about technopolity

• Why is this wiki called Technopolity?

Technopolity is a blend of the words "technology," "technopolis" or "technopole" and "polity".  The Greek root techne means "art, skill, craft" and tekton, which means "builder".   A technopolis or technopole is a society or place dominated by and driven by technology industries.  Finally, a polity is  a politically organized unit or government, from Latin root politia.   Therefore, as its name implies, this wiki is intended to be a virtual place dominated by discussions of technology and how to govern our new technology-driven world.   

• Why was it created?

Technopolity was created as a focused forum for people trying to understand technology policy issues in a holistic manner.   Currently, the legal/regulatory community, the technology research and industry community and other interested constituencies have not succeeded in building a common knowledge and a common language for discourse.  Specifically, this wiki attempts to foster this interdisciplinary, international conversation.  It tries to demonstrate the interconnectedness of technology policy, law, culture and business.    This wiki is intended as a "one-stop-shop" for a legislator, judge, researcher, corporate decisionmaker, attorney or consumer trying to get a quick overview of the state of the art knowledge regarding particular technology policy issues.  Through the bibliography, pointers to further reading are provided.   Technopolity seeks to demonstrate a higher level of expertise, centralization and credibility than other currently available internet resources.

• How reliable is the content?

Most of the contributors to this wiki are students studying law and technology.   As such, our goal is to provide a heavily cited information source with extensive bibliographic information, striving for a higher level of accuracy and completeness in analysis than otherwise available online. The more subject area experts get involved, the more accurate our content will become.

• Why are some pages locked?

Some pages have been locked to prevent their destruction.  At the point where a page presents a relatively thorough discussion of the topic, it is locked by the administrator.   Until such time, pages remain open.  Should you wish to contribute content to a locked page, please contact the administator.

• How can I get involved with Technopolity?

Please contribute content to our effort by focusing on your expertise, particularly by linking up current research papers, proceedings and other resources.  If you are a lawyer or law student, please contribute content to the technology law section, particularly through linking up relevant caselaw and providing a "user-friendly" summary of cases' important holdings.   If you are a technologist, please contribute content to the technoculture and technology policy section, as well as help build the technology bibliography by linking up websites and books of interest, crossreferencing them in the appropriate policy discussion.   For example, a new study about teen internet usage should be linked up from the "bibliography" section of the wiki as well as the "child protection" section of the technology policy section and, perhaps, in the "technology equity" section if the study provides a breakdown of teen usage by gender, race or income level.