Franz Foltz
Biographic Data
| ID | 6501668 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Franz Foltz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Franz |
| FAMILY NAME | Foltz |
| SIGNATURE | FOLTZ F |
| AFFILIATIONS | Rochester Institute of Technology |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Word, Words, Words
The authors explore how technique via propaganda has replaced the word with images creating a mass society and limiting the ability of people to act as individuals. They begin by looking at how words affect human society and how they have changed over time. They explore how technology has altered the meaning of words in order to create a more efficient world. Words become disconnected from time and space through the use of timeless images. The in…
Charity in a Technological Society
Over the past 2,000 years, the concept of charity has moved from the personal care of the poor mandated by religious conviction to a multibillion dollar business. The culture of technological efficiency helped create this transformation. The authors explore the origins of charity and show how technology has drastically altered its form and function
In Memoriam
Demographics and Political Characteristics Affecting State Legislature Websites
The quality of state legislature Websites has been found to vary considerably across the 50 states. This study found Website quality to be principally related to demographic variables of household Internet access, percent below poverty, per capita income, high school education or higher, and voting in the 2000 election. Political variables such as legislative staff per capita, levels of party competition, and legislative professionalism were less…
Cyberdemocracy and Online Politics
Building on McMillan's two-way model of interactivity, this study presents a three-way model of interactive communication, which is used to assess political Web sites' progress toward the ideals of cyberdemocracy and the fostering of public deliberation. Results of a 3-year study of state legislature Web sites, an analysis of the community networks, and a review of purely political sites such as MoveOn.org, RNC.org, and DNC.org are reported. Litt…
Community Networks and Public Participation
Forums of public discussion on Internet Web sites have been promoted by some as having the potential to improve democracy through large increases in civic engagement. Such claims are scoffed at by others. To date, such forums tend to be found more on community networks and commercial Web sites than on sites owned by governments. We thus turn to an examination of forums hosted by a private New Jersey organization, to seek to understand the types a…
Technology, Religion, and Justice
In this article, the authors explore how technology has helped erode society’s conceptions of justice. Law, via juridification, has replaced the concept of justice with one of efficiency. The authors argue that this has been largely a result of the destruction of society’s common story or vision and the introduction of the computer and the Internet as tools enabling technique to replace that story. They offer a perspective on how justice operated…
The Internet and Public Participation
The interactive nature of the Internet is seen by some as a technological innovation that might boost participation in politics and civic affairs. That potential, however, is clouded by imprecise definitions of interactivity found among scholars and practitioners alike. Evaluation of state legislature Web sites found them to not be very interactive under most definitions of the term. Chief technology officers of the legislatures appear to differ …
The Search for Trust
Modern technology, and information technology in particular, has changed the nature of human interaction, which has created a certain “disease” as more and more transactions move from the familiarity of traditional community to the abstractness of modern society. This article explores two studies of trust that emerged in the past decade as a result of this “disease.” The first, rational choice, redefines trust as a risk management tool. The secon…
Interactivity Versus Interaction
The Internet, not unlike previous communication technologies, has been predicted to dramatically change the nature of democracy. The interactive nature of Web sites, in particular, is seen as the basis for a new cyberdemocracy. Although the definition of interactivity is less than precise, an evaluation of state legislature Web sites finds them lacking many features that could be considered interactive. Furthermore, the degree of a site’s interac…
Religion on the Internet
There is considerable controversy concerning the ability of the Internet to provide communal experiences. This article looks at the ability of the World Wide Web to foster religious community, particularly from a Christian perspective. It looks at the nature of religion and community and shows to what extent the Internet has and has not been successful in recreating religious community. It looks at the reaction of two particular groups of users a…
The Politics of State Legislature Web Sites
Web sites of the 50 state legislatures are evaluated on five criteria: content, usability, interactivity, transparency, and audience. An overall quality score for each site was computed. The evaluation revealed a wide range of quality in the sites, including that of features or aspects that could possibly foster citizen participation. The higher rated sites help define “best practices” in this regard and provide suggestions as to how other states…
The Ups and Downs of Peer Review
Although peer review provides the primary mechamism for allocating research funds, very few people have undertaken any serious study of the issue. Most of the literature surrounding peer review comes from individuals who have experienced specific problems with the system. The one detail that does stand out is that though policy makers and researchers seem to view peer review as a specific process, no single form exists. In fact, almost agency and…
Science, Pollution, and Clean Drinking Water
Focusing on the recent explosion in the use of bottled water, this article—originally written for my NASTS conference presentation—will examine the rhetoric used by the bottled water industry and home purification system providers to affect the public’s idea of clean, pure, dirty, and polluted water. Bottlers argue that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides better regulation of bottled water than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA…
Five Arguments for Increasing Public Participation in Making Science Policy
In this article, the author, after describing the technocratic nature of the current science policy process, presents five arguments for changing it into a more participatory one. All five arguments draw on different sectors of the STS endeavor—both high and low church—to show why increased public involvement would benefit science. The first argues that the degree of potential harm from science-based technology demands greater accountability. The…
A Half Century of Peer Review, 1946-1996 . Richard Mandel
Demographics and Political Characteristics Affecting State Legislature Websites
