A Guidebook For Technology Assessment And Impact Analysis

Technology and society; Institutionalization of TA/EIA; Basic features of an assessment; Strategies for particular assessments: bounding and techniques; Technology description and forecasting; Social description and forecasting; Impact identification and policy considerations; Impact analysis; Environmental analysis; Economic impact analysis; Analysis of social and psychological impacts; Technological, legal, and institutional/political analyses; Impact evaluation; Policy analysis; Communication of results; Project management; Evaluation of technology assessments and environmental impact statements; Critiques of TA/EIA; Future prospects.

Using reviews of special reports and personal interviews with team members of recent National Science Foundation-sponsored assessments, the authors have assembled an eight-step functional strategy for conducting technology assessments. The steps are set within a framework that embodies the three key elements of all assessments: technology descripti

This volume is the outcome of a recent NATO Advanced Study Institute (ASI) on "Technology Assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment. and Risk Analysis: Contributions from the Psychological and Decision Sciences." The Institute was held in Les Arcs. France and functioned as a high level teaching activity during which scientific research results were presented in detail by eminent lecturers. Support for the Institute was provided by grants from the NATO Division of Scientific Affairs. the u.S. Office of Naval Research. and the Russell Sage Foundation. The Institute covered several areas of research. including quantitative studies on decision and judgmental processes. studies on human intellectual limitations. studies on risk attitudes and perceptions. studies on factors contributing to conflicts and disputes about hazardous technologies and activities. studies on factors influencing forecasts and judgments by experts. studies on public preferences for decisionmaking processes. studies on public responses to technological hazards. and case studies applying principles and methods from the psychological and decision sciences in specific settings.

This book is intended for introductory courses in SIA within sociology, social policy, human geography and political science at postgraduate level. Specialist postgraduate and professional courses in policy- orientated social research and in social and general impact assessment.

An outgrowth of the recognition that the varieties of impact assessment have much in common and that the common elements are a sound basis for an intellectual framework, this book incorporates contributions from leading practitioners of technology, environmental, and social impact assessment. The authors describe integrated impact assessment; addre

The application of foresight to address the challenges of uncertainty and rapid change has grown dramatically in the past decade. In that period, the techniques have been greatly refined and the scope has been broadened to encompass future-oriented technology analysis (FTA) and more recently, the concept and practice of strategic intelligence. FTA addresses directly the longer-term future through the active and continuous development of visions, and pathways to realise these visions. It is increasingly seen as a valuable management and policy tool complementing, and extending further into the future, classical strategy, planning, and decision-making approaches. This book charts the development of FTA and provides the first coherent description and analysis of its practical application and impact in the worlds of business, government, education and research in both advanced and developing countries. It draws on papers addressing the application of FTA around the globe which were presented at the Second International Seville Seminar in September 2006. The insights and practical experience will be invaluable for company managers, government ministers and officials, researchers and academics with responsibilities for effective planning and decision-making in an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable world.