IEEE Technology and Society Magazine

The Amish believe that their society and their technology are inextricably intertwined. In an effort to maintain and protect their community of believers, therefore, the Amish require that every technology they use not only conforms to, but reinforces their tradition, culture, and religion. They achieve these goals through two primary techniques. First they choose technologies that they believe wi... View full abstract»

Authentication in a Web environment is severely constrained by a minimal expectation of an infrastructure made up of software, hardware, and operator expertise. The traditional mechanism, passwords, is outliving its usefulness in the Web arena. This article presents results from a field test of a graphical authentication system called DynaHand, which utilizes biometrics, i.e. human handwriting rec... View full abstract»

The term "wireless world" has been used in the literature to describe a state where wireless mobile communication devices become a dominant part of our working and non-working lives. This article adopts the term "wireless world" to contain all the components of a society where electronic communication no longer depends on the availability of wired connections. To be sure, moving toward a wireless ... View full abstract»

This study explores how particular communication behaviors influence women's experience of the CS classroom in the United States. In particular, it investigates the correlation between students' perceived gender similarities with others in the CS discipline or homophily, their feelings about the closeness and openness of communication between people or immediacy, the resulting presence or absence ... View full abstract»

Particular focus of this article will be managing the environmental risks and benefits of nanotechnology. Currently, U.S. federal agencies do not actively regulate nanotechnology, but they have begun to assess its implications. This article attempts to assess the challenges that nanomaterials pose to the existing regulatory framework, and make recommendations for revisions, using a detailed case-s... View full abstract»