ICTs, Values and Social Change: The Case of Canadian Democracy

Abstract

Internet and communication technologies (ICTs) are revolutionising how people communicate and connect. While these have catalyzed calls for increasing societal change, social messages, not the technologies, motivate these actions. This paper will use the case study of Canada and the application of ICTs to argue why they are no less likely to support social change in modern economies than any previous technology. Drawing on examples of federal policy changes in Canada, the paper will argue ICTs and social media can be used to suppress democracy, undermine science and expand social impacts, even where they are intended to specifically address those problems. The paper will then discuss the roles of values in social change to argue that ICTs and social media are influenced by larger societal forces and that these are often better predictors of outcomes than the application of any one technology for social change.