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The Relation Between Digital Technology and Values Thinking Through Multiple Technologies

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The Relation Between Digital Technology and Values Thinking Through Multiple Technologies The Relation Between Digital Technology and Values Thinking Through Multiple Technologies Leif Sundberg Department of Information Systems and Technology Mid Sweden University Doctoral Thesis No. 308 Sundsvall, Sweden 2019 Mittuniversitetet Informationssystem och teknologi ISBN 978-91-88947-26-0 SE-851 70 Sundsvall ISNN 1652-893X SWEDEN Akademisk avhandling som med tillstand˚ av Mittuniversitetet framlagges¨ till of- fentlig granskning for¨ avlaggande¨ av filosofie doktorsexamen fredagen den 13 de- cember 2019 i L111, Mittuniversitetet, Holmgatan 10, Sundsvall. c Leif Sundberg, december 2019 Tryck: Tryckeriet Mittuniversitetet To Liam. iv Abstract This thesis addresses two topics: technology and values. More specifically, the stud- ied technology is an ensemble of digital technologies that is often referred to as “dig- italization,” and the values are gathered from empirical material from the Swedish (digital) government. The purpose of the thesis is to generate an enhanced under- standing of the relation between digital technology and values. The study is moti- vated by, a) a need to theorize digital government research, b) a need to establish a link between narratives of technology and research on values, and c) a need to dis- close how investments in digital technology are legitimized. The research question of this thesis is, “how can we understand the relation between digital technology and values?” To answer this question, theoretical concepts that are rooted in philosophy of technology are used: polytechnics and monotechnics, externalism, and internal- ism. Moreover, a theory of four value positions, namely professionalism, efficiency, service, and engagement is used. The thesis revolves around five papers, and its methodological approach is characterized by pragmatism. Data were gathered from relevant literature and document studies, an analysis of expert groups, and survey results from national and local government entities. The findings from the papers were subject to a narrative analysis. This analysis generated three conclusions, which constitute the theoretical contribution of the thesis. The relation between digital tech- nology and values can be understood from these three key conclusions: The first regards convergence, and incorporates two narratives of digital tech- nology: as a polytechnic tool, and as a monotechnic force: a machine. Digital tech- nology is pluralistic in the sense that it may enable several values through multiple technological frames. In parallel, it relies on uniformity and standardization. The technology is therefore subject to several tensions. The story of the machine tends to become dominant through calls for action: it emphasizes the need for rapid adapta- tion of both individuals and society. In digital government, such adjustment would include an uncertain transformation of professionalism values. The legitimacy of this transformation is highly dependent on which story of technology it is based on. The second conclusion concerns technology as a paradigm. The digital paradigm, as studied in this thesis, is characterized by a story about a technological society for everyone. However, this story stems from a narrow range of actors with respect to educational and geographical context. A broadened view of digital technology and values would require a more symmetrical range of norms, since how values manifest themselves is dependent on the properties of the paradigm. v vi The third and final conclusion regards congruence and divergence. The relation between digital technology and values is shifting between value congruence, and value divergence. When digital technology becomes associated with a narrative of progress that suggests that its value lies in the future while the present is ”trans- formative,” it can develop in a seemingly self-augmented and autonomous manner. Contrasting stories of value divergence can be found in evaluations from practice. However, this divergent narrative is repositioned as a story of “barriers”, which tells us that values can be realized if society adapts. The interplay between these narra- tives has implications for how we perceive value realization. The thesis concludes with the following summarizing contributions. Theoretically, it produces an enhanced understanding of the relation between digital technology and values, as described above. Through this theoretical understanding, a link be- tween narratives of technology and values is established empirically. By doing so, this thesis has revealed how values are legitimized, manifested and perceived, de- pending on what technology ”is”. Finally, a societal need is fulfilled by suggestions for policy