Human-centred Systems – serie

Issues raised by the Theory of Knowledge, a central theme in the development of Artificial Intelligence, are the main topic of this book. The major questions are: How is the expert's knowledge to be elicited, what are the limits and possibilities? How can skill be developed and maintained in a more and more computerized and abstract working life? This last question is also closely related to the discussion on programs for education and training in society and working life. Long term effects on skill formation in working life in relation to new technology are a very important area of research. Case studies form the basis for philosophical reflections with the main concept of tacit knowledge as the central issue of skill and new technology. To a great extent the discussion is based on current case studies of professional groups with experience in advanced computer technology. The contributions of this book demonstrate the complicated nature of human knowledge. They introduce different theoretical perspectives on the issue of knowledge acquisition and elicitation.

This second book in our series Artificial Intelligence and Society explores the issues involved in the design and application of human-centred systems in the manufacturing area. At first glance it may appear that a book on this topic is somewhat peripheral to the main concerns of the series. In fact, although starting from an engineering perspective, the book addresses some of the pivotal issues confronting those who apply new technology in general and artificial intelligence (AI) systems in particular. Above all, the book invites us to consider whether the present applications of technology are such as to make the best use of human skill and ingenuity and at the same time provide for realistic and economically sustainable systems design solutions. To do so it is necessary to provide systems which support the skill, and are amenable to the cultures, of the areas of application in question. In a philosophical sense it means providing tools to support skills rather than machines which replace them, to use Heidegger's distinction. The book gives an authoritative account of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) tradition of human-centredness and provides a participatory design ap­ proach which focuses on collaborative learning and enhancement and creation of new skills. It also argues that collaboration should be supported by institutions through the creation of supportive infrastructures and research environments. It emphasises the optimisation of practical knowledge with the help of scientific knowledge and rejects the alternative.

This book springs from a conference held in Stockholm in May­ June 1988 on Culture, Language and Artificial Intelligence. It assembled more than 300 researchers and practitioners in the fields of technology, philosophy, history of ideas, literature, lin­ guistics, social science, etc. It was an initiative from the Swedish Center for Working Life, based on the project AI-Based Systems and the Future of Language, Knowledge and Responsibility in Professions within the COST 13 programme of the European Commission. Participants in the conference, or in some cases researchers related to its aims, were chosen to contribute to this book. It was preceded by Knowledge, Skill and Artificial Intelligence (ed. B. G6ranzon and 1. Josefson, Springer-Verlag, London, 1988) and will be followed by Dialogue and Technology (ed. M. Florin and B. Goranzon, Springer-Verlag, London, 1990). The contributors' thinking in this field varies greatly; so do their styles of writing. For example: contributors have varied in their choice of 'he' or 'he/she' for the third person. No distinction is intended but chapters have been left with the original usage to avoid extensive changes. Similarly, individual contributor's preferences as to notes or references lists have been followed. We want to thank our researcher Satinder P. Gill for excellent work with summaries and indexes, and Sandi Irvine of Springer­ Verlag for eminent editorial work.

This book springs from a conference held in Stockholm in May­ June 1988 on Culture, Language and Artificial Intelligence. It assembled more than 300 researchers and practitioners in the fields of technology, philosophy, history of ideas, literature, linguistics, social· science, etc. The conference was an initiative from the Swedish Center for Working Life, based on the project AI-Based Systems mzd the Future of Language, Knowledge and Re­ sponsibility in Professions within the COST 13 programme of the European Commission. Participants in the conference, or in some cases researchers in areas related to its aims, were chosen to contribute to this book. It was preceded by Knowledge, Skill and Artificial Intelligence (ed. B. Gbranzon and I. Josefson, Springer-Verlag, London, 1988) and Artificial Intelligence, Culture and Language (ed. B. Gbranzon and M. Florin, Springer-Verlag, 1990). The latter book springs, as this one, from the 1988 conference, and one further book will follow: Skill and Education: Reflection and Experience (Springer­ Verlag, planned autumn 1991). The philosophical and aesthetic interest of the contributions in the present volume is in large part due to the framework of the Dialogue Seminar, held regularly at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, in which several of the contributors have participated.

