Introduction - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 8

being electronically 'mugged'. We want privacy, safety and security for
ourselves - and we would prefer to be in control of what we reveal about
ourselves, to whom, and when. We would like government and local agen-
cies to be democratic, open, transparent and accountable; we would like
our companies and corporations to be efficient, productive, value-adding,
ecological and ethical - and we would like the technologies which they of-
fer for our use to behave in the same way. In other words, we want to be
able to exploit what digital technologies have to offer - the vast resources
of information, the speed and low cost of communication, the power to
control aspects of our environment, to enhance our lives and the lives of
others. But we also want to shape and influence the way in which systems
and services, functions and features are delivered, so that they really match
not only our needs but also our hopes and aspirations.
1.3 Basic Premises
Our experience, research and analysis of ICT developments over several
decades has led us to the formulation of a set of basic premises about in-
formation system development in the contemporary world. These provide
the foundation for the content, conclusions and recommendations in the
topic. For clarity, we set these assumptions out below.
1. our future in a world underpinned and pervaded by digital technolo-
gies can take many forms. Countless opportunities for change of all
kinds are possible - many beyond our imagination at this point in the
early 21 st century;
2. ICTs have enormous potential to enrich our lives, enhance democracy
and boost our economies;
3. technology and society inevitably influence each other. Not taking
social factors into account in ICT design has often resulted in unin-
tended and unexpected consequences following the introduction of
new digital technologies;
4. while many of us enjoy extensive benefits from using ICTs, they have
often fallen short of their expected promise;
5. one well-established reason for this has been that ICT design and de-
velopment have tended to focus on the technical attributes of the ICT
system and not on designing sociotechnical systems;
6. a further reason is that user/citizen participation has not been an inte-
gral part of ICT design culture. This deprives the design process of
the benefits of citizens' knowledge and experience;