History of CITS
"The Center for Information Technology and Society (CITS) was founded with the goal of promoting research at UCSB into the human and societal dimensions of information technology. The premise of the Center is that in coming decades, the use of new information technologies will produce profound changes in the way people live, work, and interact. For societies to understand these changes and to make wise choices about them will require a concerted effort among researchers in virtually every field of the academy.
"The Center emerged from a set of conversations in 1998 about how best to advance the already considerable expertise at UCSB on matters of technology and society. It was clear that faculty in many disciplines were working on related topics – but largely in isolation from one another. The campus’s record of highly successful multi-disciplinary collaboration in other areas – materials science, environmental studies, and marine science, to name just a few – suggested that the idea of drawing closer together faculty and students with an interest in information technology was promising.
"Conversations about initiating a new unit at UCSB in this area included an intriguing mix of faculty and administrators that would later be reflected in the mission and structure of the Center: Kevin Almeroth from computer science, Bruce Bimber from political science, Andrew Flanagin from communication, Alan Liu from English, Dean of Social Sciences Ed Donnerstein, Acting Dean of Engineering Gene Lucas, ISBER Director Rich Appelbaum, Vice Chancellor for Research France Cordova, and Chancellor Yang. A large part of the impetus for these discussions was interest in supporting the initiative from Chuck House, Vice President for Research at Dialogic Corporation and former Director of Corporate Engineering at Hewlett-Packard. The consensus of the group was that UCSB possessed an uncommonly strong mix of talent in human dimensions of information technology, and that new collaborations and activities on campus held much promise for advancing the state of knowledge as well as the university’s standing. With a financial gift from Dialogic (now part of Intel) and letters of support from a dozen faculty, CITS came into being in the summer of 1999 as a unit of the UCSB Office of Research, administered within the Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research.
"The Center’s approach to the human dimensions of technology has been multidisciplinary in the very broadest sense. Its steering committee includes faculty from Engineering, the Social Sciences, and the Humanities, and the Center’s activities and support of research encompass more than a dozen disciplines at UCSB. CITS’s intellectual mission falls under four headings dealing with information technology: organizations; learning; society and democracy; and culture. In these areas it provides research funding, sponsors lectures and meetings, and promotes dialogue and new collaborations."
