the design and development of communication technologies, and what are the implications for the values embedded in these technologies?

Methodology: The researchers conducted a case study analysis on four historical instances where communication technologies were developed: NCSA Mosaic at the University of Illinois, cookies developed by Netscape, the Apache web server developed by the open source movement, and the Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS) developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). They examined the influences of social, political, economic, and legal factors on the development of these technologies within each institution.

Results: The study found that institutions play a crucial role in the design and development of communication technologies. The motivations, structure, and susceptibility to external influences vary among institutions, leading to different qualities of code. For example, firms primarily anticipate consumer demand and do not develop code that is deemed unprofitable. Consortiums, on the other hand, develop code based on the demands of their members, which can lead to regulatory avoidance but may not provide a sustainable economic model.

Implications: The researchers suggest that the values embedded in communication technologies are heavily influenced by the institutions where they are developed. This means that the design and development of these technologies can be biased towards certain groups or values. It also highlights the importance of transparency and public participation in the review process for code, as seen in the open source movement, to ensure that problems in the code can be quickly found and corrected.

Link to Article: https://arxiv.org/abs/0109109v3 Authors: arXiv ID: 0109109v3