Final conference, Amsterdam, 23 January 2018 – wrapping up a research journey into communications between SSH and ICT communities

The concluding conference of the CANDID project was held at The Waag (weigh house), a 15th-century building on Nieuwmarkt square in Amsterdam. Originally a city gate and part of the walls of Amsterdam, the building has in its long history also served as a guildhall, museum, fire station and anatomical theatre. It was depicted in Read More …

CANDID Primer and Policy Recommendations to be unveiled at concluding Conference at Amsterdam on 23 January

The CANDID project is now complete, with all deliverables due for the period of the project delivered to the Commission and also available for download. What remains is to celebrate these achievements and to present and discuss the CANDID Template, rebranded The CANDID Primer, as well as the accompanying Policy recommendations. The Primer will provide Read More …

CANDID peer meeting at the Cosmocaixa crossroads

In more than one of his acclaimed product keynotes Steve Jobs said he considered the best innovations occurred, in a metaphorical sense at least, ‘at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts’. When presenting the Apple iPad 2 for the first time, he asserted that (at Apple) “Technology is not enough” …. “It’s in Read More …

CANDID Module 3 looks to reframe view of social scientists from party poopers to innovation pathfinders

Over the last six months an interdisciplinary team of experts in Science and Technology Studies led by Daniel López from Universitat Oberta de Catalunya’s CareNet (Care and Preparedness in the Network Society) has canvassed an ‘extended peer’ network for Module 3 of CANDID, addressing some of the most contentious issues arising from the operation of Read More …

Early findings of Module 4: Thematic & discursive analyses of smart technologies

To recap our article published on 29 August — What is discourse analysis and how can it help understanding for a more societally responsible ‘smart’ new world? — Module 4 of the CANDID is performing two roles in helping achieve the project’s aim of developing a ‘codebook’ for analysing discourses of ‘smart’ technologies. Firstly, working Read More …

CANDID Module 2: protection of digital rights overly complex and have important shortcomings

Despite recent adoption of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR), CANDID researchers found that efforts in Europe to protect fundamental rights in ICT environments to be notably complex and with important shortcomings. For the extended peer review process of CANDID Module 2 (on Risks, Rights And Engineering) two new procedures introduced by the GDPR were Read More …

CANDID Module 1 on smart energy and care signals need for new typology of ‘users’

CANDID is researching what ‘smartness’ means for the various types of providers and ‘end users’ of ‘smart’ technologies. The research for Module 1, the part of the project covering ‘User and Design Configurations’, specifically on Smart Energy Technologies and Smart Care Technologies. This part of the CANDID project is led by researchers at University of Read More …

What is discourse analysis and how can it help understanding for a more societally responsible ‘smart’ new world?

As suggested by the expanded version of the acronym title — Checking Assumptions aND promoting responsibility in smart Development — the CANDID project has set about scrutinising presumptions it is finding in the discourse about ‘smart’ technologies. Led by University of Surrey, this part of the project (named Module 4) is applying the tools of ‘discourse Read More …

Taking a fresh look at ‘smart’ technologies to promote responsible innovation

CANDID is a 12 month research project, applying the tools and expertise of the social sciences to address issues around ‘smart’ technologies, a topic for research previously of exclusive interest to technologists and engineers. Intervening in the normal business of innovation might raise an eyebrow or two, but the consensus is that broader perspectives are more Read More …