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The increasing mechanization and digitalization of all areas of society raises questions about the social causes and consequences of these processes, but also about the designability and controllability of technological development. As human and technical actors become increasingly intertwined, both can only be comprehensively understood by jointly considering a technical and social perspective. Not least in the course of new forms of autonomous technology, the interactions between the two elements must therefore be understood and analyzed as a socio-technical system.
After an introduction to the perspective of socio-technical research, technology acceptance and trust in autonomous technology will be treated as essential concepts and starting points for further analysis. This seminar will focus on three central aspects of increasing technologization and digitalization. Firstly, the increasing generation, accumulation and processing of large amounts of data (big data) in the context of increased use of digital services in everyday life will be examined. Secondly, current technological trends in the economy and society are examined using the example of a changing world of work (Industry 4.0, cyber-physical systems). Economic and individual opportunities and risks play a central role in both aspects. Economic and individual opportunities and risks play a central role in both aspects. Thirdly, concepts of socio-technical change are dealt with, which show potential design options, for example for the energy or transport transition (electromobility).

The seminar gives students of all disciplines the opportunity to deal with issues at the interface between engineering and social sciences. They will be able to assess the interactions between humans and technology and utilize them for their respective specialist perspective. They are thus able to classify the technical and social challenges of increasing mechanization and to meet them accordingly.