The Convergence Theory on ICT, Society and Human Beings – towards the Good ICT society

  • Gunilla Bradley Royal Institute of Technology
Keywords: Theory, ICT society, Convergence, Psychosocial, Human Beings

Abstract

The convergence model illustrates ongoing changes in the Net Society. However the theoretical model goes back and synthesises the theoretical framework in research on psychosocial work environment and computerization. Interdisciplinary research programs were initiated by the author in the 70th and then analyzed changes in society related to various periods in “the history” of ICT. The description of the convergence model is structured with reference to the concepts Globalization, ICT, Life Environment, Life Role, Effects on Humans. Both Convergence and Interactions are important features in the model.  There are four levels of analysis – individual, organisational, community, and societal.

Author Biography

Gunilla Bradley, Royal Institute of Technology
Gunilla Bradley (GB) has been Professor in Informatics at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) - IT university and the School of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) - since 2002. Since 2005 she is professor emerita. In 1997, she was appointed Professor of Informatics at Umeå University and worked for Umeå University and Mid Sweden University for five years. She has a background as a psychologist and in the behavioural sciences. Her research concerns the interplay between Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Human Beings, and Society. Beginning in 1973, she initiated and led cross-disciplinary research programs on computerisation and working life at Stockholm University for twenty years. She has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University and Professor of Technology and Social Change at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. Gunilla has written twelve books (mainly in Swedish) and numerous articles in international scientific journals, and also contributed extensively to the popular science press. In 1992-94 she served as General Chair of ODAM IV below. In 1997 Gunilla Bradley received the Namur Award from the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) for her pioneering research to increase the social awareness of the impact of ICT. In 2008 she was guest professor at Paris Lodron University in Salzburg and the ICT&S (ICTs and Society) Center. Since 2008 she is Chair of the annual international IADIS conference “ICT, Society and Human Beings” that she has designed (IADIS= International Association for Developing the Information Society (NGO org.)). Selected books are: · ";Social and Community Informatics - Humans on the Net"; 2006 (Routledge) · ";Humans on the Net"; 2001 (Prevent) · ";Human Factors in Organisational Design and Management"; 1994 - subtitled New Technology - Challenges for Human Organisation and Human Resource Development in a Changing World (Bradley and Hendrick, North Holland - Elsevier) · ";Computers and the Psychosocial Work Environment"; 1989 (Taylor and Francis) · ";Computer Technology, Work Life, and Communication ";. The Swedish Delegation for Long Term Research. Stockholm 1977 (Liber). (in Swedish) Qualifications: · Competency for full professorship in Technology and Social Change, Linköping University, 1984 · Competency as associate professor, Gothenburg University, 1973 · Ph. D. in Educational Psychology, Gothenburg University, 1972 · Authorized Psychologist, 1972
Published
2010-07-06
Section
Theorizing ICTs & Society