Early Engagement and New Technologies: Towards Comprehensive Technology Engagement?

Abstract

In this concluding chapter of the volume “Early engagement and new technologies: Opening up the laboratory,” the editors take stock of the different engagement methods that have been described in this volume, i.e., Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA), Value Sensitive Design (VSD), Socio-Technical Integration Research (STIR), Network Approach for Moral Evaluation (NAME), and Political Technology Assessment (PTA). The methods are compared with respect to their aims and impacts, their type of intervention, the level and phase of technological development, and their normativity. The editors develop a tentative framework for Comprehensive Technology Engagement, identifying the major questions and challenges to advancing interdisciplinary engagements at early stages of technological development. Three theoretical and methodological challenges are addressed: (1) issues of normativity and representation, (2) moving across levels and time, and (3) dealing with uncertainty and indeterminacy.