Mike Cooley One of the most remarkable features of modern industrial society, is the gap between that which technology could provide for society (its potential) and that which it actually does provide for society (its reality). We have for example, complex control systems which can guide a missile to another continent with extraordinary accuracy, yet the blind and the disabled have to stagger around our cities in very much the same way as they did in mediaeval times. There are advanced communication systems enabling messages to be sent around the world in a fraction of a second, but it now takes longer to send an ordinary letter from Washington to New York than it did in the days of the stage coach. Such a growing chasm between potential and reality, is giving rise to a thorough questioning of many of the orthodoxies in these areas and the priorities on which they are based. Similar contradictions, even if at this stage less obvious and dramatic, abound in the field of manufacturing technology. There, we find technologies which have the potential of liberating human beings from soul­ destroying, routine, backbreaking tasks and leave them free to engage in more creative work, but which in reality, often end up reducing the human being to a mere machine appendage, acted upon by the technology and becoming a passive, pathetic element in the productive system rather than a creative, dynamic human being.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Institutions argues that successful applications of artificial intelligence are possible only within an understanding of human institutions and the limitations of technology. Products of artificial intelligence research are becoming widely available to non-specialists using low-cost computer systems, but there has been a lack of communication between re- searchers and community groups. Taking the "weak AI" position, the book explores the way insights and tools from artificial intelligence can be valuable in coming to terms with real world problems. Drawing on the author's extensive practical experience in AI research and research management, the book brings together case studies from the fields of education, training, business, engineering, defence, health, and community work, and suggests future directions. This book deals with advanced concepts of artificial intelligence for non-specialist readers, while providing an introduction to state-of-the-art developments. It seeks to use AI concepts to illuminate the practical and theoretical concerns of institutions and organisations, opening up possibilities for new areas of collaborative work, and revealing new sources of references and ideas. This is the latest title in the Artificial Intelligence and Society series and will be of interest to lecturers and students in AI, education, social and political sciences, and business studies.

In recent years a vast literature has been produced on the feasibility of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The topic most frequently discussed is the concept of intelligence, with efforts to demonstrate that it is or is not transferable to the computer. Only rarely has attention been focused on the concept of the artificial per se in order to clarify what kind, depth and scope of performance (including intelligence) it could support. Apart from the classic book by H.A. Simon, The Sciences of the Artificial, published in 1969, no serious attempt has been made to define a conceptual frame for understanding the intimate nature of intelligent machines independently of its claimed or denied human-like features. The general aim of this book is to discuss, from different points of view, what we are losing and what we are gaining from the artificial, particularly from AI, when we abandon the original anthropomorphic pretension. There is necessarily a need for analysis of the history of AI and the limits of its plausibility in reproducing the human mind. In addition, the papers presented here aim at redefining the epistemology and the possible targets of the AI discipline, raising problems, and proposing solutions, which should be understood as typical of the artificial rather than of an information-based conception of man.

Crossing the Border examines the emergence of a new philosophy based on the idea of "human-centred technology" and, through the use of a case study, illustrates the ways in which users, social scientists, managers and engineers can participate in the design and development of human-centred computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) system. The book offers a unique insight into a large European project (ESPRIT project 1217) aimed at the design and development of a human-centred CIM system. The book examines the problems inherent in developing interdisciplinary design methods and of "crossing the border" between the social and engineering sciences. The authors offer proposals and guidelines for overcoming such problems based on their experience within this project. Crossing the Border will be of particular interest to researchers and practitioners in the area of factory automation, to students and researchers in AI, and to all those interested in the human and organisational issues surrounding the computerised factory of the future.

Drawing on the experiences of four major EC countries, this book documents the way computer technology has changed the pattern of women's work in the manufacturing sector. The sixteen contributors are leading authorities on the subject and analyse how technology has transformed employment in the clothing industry, which is still the major employer of female blue-collar workers in the EC. The contributors assess the aspects of computerisation that particularly affect women's employment opportuni- ties: flexible hours, flexible work locations and flexible specialisation. The book also contains evaluations of post-Fordism and human-centred technology, two leading issues in the debate about the applications of artificial intelligence and computer-aided technology. These essays highlight a growing polarisation in the job market and suggest training schemes which can equip women for technical and managerial employment. This is a pioneering work; so far, most of the literature on women and computerisation has focussed on office automation and data processing. Computer-aided Manufacturing and Women's Employment makes an important contribution to the fields of technology, employment, women's work, business management and trade union studies.

Connectionism in Context aims to broaden and extend the debate concerning the significance of connectionist models. The volume collects together a variety of perspectives by experimental and developmental psychologists, philosophers and active AI researchers. These contributions relate con- nectionist ideas to historical psychlogical debates, e.g., over behaviourism and associationism, to develop- mental and philosophical issues. The result is a volume which addresses both familiar, but central, topics such as the relation between connectionism and classical AI, and less familiar, but highly challenging topics, such as connectionism,associationism and behaviourism, the dis- tinction between perception and cognition, the role of en- vironmental structure, and the potential value ofconnec- tionism as a means of "symbol grounding". The nine essays have been written with an interdisciplinary audience in mind and avoid both technical jargon and heavy mathematics.

