Trickster Fiddles with Informatics: The Social Impact of Technological Marketing Schemes

• Main Authors: M Louise Ripley, Beverly J. Davis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Institute of Informatics and Cybernetics 2008-02-01
• Series: Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics
• Subjects: Technology; informatics; Technoism; Marketing
• Online Access: http://www.iiisci.org/Journal/CV$/sci/pdfs/W123JPB.pdf

"Information is power if and only if you have the knowledge to know what it means, the will to use it, the ability to apply it, and access to a channel of communication" [1]. We see this in current fields of research as varied as Marketing, Philosophy, and Communications Studies, and in current issues about who owns and controls technology. But a character from a far older tradition helps explain many problems in society today with technology: Trickster, the mythical character who confuses fact with fiction, makes good use of Technoism, a term coined by Davis [2] in 1999 to denote suppressed skepticism and blind compliance with the chaotic and uncontrolled progression of technology in our lives that leads to a dangerous split between the "haves" and "have-nots" of the technology world. This paper will discuss the use of Technoism to give the public and users of technology a false sense of power and control over their lives when in fact they are being duped into a financially motivated campaign of consumer exploitation. The paper makes some recommendations for establishing a conscience in the use of technology.