Response and Reflection

Ceruzzi, P. E. (2005). Moore’s Law and Technological Determinism: Reflections on the History of Technology, Technology and Culture, 46, pp. 584-93.

Ceruzzi's "Moore’s Law and Technological Determinism: Reflections on the History of Technology, Technology and Culture" is a powerful prose that first discusses the history and concept of Moore's Law, an observation made by Gordon Moore, the founder of modern day Intel.  He predicted in a paper many years ago that processing power would double every 12 (now 18) months.  Ceruzzi discusses Moore's law as technological determinism.  He then continues to discuss the concept of the social construction of technology.

Ceruzzi seems to approach the history of technology as a contrast between technological determinism and the contextual social influences that  surround technology.  He makes the strong and convincing point that we must  "Think of all the cultural, political, and social events that have occurred in the West since 1965", the year at which Moore wrote the paper.  Speaking that the influence of increased computing power has undoubtedly influenced our society, but the cultural, social, and political aspects have also influenced the outcome of technology in our society.  He then provides a few a examples to illustrate his position.

One example that he bring to light is the integration of SAP R/3 into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), our leading technology-driven research university in the nation.   SAP R/3 is a enterprise resource planning system that converges all information systems and processes into one gigantic, data-driven, process-oriented information system.  He discusses how the faculty and administration of the institution resisted the technology because it forced a workflow that was not conducive with their needs.   After many iterations, the system was reengineered to meet their needs.  He asks why is our leading technology institution, the creators of technology, fighting a battle with technology like this one?

Interestingly, institutions of higher education across the country have integrated an enterprise resource planning system known as Banner and have experienced similiar problems because the system forces a one-size fits all business model.  Is the University of South Florida the same as Harvard (both users of Banner)?  Probably not.  He also uses the example of Microsoft PowerPoint, probably the world's most popular presentation software.  He speaks to how many leading experts in visual communications have rejected the technology, yet it is used by almost every researcher at almost every research conference in the world.  Again, he is illustrating the delicate balance between technological determinism and the social factors that influence the outcome.

Although this article cannot be established as research (sample of 1), this was a great read that brings many important questions to light in the context of technology in our society.  It also has helped me better understand the concept of the social construction of technology and its position in the academy.