Reflexivity

In recent months, I have been thinking about the idea of reflexivity. The term originates in sociological research and it refers to the effects of researcher on the society being studied. (Basically the researcher affects the society, and so any observations must be interpreted in a manner that recognizes the research did influence the observations.)

Some technology scholars have begun using the idea to think about technology in the world. In this research, scholars seek to understand how information technology influences our understanding of thee "things" we do. For example, scholars are researching how information technology is reflexively influencing how humans perceive banking and our expectations of how we access and manage our money and information about our money.

I am thinking we need to start looking at the reflexive interactions between information technology and the way we use information technology. We can see how new technologies emerge from changes in technology itself and in changes in how humans use technologies. We can think of these as "industry push" and "market pull."

I have been using this graphic to illustrate reflexivity:

As we consider the future of our schools, these reflexive influences must become a more important part of our thinking. Information and computer technology is changing how we interact with others and how we access, manage, and create information. Relevant schools will be reflexive schools.