almost secondary, as the focus is on market change. It follows that technology is
not simply a question of technological artefacts or know-how but also involves
structures of designing, manufacturing, marketing and using these artefacts;
72 in
short, the social practices of society are entwined with technology.
The etymology of technology is in the ancient Greek word meaning craftsmanship or art (tékhnē) and from the word study (-logia, originally légō, ‘I speak’).
As such, the use of fire, the invention of the wheel, and the development of
agriculture, which led to the Neolithic Revolution,
73 are all technologies in the
original meaning of the word. However, in the meaning of dispute resolution
technology we refer to techniques, practices, and devices that can be used for
purposes of information and communication without exact knowledge of how
they work. For example, using the EU Commission’s ODR platform does not
require any knowledge of domain names or hypertext protocols. Thus, examination of disruptive qualities of dispute resolution technology deals with social
interaction that creates meaning for new ICT.
74 At the core of ICT is the ability
to process vast amounts of information, which, in turn, leads to power struggles
over control of information between states, corporations and other actors.
75
The ways in which information is controlled has also impacted the formation of
the legal system. As a mechanism of institutionalised power, law’s function is
deeply connected with controlling and managing information, which in turn calls
attention to the changing forms of holding and storing information. German
legal historian and media theorist Cornelia Vismann discusses this historical
relationship between law and information by examining archived legal files and
legal practices, which she considers mutually constitute one another. Deriving
several historical examples from the Roman Empire to the formation of Prussia as
a sovereign state and to the excavation of the destroyed Stasi files of 1990s,
Vismann deduces that record-keeping and handling of files shape the formation
of legal procedures and the focal conceptualisations of truth, state, and subject.
76
The files themselves have changed in the course of time; from being the tools of
legal administration to being administered by legal regulation on privacy, according
to Vismann’s genealogy. This means that the changes of form in record-keeping
from the old paper files to computer icons constitute a change from material media
to handling of data (instead of files) – a change that enables us to question how the
battle over control of information is mutating.
It follows that conceptualisations of technology simultaneously reveal and hide
perspectives, and participate in ideological struggles and formation of social
processes. But the question remains, what is the relationship between the technological application and its use? Early answers to this question were sketched by two
main approaches of media theory, the technological determinism of Canadian
philosopher Marshall McLuhan and the social shaping of technology presented by
Welsh academic Raymond Williams. It should be noted that both McLuhan’s and
Williams’s major contributions to media studies took place before the emergence
of the World Wide Web in early 1990s, although both approaches remain relevant.
The theories differ in the extent to which they consider media technology to have
the capability of transforming society and culture. Whereas McLuhan emphasises
44 Theoretical implications of dispute resolution technology
not simply a question of technological artefacts or know-how but also involves
structures of designing, manufacturing, marketing and using these artefacts;
72 in
short, the social practices of society are entwined with technology.
The etymology of technology is in the ancient Greek word meaning craftsmanship or art (tékhnē) and from the word study (-logia, originally légō, ‘I speak’).
As such, the use of fire, the invention of the wheel, and the development of
agriculture, which led to the Neolithic Revolution,
73 are all technologies in the
original meaning of the word. However, in the meaning of dispute resolution
technology we refer to techniques, practices, and devices that can be used for
purposes of information and communication without exact knowledge of how
they work. For example, using the EU Commission’s ODR platform does not
require any knowledge of domain names or hypertext protocols. Thus, examination of disruptive qualities of dispute resolution technology deals with social
interaction that creates meaning for new ICT.
74 At the core of ICT is the ability
to process vast amounts of information, which, in turn, leads to power struggles
over control of information between states, corporations and other actors.
75
The ways in which information is controlled has also impacted the formation of
the legal system. As a mechanism of institutionalised power, law’s function is
deeply connected with controlling and managing information, which in turn calls
attention to the changing forms of holding and storing information. German
legal historian and media theorist Cornelia Vismann discusses this historical
relationship between law and information by examining archived legal files and
legal practices, which she considers mutually constitute one another. Deriving
several historical examples from the Roman Empire to the formation of Prussia as
a sovereign state and to the excavation of the destroyed Stasi files of 1990s,
Vismann deduces that record-keeping and handling of files shape the formation
of legal procedures and the focal conceptualisations of truth, state, and subject.
76
The files themselves have changed in the course of time; from being the tools of
legal administration to being administered by legal regulation on privacy, according
to Vismann’s genealogy. This means that the changes of form in record-keeping
from the old paper files to computer icons constitute a change from material media
to handling of data (instead of files) – a change that enables us to question how the
battle over control of information is mutating.
It follows that conceptualisations of technology simultaneously reveal and hide
perspectives, and participate in ideological struggles and formation of social
processes. But the question remains, what is the relationship between the technological application and its use? Early answers to this question were sketched by two
main approaches of media theory, the technological determinism of Canadian
philosopher Marshall McLuhan and the social shaping of technology presented by
Welsh academic Raymond Williams. It should be noted that both McLuhan’s and
Williams’s major contributions to media studies took place before the emergence
of the World Wide Web in early 1990s, although both approaches remain relevant.
The theories differ in the extent to which they consider media technology to have
the capability of transforming society and culture. Whereas McLuhan emphasises
44 Theoretical implications of dispute resolution technology