Infocommunication technologies as catalysers of scientific and social development

L’dia J.Oliveira Loureiro da Silva, A.Manuel de Oliveira Duarte,

Dept of Communication and Arts and Dept of Electronics and Telecommunications, University of Aveiro, Portugal

This article deals with the following questions: i) How do infocommunication technologies influence the transfer of knowledge from the scientific and academic communities to the socio-territorial systems in which they are implanted? ii)What kind of stimulus does a social community with a higher degree of scientific culture impart upon the "agenda setting" of the scientific and academic communities?

A central issue in this study is the idea of "double epistemological rupture" as proposed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos (1989). This proposal states that post-modern science can not progress divorced from common sense as defended by G. Bachelard (1971,1972) ("first epistemological rupture"). Accepting this idea and the ever increasing role that infocommunication technologies play in present day life it is therefore necessary to understand how these technologies and the services that they provide could be the basis for new forms of approximation between the "sanctuaries of science" (universities, research laboratories and the scientific and academic community at large) and the general public. Following upon this line of reasoning it is also possible to argue that this interpenetration and interaction between the scientific and academic community and the socio-territorial systems in which it is integrated provides a fertile ground for the formation of an enlightened common sense, capable of fostering the level of public participation in the life of modern societies. In addition, this enlightened common sense should also play a central role in the development of a conscious and critical minded scientific community (Morin,s/d)




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