The arrival of the information society in Japan has radically altered the industrial structure, work patterns and cultural values of its society. The innovation and implementation of information technology has accelerated this change and made its effects more profoundly felt. Because of this, there is now a need to widen the debate on human-centred manufacturing systems to include broader issues such as industrial culture, international economies and global knowledge. Human Centred Systems in the Global Economy contains the proceedings of an international workshop held at Tokyo Keizai University which looked at the design of human-centred systems in the context of these technological and social changes. The workshop attracted contributions from internationally known researchers in Europe, Japan, the USA, South East Asia, Eastern Europe and the USSR. The resulting volume is unique in that it addresses the relationship of information technology to Japanese society as a whole, rather than concentrating on technical issues. The papers have been divided into three areas, covering the structure, dimensions, and policies and perspectives of the information society. Specific areas covered include: social and cultural shaping of technology, economic interdependence, technology and knowledge transfer, computer-aided design, management culture and communication technologies. Human Centred Systems in the Global Economy provides a comprehensive assessment of the debates on human-centred systems and will be of interest to people in a wide variety of disciplines including information technology, economic development, management science and related studies of social science and humanities.

This book has an important starting point in the conference held in Stockholm in May-June 1988 on Culture, Language and Artifidal Intelligence. It assembled more than 300 researchers and practitioners in the fields of technology, philosophy, history of ideas, literature, linguistics, sodal science etc. The conference was an initiative from the Swedish Center for Working Life, based on the project AI-Based Systems and the Future of Language, Knowledge and Responsibility in Professions within the COST 13 programme of the European Commission. Partidpants in the conference and researchers related to its aims were chosen to contribute to this book. It is preceded by Knowledge, Skill and Artificial Intelligence (ed. B. Göranzon and I. Josefson, Springer-Verlag, 1988), Artifidal Intelligence, Culture and Language (ed. B. Göranzon and M. Florin, Springer-Verlag, 1990) and Dialogue and Technology: Art and Knowledge (ed. B. Göranzon and M. Florin, Springer-Verlag, 1991). The two latter books have the same conference connection as this one, and their aim is to present the contours of a research field with a multitude of issues that demands thorough investigation. The contributors' thinking in this field varies greatly; so do their styles of writing. For example: contributors have varied in their choice of "he" or "helshe" for the third person. No distinc­ tion is intended, but chapters have been left with the original usage to avoid extensive changes. Similarly, individual contribu­ tor's preference as to notes or reference lists have been followed.

The intention of this book is not to add another technical work to the series of publications already available on matters connected with the relations between natural and artificial intelligence, nor to repeat the positions already well expressed in, for example, the debate between John Searle, Daniel Dennet and Hubert Dreyfus. It is an attempt to encourage philosophical reflection on dimensions of the subject that have hitherto been somewhat neglected. This book, which explores a number of case studies, is the fifth in the series, the previous four books being: (i) Knowledge, Skill and Artificial Intelligence (Bo Goranzon and Ingela Josefson (Eds. ), Springer-Verlag, London, 1988) (ii) Artificial Intelligence, Culture and Language: On Education and Work (Bo Goranzon and Magnus Florin (Eds. ), Springer­ Verlag, London, 1990) (iii) Dialogue and Technology: Art and Knowledge (Bo Goranzon and Magnus Florin (Eds. ), Springer-Verlag, London, 1991) (iv) Skill and Education: Reflection and Experience (Bo Goranzon and Magnus Florin (Eds. ), Springer-Verlag, London, 1992) An important connection between these four books is the conference on Culture, Language and Artificial Intelligence held in Stockholm in May-June, 1988. The conference was attended by more than 300 researchers and practitioners, from over 15 countries, in the fields of technology, philosophy, the history of ideas, literature and linguistics. Contributions to the books were solicited from among those who attended the conference and from researchers involved in work related to its aim.

Skill, Technology and Enlightenment: On practical Philosophy explores the problems of developing a perspective on technology and society, on the limits of enlightment, the relationship between cultural criticism and the epistemology of practical knowledge, tacit knowledge and a non-elitist conception of expertise, the role of the arts as a basis for reflection, and many other relevant topics.The 1993 international conference in Stockholm was - among other things - part of a process of building a curriculum for an international graduate programme in the area of culture, skill and technology, a process that has been under way since 1989.

There is now a serious discussion taking place about the moment at which human beings will be surpassed and replaced by the machine. On the one hand we are designing machines which embed more and more human intelligence, but at the same time we are in danger of becoming more and more like machines. In these circumstances, we all need to consider: • What can we do? • What should we do? • What are the alternatives of doing it? This book is about the human-centred alternative of designing systems and technologies. This alternative is rooted in the European tradition of human-centredness which emphasises the symbiosis of human capabilities and machine capacity. The human-centred tra­ dition celebrates the diversity of human skill and ingenuity and provides an alternative to the 'mechanistic' paradigm of 'one best way', the 'sameness of science' and the 'dream of the exact language'. This alternative vision has its origin in the founding European human-centred movements of the 1970s. These include the British movement of Socially Useful Technology, the Scandinavian move­ ment of Democratic Participation, and the German movement of Humanisation of Work and Technology. The present volume brings together various strands of human-centred systems philosophy which span the conceptual richness and cultural diversity of the human-centred movements. The core ideas of human-centredness include human-machine symbiosis, the tacit dimension of knowl­ edge, the system as a tool rather than a machine, dialogue, partici­ pation, social shaping and usability.