IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021 - 3

President's Message
Something in Common
Clinton J. Andrews
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA
 A community is a group of people who share
something in common, so what do we share in the
IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology
(IEEE SSIT)? We do not share a particular geographic
location, native language, religion, culture,
academic discipline, or profession. Perhaps, we better
fit the dictionary's secondary definition of community,
by having a sense of fellowship because we
share common goals. If so, what are those goals?
Our governing board has been asking these
questions as part of a strategic planning effort. Our
motivating vision is for humans to understand technology's
power and mobilize it only for good. Our
emerging mission is to enhance awareness and
understanding of technology's complex relationship
with society by cultivating a recognized global
community that engages with today's most pressing
technological challenges and opportunities. Do
you share some of that vision and mission? Please
let us know.
A distinguishing feature of viable communities is
that their members interact. Territorial communities
interact easily because members are physically near
one another, whereas relational communities can
interact through other types of networked ties not
bounded by geography [1]. IEEE has long observed
this distinction by organizing both regional activities
and technical activities.
Distance frictions have been shrinking, especially
due to the pandemic-fueled adoption of videoconferencing
tools. The distinction between regional
(territorial) and technical (relational) communities
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2021.3123740
Date of current version: 7 December 2021.
December 2021
has also shrunk. Chapters are the sweet spot in this
story because they are simultaneously regional and
technical groups. Live-streamed local meetings now
get shared internationally, and international conference
events get watched and discussed locally,
as do publications. For many years, chapters were
neglected by the society leadership, but that is no
longer the case. There has been much chapter
development activity in recent years. Please attend a
chapter meeting-or launch a new chapter!
Establishing a sense of community depends on
elements of membership (a feeling of belonging),
influence (making a difference to other members),
reinforcement (fulfillment of needs), and a shared
emotional connection [2]. How is SSIT doing on
each of these elements?
Membership, that feeling of belonging, depends
on establishing boundaries to ensure intimacy and
a sense of emotional safety that encourages a personal
investment and development of a shared identity
and language, according to psychologists [2].
My experience of SSIT is that we neither have nor
want boundaries, so that any feeling of belonging
may derive from another source, such as a shared
worldview. Thus, we struggle with membership-we
often explain who we are (a cross-cutting society)
by referring to who we are not (a technical society).
Perhaps, we should redefine ourselves to be the
home of the " science " of assessing the social implications
of technology. We could establish this as an
attractive core interest even if the boundaries of the
field are porous. Where do you think our boundaries
(or core) should be?
Influence, our ability to make a difference to others,
depends ironically on both our openness to one
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2021

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