making. Democratization of the norms associated with digital technology would improve governance in the sense that policy makers would have to actively choose between incommensurable views. As a result of this, accountability would increase, together with transparency concerning the narratives that inform policy. Acknowledgements First I would like to thank my supervisors, Katarina L. Gidlund and Aron Larsson for guiding me in the research process. I would also like to thank Gustav Liden´ for valuable feedback on my work. I have become a part of many different constellations during my time as a PhD student. I wish to thank the people in IST, FODI, FODIX, KOD, RCR. I would like to especially mention Olof Nilsson, Leif Olsson, Christine Grosse, and Annika Has- selblad. I am grateful for receiving funding from Timra˚ municipality to a part of my work on this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge reviewers, survey participants, and scholars I have met at conferences. During these years, playing board games has constituted a large part of my social life. Whether it has been Euro Games or Blood Bowl, these games, and the people I play with, fill an important role in my life. Another activity I find highly meaningful, is kayaking with my father. Thank you! Finally, I would like to thank my fiancee,´ Nina, for standing by my side during this time. vii viii Contents Abstract v Acknowledgements vii List of Papers xi Terminology xvii 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Digital Technology . 2 1.2 Values . 5 1.3 Digital Government . 6 1.4 Motivation and Prior Research . 9 1.5 Purpose and Research Question . 11 2 Theory 13 2.1 Technology, Technics, and Technique . 14 2.1.1 Polytechnics and Monotechnics . 16 2.1.2 The Traditional View and Extreme Externalism . 21 2.1.3 The Autonomous View and Paradigms . 22 2.2 Values . 28 2.2.1 The Professionalism Ideal . 29 2.2.2 The Efficiency Ideal . 30 2.2.3 The Service Ideal . 30 2.2.4 The Engagement Ideal . 31 2.2.5 Value Relationships . 31 ix x CONTENTS 2.3 Summary . 33 3 Methodology 35 3.1 Ontological and Epistemological Reflections . 35 3.2 Research Process . 38 3.2.1 Materials and Methods in the Papers . 39 3.2.2 Overall Analysis: Narratives and Validity . 42 3.3 Ethical Reflections . 44 4 Summary of Included Papers 47 4.1 Paper I: Digitalization: Rise of the (Mega)machines . 47 4.2 Paper II: Undisclosed Practices of Digitalization - A Critical Analysis of Representational Practice and Power . 47 4.3 Paper III: If Digitalization is the Solution, What is the Problem? . 48 4.4 Paper IV: From Automatic Data Processing to Digitalization: What is Past is Prologue . 48 4.5 Paper V: Value Positions and Relationships in the Swedish Digital Government . 49 5 Analysis 53 5.1 The Two Technologies . 53 5.2 The Digital Paradigm . 58 5.3 Technology as Enabler of all Values . 60 6 Conclusions 65 6.1 Contributions . 67 6.2 Future Research . 67 Bibliography 69 A Related works 83 Biography 85 List of Papers This thesis is mainly based on the following papers, herein referred by their Roman numerals: I L. Sundberg. Digitalization: Rise of the (Mega)machines. IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), Macau, China, 2019. II K. L. Gidlund and L. Sundberg. Undisclosed Practices of Digitalization - A Critical Analysis of Representational Practice and Power. Manuscript, 2019. III L. Sundberg, If Digitalization is the Solution, What is the Problem? In Pro- ceedings of the 19th European Conference on Digital Government, Northern Nicosia, Cyprus, 2019. IV L. Sundberg. From Automatic Data Processing to Digitalization : What is Past is Prologue. In Proceedings of the 18th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference, EGOV 2019, San Benedetto Del Tronto, Italy, September 2–4, Springer 2019 V L. Sundberg. Value Relationships and Prioritizations in the Swedish Digital Government. Administrative Sciences 9(1), 2019. xi xii List of Figures 1.1 World’s technologically installed capacity to store information 1986-2007 3 2.1 Four models of technology . 21 2.2 Value positions and relationships for e-Government . 32 xiii xiv List of Tables 2.1 Public sector value positions . 29 2.2 Theoretical foundation . 34 3.1 Materials and methods in the papers . 45 4.1 Contribution of the individual papers . 51 xv xvi Terminology Abbreviations and Acronyms ADP Automatic, or Administrative Data Processing AI Artificial Intelligence e-Government Electronic government e-services Electronic services GDPR The General Data Protection Regulation ICT Information and Communication Technology IS Information System(s) IT Information Technology NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration NPM New Public Management PCA Principal Component Analysis SCOT Social Construction of Technology WPR What’s the problem represented to be-approach. xvii xviii Chapter 1 Introduction This thesis investigates the relation between digital
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