interpretation does not entirely convince, as this would mean each subsystem
would manage such a programme independently from others based on its own
coding, which would fall short in explaining the simultaneous technological
disruption of several systems. Yet another possibility suitable for explaining
the relationship between law and technology would be to examine the social
elements of technology as a new social subsystem. If technological operations are
networked to one another in a continuous web, which then produces the
distinction system/environment, then use of ICTs could perhaps be considered
an emerging new social system. However, such interpretation would require us to
identify the code candidate of the system and its generalised medium.
2.5.2 Use of ICT as an emergent social system
It is suggested here that the social implications and increasing conventions related
to technology use can be reconciled within systems theory by interpreting this
social dimension as an emergent new system. Such interpretation would provide
tools for analysing how the continuous development and use of dispute resolution
technology enters the legal system as a disruptive irritant, while simultaneously
respecting the theory’s limits. The fact that these social implications are not limited
to any single subsystem in the society seems to support the interpretation of use of
technology as a social system. This wide-spread nature of technological change
would imply that the social dimension of technology goes beyond the role of
internal programme and would explain the plethora of diverse yet connected
interpretative issues arising from the digitalisation of societal practices in different
subsystems.
95 In other words, use of ICT has brought on changes in methods,
discourses and practices within a wide variety of different fields, and has created the
need to react in several scientific, political, legal and economic ways to new
complicated phenomena.
Such widespread social changes following development of new technology are
not unprecedented. For example, the development, commercialisation and implementation of the printing press led to the Printing Revolution in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, which had wide-ranging consequences for circulation of
information, journalism and the democratisation of knowledge. However, it took
several centuries before the technology had spread around Europe and before
action from the courts and legislation became indispensable. Compared to this,
the pace of change in development of information and communication technology
is significantly more rapid. Also, the technology we are addressing here is different
from changes in manufacturing processes. Modern technology or digitally interactive new media encompasses possibilities for creating new social realities, as
information management and communication are at the core of their function. It
is this rupture of social meaning creation that leads to the perception of fundamental change and suggests the emergence of new functional differentiation in
the society.
Of course, this emphasis on the social element of modern technology gives
only a partial picture as the examination of the technological artefacts is absent in
48 Theoretical implications of dispute resolution technology
would manage such a programme independently from others based on its own
coding, which would fall short in explaining the simultaneous technological
disruption of several systems. Yet another possibility suitable for explaining
the relationship between law and technology would be to examine the social
elements of technology as a new social subsystem. If technological operations are
networked to one another in a continuous web, which then produces the
distinction system/environment, then use of ICTs could perhaps be considered
an emerging new social system. However, such interpretation would require us to
identify the code candidate of the system and its generalised medium.
2.5.2 Use of ICT as an emergent social system
It is suggested here that the social implications and increasing conventions related
to technology use can be reconciled within systems theory by interpreting this
social dimension as an emergent new system. Such interpretation would provide
tools for analysing how the continuous development and use of dispute resolution
technology enters the legal system as a disruptive irritant, while simultaneously
respecting the theory’s limits. The fact that these social implications are not limited
to any single subsystem in the society seems to support the interpretation of use of
technology as a social system. This wide-spread nature of technological change
would imply that the social dimension of technology goes beyond the role of
internal programme and would explain the plethora of diverse yet connected
interpretative issues arising from the digitalisation of societal practices in different
subsystems.
95 In other words, use of ICT has brought on changes in methods,
discourses and practices within a wide variety of different fields, and has created the
need to react in several scientific, political, legal and economic ways to new
complicated phenomena.
Such widespread social changes following development of new technology are
not unprecedented. For example, the development, commercialisation and implementation of the printing press led to the Printing Revolution in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, which had wide-ranging consequences for circulation of
information, journalism and the democratisation of knowledge. However, it took
several centuries before the technology had spread around Europe and before
action from the courts and legislation became indispensable. Compared to this,
the pace of change in development of information and communication technology
is significantly more rapid. Also, the technology we are addressing here is different
from changes in manufacturing processes. Modern technology or digitally interactive new media encompasses possibilities for creating new social realities, as
information management and communication are at the core of their function. It
is this rupture of social meaning creation that leads to the perception of fundamental change and suggests the emergence of new functional differentiation in
the society.
Of course, this emphasis on the social element of modern technology gives
only a partial picture as the examination of the technological artefacts is absent in
48 Theoretical implications of dispute resolution technology