The research programme Humans and Information Technology is concerned with the interplay and interfaces between humans and IT as expressed in human activities, processes, organisations, cultures and social spaces. The programme consists of three research teams - Science & Technology Studies, Interaction Design and Digital Aesthetics and Culture. Most of the programme's research activities take place within and across these three teams. The programme focusses on the challenges and opportunities presented by information technology, and it centres on the interplay between information technology and humanistic research traditions.

CHALLENGES:

• The humanistic research tradition can contribute constructively and critically to illuminating the new challenges posed by technology. The programme addresses how the humanities can best contribute to understanding and shaping technology (technology for organisations, culture, social spaces, art, etc.)
• Technology also requires us to reflect on and develop humanities disciplines, which have acquired new interfaces and objects of inquiry with the advent of information technology. The programme addresses how technologies challenges the humanities (perception of organisations, culture, social spaces, art, etc.)
• Technology is an epistemological challenge which also includes the development of new methods of scientific inquiry. The programme explores the dynamic relationship between technology and humans using concepts derived from fields including sociology, organisational theory, anthropology, linguistics, design theory and aesthetics. The programme's researchers draw on a variety of methodologies, from theoretical analyses to fieldwork and ethnographic study to proactive experiment with and development of technology.