Citizens need chances to influence technology decisions because their lives are so deeply affected by the consequences. Similarly, the noise and danger of automobiles, coupled with the allure of air conditioning, central heating, and television, have eroded the custom of outdoor neighborly gatherings, and the civic engagement that accompanies such interchanges. Feminist scholars report many cases in which technologies designed by men reproduced women's subordinate social status. Secretaries and key-punch operators, who are preponderantly female, are among the workers most prone to computerized job surveillance, as well as repetitive motion injuries. Yet alternative choices are possible that would alter such social outcomes.
Broadened participation can be an irreplaceable source of insight and creativity.
The business-management literature is replete with studies extolling the economic benefits of involving workers in designing and managing workplace technologies. Conversely, the absence of citizens' participation ultimately has proved divisive and costly in areas such as nuclear power, toxic waste disposal, and genetic engineering. University faculty could play an important role in organizing these studies, which might include assembling citizen advisory boards and using participatory research methods. In one recent set of projects, for example, faculty members at Boston and Harvard Universities helped concerned citizens conduct their own epidemiological studies of toxic-waste hazards. In cases where social consequences are especially hard to anticipate, voluntary social trials can help identify them.