Sustainable and fast ICT: lessons from dromology

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to suggest that ethical issues in information and communications technology (ICT) should be researched from a holistic perspective, including environmental values and other values inherent in ICT. This paper thoroughly discusses the value of speed by drawing on ICT advertisements and theories of speed, primarily Paul Virilio’s work.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology consists of a semiotic analysis of ICT-related advertisements primarily from Sweden. These empirical data are combined with a close reading of Paul Virilio’s work, and the analysis moves abductively between theory and empirical data.

Findings

Speed is promoted in ICT-related advertisements and may be analyzed using concepts of dromology, dromocracy, dromoscopy, the dromosphere, instantaneity and grey ecology.

Research limitations/implications

Most of the data are from the Swedish context.

Social implications

To create a sustainable society, one must explicitly discuss how speed forms and shapes society.

Originality/value

The paper combines philosophical theories with everyday commercials. It draws on the work of Paul Virilio, whose theories are seldom used in studies of information ethics, and redraws attention to the need for a holistic perspective to understand the values of ICT.

Citation

Taro Lennerfors, T. (2014), "Sustainable and fast ICT: lessons from dromology", Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 284-297. https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-09-2013-0037