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Representative FY 2003 agency activities
NSF: Support for research on the socioeconomic
implications of IT, including studies of the digital economy and
the information society; distributed and collective action mediated
by IT, such as in collaborative learning and work settings; human
values in IT design; impacts of "smart" technologies
and environments; human aspects of cybersecurity and system vulnerabilities;
technologies and tools for successful aging; and computational approaches
in the economic, social, and organizational sciences
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In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks,
more than 100 million Americans - 57 percent of all U.S. Internet
users - turned to e-mail to send and receive messages of support
and concern; nearly a quarter of those citizens also reported that
they received emailed expressions of sympathy from outside the country.
These are among the findings of a major ongoing survey by the University
of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) on the impacts of the Internet.
Funded by NSF and private corporations, the study marks the first
large-scale effort to assess how the Internet is affecting the lives
and habits of Americans. In 2001, the study's second annual report
found, the percentage of Internet users climbed to 72.3 percent,
up from 66.9 percent in 2000. Internet users enjoy and are spending
more time online and less time watching television, but a majority
are very concerned about privacy issues, and about 90 percent worry
about theft or misuse of personal identity information in the online
environment.
Research to anticipate, identify, understand, and address the social
and economic impacts of information technology - on commerce, education,
employment, government services, civic and organizational structures
and practices, personal communication, and scientific research,
to name only a few areas - is a significant component of the NITRD
program. The overarching goal of such studies is to equip society
with the knowledge necessary to maximize the benefits of new information
technologies for all citizens and minimize the negative consequences.
Current work in this emerging interdisciplinary research area is
examining aspects of electronic markets such as theoretical frameworks,
coordination and decentralization, and economic and social dynamics;
implications of living with "sociable" technologies in
"smart" environments; characteristics of cybercitizenship,
online communities, and collaborative distributed work; and
value-sensitive design of IT devices, including those to enable
successful aging. Researchers supported by NSF are investigating,
for example, the concept of robotic pets to provide psychosocial
stimulation for elderly people as well as serve as health-data monitors.
In addition to studies of the interactions of people with information
technologies, NITRD research encompasses novel applications of computing
in the social, economic, and organizational
sciences. In one innovative example of computation-based social
research, described in the April 2002 issue of the Atlantic Monthly,
NSF-funded investigators are using advanced modeling and simulation
capabilities to create miniature computer-screen societies. Unlike
conventional social-science models in which the people are assumed
to be generally alike, in these artificial societies, called "agent-based
models," the "agents" (people or social structures)
are randomly given varied individual characteristics and limited
knowledge, just as in a real society. In each run of the simulation,
the agents act according to their own assigned rules of behavior
- a computationally intensive exercise requiring ample computing
power.
The process yields remarkable results.While no two runs are ever
alike, the ultimate outcome - such as genocide in a simulation with
two hostile ethnic groups - is mathematically always the same. This
larger result is not intended by the individual agents, who simply
make local rule-based choices. But at some point during the simulation,
the random assortment of activities progresses to a stage at which
it "tips" toward the mathematical end state. On the other
hand, a
targeted outside intervention - such as adding police to the ethnic
groups' scenario - can change the end state, in that case from genocide
to a stable minority enclave. A key implication of the simulations
is that individual choices collectively generate larger social consequences,
but these outcomes are largely unintended and unexpected. By the
same token, local interventions - such as
introducing midnight basketball into a crime-ridden neighborhood
- and individuals making different choices can change the larger
social dynamic.
In FY 2003, NITRD research emphases will also include IT-related
changes in business, labor, and organizational processes; use of
technologies in teaching, learning, and collaborative work; life
in "smart" environments; and human aspects of cybersecurity
and system vulnerabilities.
Major Research Challenges
- New knowledge about the interactions among individuals, groups,
computing applications, and information infrastructures across distances
and in various cultural, legal, economic, and ethical contexts
- New knowledge about participation in a digital society, including
such aspects as electronic markets, modes of work, cybercitizenship,
interaction with "sociable" technologies; barriers to
universal IT accessibility; and intellectual property and privacy
issues
- Research on integration and uses of large-scale technologies for
collaboration and learning in science, education, and the workplace
- Significant advances in our scientific understanding of what technologies,
tools, and applications are effective for learning
- Greater understanding of the role of human values in IT design;
innovative technologies for successful aging
- Innovative IT applications in the social and behavioral sciences
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