The quality of state legislature Websites has been found to vary considerably across the 50 states. This study found Website quality to be principally related to demographic variables of household Internet access, percent below poverty, per capita income, high school education or higher, and voting in the 2000 election. Political variables such as legislative staff per capita, levels of party competition, and legislative professionalism were less…
A Half Century of Peer Review, 1946-1996 . Richard Mandel
Science, Pollution, and Clean Drinking Water
Focusing on the recent explosion in the use of bottled water, this article—originally written for my NASTS conference presentation—will examine the rhetoric used by the bottled water industry and home purification system providers to affect the public’s idea of clean, pure, dirty, and polluted water. Bottlers argue that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provides better regulation of bottled water than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA…
Five Arguments for Increasing Public Participation in Making Science Policy
In this article, the author, after describing the technocratic nature of the current science policy process, presents five arguments for changing it into a more participatory one. All five arguments draw on different sectors of the STS endeavor—both high and low church—to show why increased public involvement would benefit science. The first argues that the degree of potential harm from science-based technology demands greater accountability. The…
The Ups and Downs of Peer Review
Although peer review provides the primary mechamism for allocating research funds, very few people have undertaken any serious study of the issue. Most of the literature surrounding peer review comes from individuals who have experienced specific problems with the system. The one detail that does stand out is that though policy makers and researchers seem to view peer review as a specific process, no single form exists. In fact, almost agency and…
Religion on the Internet
There is considerable controversy concerning the ability of the Internet to provide communal experiences. This article looks at the ability of the World Wide Web to foster religious community, particularly from a Christian perspective. It looks at the nature of religion and community and shows to what extent the Internet has and has not been successful in recreating religious community. It looks at the reaction of two particular groups of users a…
The Politics of State Legislature Web Sites
Web sites of the 50 state legislatures are evaluated on five criteria: content, usability, interactivity, transparency, and audience. An overall quality score for each site was computed. The evaluation revealed a wide range of quality in the sites, including that of features or aspects that could possibly foster citizen participation. The higher rated sites help define “best practices” in this regard and provide suggestions as to how other states…
The Internet and Public Participation
The interactive nature of the Internet is seen by some as a technological innovation that might boost participation in politics and civic affairs. That potential, however, is clouded by imprecise definitions of interactivity found among scholars and practitioners alike. Evaluation of state legislature Web sites found them to not be very interactive under most definitions of the term. Chief technology officers of the legislatures appear to differ …
The Search for Trust
Modern technology, and information technology in particular, has changed the nature of human interaction, which has created a certain “disease” as more and more transactions move from the familiarity of traditional community to the abstractness of modern society. This article explores two studies of trust that emerged in the past decade as a result of this “disease.” The first, rational choice, redefines trust as a risk management tool. The secon…
Interactivity Versus Interaction
The Internet, not unlike previous communication technologies, has been predicted to dramatically change the nature of democracy. The interactive nature of Web sites, in particular, is seen as the basis for a new cyberdemocracy. Although the definition of interactivity is less than precise, an evaluation of state legislature Web sites finds them lacking many features that could be considered interactive. Furthermore, the degree of a site’s interac…
Community Networks and Public Participation
Forums of public discussion on Internet Web sites have been promoted by some as having the potential to improve democracy through large increases in civic engagement. Such claims are scoffed at by others. To date, such forums tend to be found more on community networks and commercial Web sites than on sites owned by governments. We thus turn to an examination of forums hosted by a private New Jersey organization, to seek to understand the types a…
Technology, Religion, and Justice
In this article, the authors explore how technology has helped erode society’s conceptions of justice. Law, via juridification, has replaced the concept of justice with one of efficiency. The authors argue that this has been largely a result of the destruction of society’s common story or vision and the introduction of the computer and the Internet as tools enabling technique to replace that story. They offer a perspective on how justice operated…
Cyberdemocracy and Online Politics
Building on McMillan's two-way model of interactivity, this study presents a three-way model of interactive communication, which is used to assess political Web sites' progress toward the ideals of cyberdemocracy and the fostering of public deliberation. Results of a 3-year study of state legislature Web sites, an analysis of the community networks, and a review of purely political sites such as MoveOn.org, RNC.org, and DNC.org are reported. Litt…
Demographics and Political Characteristics Affecting State Legislature Websites
The quality of state legislature Websites has been found to vary considerably across the 50 states. This study found Website quality to be principally related to demographic variables of household Internet access, percent below poverty, per capita income, high school education or higher, and voting in the 2000 election. Political variables such as legislative staff per capita, levels of party competition, and legislative professionalism were less…
Charity in a Technological Society
Over the past 2,000 years, the concept of charity has moved from the personal care of the poor mandated by religious conviction to a multibillion dollar business. The culture of technological efficiency helped create this transformation. The authors explore the origins of charity and show how technology has drastically altered its form and function
In Memoriam
Word, Words, Words
The authors explore how technique via propaganda has replaced the word with images creating a mass society and limiting the ability of people to act as individuals. They begin by looking at how words affect human society and how they have changed over time. They explore how technology has altered the meaning of words in order to create a more efficient world. Words become disconnected from time and space through the use of timeless images. The in…
Political science (13 works) · Computer Science (12 works) · Law (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Social Media and Politics (8 works) · The Internet (8 works) · World Wide Web (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · E-Government and Public Services (5 works)