Technological Articulation: How Technology Shapes Our Culture
In impact of technology on our culture essay is briefly discussed the concept of Technological Articulation and what impact it has on culture. Technology as articulation is a concept which describes that technology does not exist on its own rather it’s a connection of multiple elements. These elements can be physical, social, attitudes, or even ideas.
According to the article, “articulation can be understood as the contingent connection of different elements which when connected in a particular way form a specific unity”. Some of these articulations are dynamic while others are rigid. According to Norman & Verganti, the success of any particular technology depends on how easily it solves the various problems that the potential users are facing. Therefore, the technology must be articulated/connected to potential users.
Technology as assemblage is a concept that defines how the various articulations of elements form technological constellations. This constellation is very broad in the sense that it covers the various aspects of the technology. These aspects include; the design of the technology, distribution, creation of new jobs, loss of some jobs as a result of automation, among others. Assemblages never remain constant rather they undergo through a constant process of transformation. The transformation leads to the forging of new articulations and disconnection of some articulations. The dynamic nature of assemblages describes why technology keeps on evolving in order to keep up with user needs.
According to Wagner, Vollmar, & Wagner, “technology promotes knowledge creation through makes the society to change its old ways of doing things and adopt new ones”. This deriver the real value of technology to the society or users. It is sometimes expensive to have technological assemblage since it may involve training people on how to use the new technology. Even though, the effectiveness, efficiency, and long-term cost reduction are the main reason why society is ever willing to adopt a technology.
Rearticulating technological culture refers to disconnecting some aspects of culture from a technological assemblage. According to Van den Hoven, technology, if not regulated, may interfere even with the most fundamental aspects of humanity such as privacy. In rearticulating technological culture, technology must be viewed as an assemblage and not a separate entity. This will help in determining the assemblage that links technology and culture. The society which is one of the elements in the technological assemblage must be provided with a better option. This option must be convincing enough to make the society to change its attitude about technology and support the new course.
The embedment of technology into society’s culture and the constellation of various technological articulations is a fact that cannot be ignored. It presents both positive and negative outcomes. The extent to which a particular technological issue is considered good or bad is highly dependent on the values of the concerned society. This describes why some countries uphold particular technologies while others rebuke them. The articulations and constellations will continue to evolve as human needs evolve. For example, several decades ago technologies such as internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, artificial intelligence, Nano-technology, among others never existed. Today they exist due to the evolution of technological assemblage.
Overall, the impact of technology on our culture has both negative and positive outcomes. We can't say that this is something harmful or only benefitial. With wise glance we can control disadvantages to save our culture, and notice advantages to raise it.
