Background information on HiNT sectorplan themes
Tech Changing Lives
Ellen Rusman (Open Universiteit) and Katleen Gabriels (UM)
Motto: 'We shape technology, technology shapes us.'
This subtheme studies how technology affects behaviour, values, and social practices. It explores the ethical design and study of digital interventions that can shape behaviour positively or negatively. Through affordances in design (Norman, 2013), activities and behaviour can be facilitated and thus change the way we live, learn, work, and socialise. For example, technologies like activity trackers can motivate healthier lifestyles, but they also raise ethical concerns. We examine impacts of digital technologies on individual, group, and societal levels. This subtheme involves interdisciplinary research with experts and users to design solutions that improve well-being, learning, and sustainability, while also addressing ethical issues in design.
Becoming Real
Tilo Hartmann (VU) & Stefan van der Stigchel (UU)
In today’s media-saturated world, the line between reality and illusion is vanishing. From XR and generative AI to deepfakes, synthetic media, and robots, these technologies challenge our understanding of what’s real. BECOMING REAL dives into three pivotal questions: (1) how humans experience and perceive reality, (2) the profound impacts on society, organizations, and individuals, and (3) the powerful forces shaping our sense of truth, from corporations to regulators. Our mission: to illuminate and navigate this transformative era.
Making Tech Work
Simone Borsci (UT) & Wolter Pieters (RU)
Motto: 'The technology factor in new humans'
New technologies are often seen as innovative and inevitable. But their features do not always fit human practices, capabilities and motivation. For example, users may feel overburdened with administrative tasks, and decision makers may feel at a loss when asked to check decision recommendations by AI. By elucidating human-technology interactions at different levels (individual, team, organization, society), social sciences can play a key role in developments towards socio-technical systems that work - and contribute to empowerment and responsibility for decision makers, employees and citizens.
Seeking the Truth
Sanne Kruikemeier (WUR) & Jessica Piotrowski (UvA)
Digital technologies influence how we seek, construct, and contest truth. This subtheme examines the impact of digital media, algorithms, and digital systems on public understanding, focusing on misinformation, evolving trust in politics and institutions, and engagement with conflicting information. It also explores how AI models generate and validate knowledge, raising concerns about bias, transparency, and credibility. Ultimately, it addresses the implications for society and democracy, offering a platform for diverse perspectives on these challenges and opportunities.