At the same time the social sciences largely neglected technology and its role as a social force. It has taken a long time for most of us to really appreciate what Marx saw clearly, that society is best understood as technology, an organization of the use of technology, and ideas about technology and its use. With such a materialistic conception of society as the basis, it is time to bridge the gap between engineering and society. Technology as a social phenomenon is the bridge and it will merge engineering and social science into a design oriented, artificial science. Informatics is an artificial science.
Sociology is either history or natural science.
The IT Revolution is what drives the postmodern movement. Postmodernism is an example of how philosophy begins to change well before the technical revolution driving the change is clearly visible. Modern philosophy is industrial age philosophy - the mechanistic world view. This philosophy was developed together with notions of machines and mechanics already in the 17th century. It will have to change when we leave industrial society behind.