Chapter.4 Exam Prep Techno-Social Designing

Chapter 4

Techno-Social Designing

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Most people do not stop and think about the creative processes that went into developing the technological inventions in their life. Why is this?
   1. These processes do not directly affect their day-to-day use of the tools.
   2. Creativity is not an important aspect of product design.
   3. Creative processes are confidential.
   4. Creativity is a tool of the bourgeois.
2. Developers do not reflect much upon the design process of an innovation. Which of the statements below is a reason for this?
   1. Developers are often pressed for time.
   2. Developers are engaged with the social, economic, cultural, and political factors that impact their design.
   3. Developers have a tunnel vision.
   4. Developers get paid to ignore it.
3. Which of the following theories was developed by Hughes with the aim of examining how physical artifacts, social institutions, and the social context all interact to influence design and cause social change?
   1. Actor network theory
   2. Systems theory
   3. Power-systems theory
   4. Symbolic interactionism
4. A system is defined differently in various disciplines. In the context of techno-social designing, which of the following is the definition of a system?
   1. A net of people, devices, and infrastructure that work disjointed
   2. A plurality of understandings that help explain technological progress
   3. A configuration of parts connected and joined together by a web of relationships
   4. A device that is designed to fulfill a single purpose
5. The imbalance in the growth of a system’s sub-components is described best by which of the following terms?
   1. Inverse salient
   2. Reverse salient
   3. Reverse redundancy
   4. Inverse redundancy
      
6. Which of the following best defines a critical problem?
   1. An issue with a system or organization that makes it difficult for the interests of its members to be represented; when used to describe a technological system, “critical problem” refers to anything that makes it harder for users to benefit from the use of the technology
   2. A problem that is recognized through human inquiry but is not recognized as problematic by the CPU (central processing unit) of a computer system
   3. A challenge that requires a complex solution involving technological innovations and institutional or social change
   4. Something that will result in the failure of the entire system if not fixed
7. Who first used the term “technopole”?
   1. Hughes
   2. Locke
   3. Castells and Hall
   4. Pasteur and Latour
8. Which of the following is an example of alienation?
   1. Engaging in repetitive tasks that do not reflect a person’s skill
   2. Working overtime as a software developer without overtime pay
   3. Feeling disconnected to your coworkers
   4. When users of a program do not consider the creative process that go into technological inventions
9. Startup companies often rely on which of the following examples of financial support to help them establish their operations?
   1. Venture capital firms and angel investors
   2. Venture angel firms and booming investors
   3. Technopoles and angel investors
   4. Family connections and old money
10. The term technological redlining was introduced by Noble to describe which of the following:
    1. the reinforcement of oppressive social relationships that lead to new modes of racial profiling
    2. the bias of many software companies to hire primarily white employees
    3. the bias of many software companies to hire primarily white employees who are males
    4. the bias of many software companies to hire primarily engineers educated in the Global North
11. Which of the following do technopoles pose a potential risk to?
    1. Venture capital firms
    2. Local industries
    3. Supplier factories
    4. All of the above
12. The media often focuses on which aspect of technopoles?
    1. Humane working conditions
    2. Poor working conditions
    3. Excessive wages
    4. Work–life balance
13. Which of the following factors are not included in the conceptualization of R&D put forth by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)?
    1. Experimental development
    2. Applied research
    3. Systems research
    4. Basic Research
14. What did Schumpeter identify as a central activity of economic prosperity in his analysis of economic development?
    1. Research and development
    2. The creative process
    3. Appropriation
    4. Innovation and destruction of out-dated doctrine
15. Which of the following is not a stage of the creative process according to Schumpeter?
    1. Innovation
    2. Invention
    3. Imitation
    4. Independence
16. Which of the following are changes that would occur during the innovation stage of the creative process?
    1. Decreases in salaries
    2. Population stagnation
    3. Changes in consumer tastes
    4. Decreases in production
17. Florida suggests that cities that possess technology, talent, and tolerance are particularly successful at attracting what types of people?
    1. People belonging to the upper class
    2. People looking to invest in a start-up company
    3. People belonging to the creative class
    4. People who are interested in learning about technology
18. According to Schumpeter’s economic and social analysis, what is at the center of economic development and closely linked to the structure of society?
    1. Recession
    2. Innovation
    3. Return on investment (ROI)
    4. Skilled or educated labour
19. In 2016, the G20 country that spent the highest percentage of its GDP on R&D was ________.
    1. The United States
    2. Japan
    3. Korea
    4. Canada
20. Packaged software development can be best understood as which of the following types of technology development?
    1. Technology that changes rapidly, focusing on new ideas
    2. Technology that develops around a core idea and grows outward
    3. Technology that develops a solid product that can be easily imitated
    4. Technology that depends on frequent and highly innovative releases of software

True or False Questions

1. The study of technology tends not to give much consideration to how tools develop in society but instead focuses on the creative processes that take place.
2. Retro-analysis refers to the trend where accounts and analyses of how a technology was designed are conducted before the technology is widely adopted.
3. Software cowboys prevent the creation of highly cohesive software development teams.
4. Florida suggests that individuals that possess a high degree of education, skills, and creativity are members of the creative class.
5. Reverse salients need to be identified first as critical problems to be solved.
6. To be a legitimate startup company, the business needs to have established itself with no external help (from venture capital firms or angel investors).
7. Supplier factories are factories dedicated solely to the mass production of goods for the technology industry.
8. Based on Marx’s work on exploitation, scholars and social activists have proposed alternative models that can help improve working conditions in supplier factories.
9. Kodak and Polaroid saw their business model and profits vanish as a result of inefficient R&D and slow uptake of digital photography.
10. Schumpeter used the term “creative destruction” to summarize the social, economic, and cultural consequences that innovation brought about.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does technological redlining work and what are its consequences?
2. Systems theory is a very popular theory in the field of technology. What are the key premises of systems theory?
3. What are the three interrelated processes that Castells and Hall (1994) suggest technopoles arise from? Describe each briefly.
4. Schumpeter described the creative process in a lot of detail. What are the three distinguishable phases of the creative process as defined by Schumpeter?
5. Identify and describe the three areas of R&D as conceptualized by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Long Answer Questions

1. Richard Florida has discussed the creative class as a group of individuals who are important for the development of cities. How do individuals who belong to the creative class shape a city? Is their impact always positive?
2. Algorithms are ubiquitous in our technological society. To what extent are algorithms biased in the way they operate? As part of your response focus not only on how algorithms operate, but also on the reasons underlying their biases.