In cases where social consequences are especially hard to anticipate, voluntary social trials can help identify them. Scholars might, for example, compare the social results from a set of local pilot projects, each delivering an alternative bundle of electronic services. Their analysis of the results could be invaluable in helping officials guide development of the nation's information infrastructure. The centers could draw on academic and government researchers, industrial-research consortia, and the new National Service program. Located on or near college campuses, such centers might prepare the social impact statements on technological developments, recruit local citizens to participate in research, and organize public forums and workshops on questions involving science, technology, and economic development.
Excellent precedents exist for such centers.
Each shop's paid staff, student interns, and faculty volunteers answer questions and refer challenging problems to other university faculty members. Science shops, for example, have helped workers evaluate the employment consequences of new production processes and helped environmental groups document sources of industrial pollution. In the United States some analogous precedents exist. The Pratt Institute's Center for Community and Environmental Development has 30 years of experience in helping people in low-income neighborhoods understand and influence economic development. Worcester Polytechnic Institute requires all students to undertake a faculty-supervised project that brings their technical training to bear in addressing a social problem.