Brücken zwischen interkultureller Kommunikation und Technik

Abstract

As a result of our research realized in the framework of the Erasmus Thematic Network (ERIC) we received serious indications that neither the cultural contexts of technology, let alone intercultural issues are taken seriously in technological/scientific education and training. This is the more surprising since many technological and business failures have provided proof enough that technology does not exist independently of the cultures in which it operates. Cultural issues have an impact on the attitudes towards technology, a society's willingness to accept technological and scientific development, and even on technological development itself. While a great deal of research has been done on the social and environmental results of technological development the relevance of culture for technology and of technology for culture have been much less explored. This paper presents the outcomes of the ERIC project and starts on a theoretical analysis of the views of the relationship between science/technology and their cultural contexts, the relevance of cultural factors in technological projects and the needs for cultural sensitivity in technology. On this base we outline the frame of a further research project which will try to apply the theoretical results in higher education programs in technology and engineering. Our partner for this project will be a Master programme named Integrated Water Resource Management at the Institute for Technology in the Tropics at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, that started in autumn 2007 and which explicitly centres technology in cultural and intercultural contexts.