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Item Science, Technology & Innovation Studies Vol. 2 (2006), No 1 (March)(Technische Universität Dortmund, 2006-03) Schulz-Schaeffer, Ingo; Werle, Raymund; Weyer, JohannesItem On the Potential Social Impact of RFID-Containing Everyday Objects(Technische Universität Dortmund, 2006-03) Locquenghien, Kerstin vonRadio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a rapidly evolving technology. While industrialists hope that the use of RFID will bring about great benefits, civil rights activists warn against the dangers. Since RFID pervades everyday life more and more, this paper deals with its potential impact on individuals. Currently private persons are least included in the public debate, although perhaps they will be affected the most by potential negative effects. Critics are especially concerned about the potential violation of privacy. Due to its informational infrastructure RFID could be used for surveillance purposes. Many people therefore fear a surveillance state. Looking at the use of RFID on the product level, completely dynamic pricing and business models could be developed. If everyday objects record and send context sensitive information via embedded RFID tags, this might strongly influence our perception of these objects and our emotional attitude towards them. This relationship between man and RFID containing smart objects is expected to differ from the relationship between man and machines as well as man and computers, as a new function as well as a new significance are added to already well-known objects. Last but not least, this paper also points out RFID's potential impact on health and environment, which has barely been discussed in public so far. The analysis shows that, apart from certain opportunities, considerable risks have to be dealt with. However, panic, as suggested by some critics, seems unreasonable as the development is still wide open. This should rather be considered a great chance: it offers the possibility to play an active role in the shaping of RFID within a legal democratic process. In this process all members of society are likewise responsible for future developments.Item Inescapable Decisions(Technische Universität Dortmund, 2006-03) Wieser, BernhardThe main ethical principle in prenatal testing is the autonomous decision of the pregnant woman concerned. However, recent developments in prenatal testing undermine this model. The overall number of invasive prenatal examinations has dropped significantly. Yet, the amount of pathologic results has increased. Due to the improvement in ultrasound diagnostics the predictability of possible disabilities or diseases of the unborn child has increased substantially. As a result of this pregnant women can take the decision whether or not to undergo invasive prenatal examinations on the basis of personal risk "evidence" produced earlier on by means of non-invasive screening. It can be questioned, how autonomous decisions can be if they are increasingly pre-informed through upstream riskassessments on the basis of non-invasive screening. Particularly ultrasound screening is often carried out without thorough counselling and sometimes even without consent. The concept of autonomy is difficult to uphold if women do not deliberately decide whether to undergo non-invasive screening, but the moment of such a deliberate decision comes only after positive screening results. Taking into account that public discourses have rather focused on other aspects of genetic or reproductive technologies such as stem cell research or pre-implantation diagnosis it is important to analyse how technological innovations transform medical practices without a re-articulation on a discursive level as I will try to show in this paper for the case of prenatal testing.Item Institutions Matter but(Technische Universität Dortmund, 2006-03) Ahrweiler, Petra; Gilbert, Nigel; Pyka, AndreasA comparison of the current structures and dynamics of UK and German biotechnology-based industries reveals a striking convergence of industrial organisations and innovation directions in both countries. This counteracts propositions from theoretical frameworks such as the varieties-of-capitalism hypothesis and the national innovation systems approach which suggest substantial differences between the industrial structures of the countries due to differing institutional frameworks. In this paper, we question these approaches and show that the observed structural alignment can be explained by the network organisation of research and production in knowledge-based industries.Item Promoting Legitimacy in Technical Standardization(Technische Universität Dortmund, 2006-03) Werle, Raymund; Iversen, Eric J.In this article we examine the legitimacy of committee standardization as an alternative to pure market processes of technical standardization of information and communication technology (ICT). We argue that not only mandatory (regulative) but also voluntary (coordinative) standards require some kind of democratic legitimacy. While the question of how to achieve this legitimacy has become central to today's changing world of standards, this situation is not adequately reflected in how the mounting legitimacy-deficit is treated. We note here that there remains a tendency to think of the legitimacy-deficit primarily in terms of "input legitimacy" criteria. At the same time we observe a tendency for standardization organizations (SDO) to orient efforts towards achieving "output legitimacy" by developing standards that are regarded by diverse groups of (legitimizing) stakeholders as constituting "good standards". This article therefore applies the distinction between input and output legitimacy to the rapidly evolving standardization landscape, arguing that it is necessary to expand the analysis of the legitimacy-deficit in the formal bodies responsible for ICT standards. We address what democratic legitimacy means in terms of standards and standardization, discuss why it is particularly important here, and explore how it has been addressed. Current examples indicate that in order to arrive at "good" standards SDO extend and redefine the cognitive and normative frame of standardization. This frame change helps to include nontechnical and non-commercial interests and values without directly involving the growing variety of stakeholders and civil society advocates in the process.Item Editorial(Technische Universität Dortmund, 2006-03) Schulz-Schaeffer, Ingo; Werle, Raymund; Weyer, Johannes