Title of Book: Practical Wisdom in the Age of Technology: Insights, Issues and Questions for a New Millennium
Publisher: Gower Publishing UK
Series: The Practical Wisdom in Leadership and Organization Series
Editors: Nikunj Dalal, Ali Intezari, Marty Heitz
Link: http://www.ashgate.com/default.aspx?page=638&series_id=622&calcTitle=1&forthcoming=1
Chapter proposal Submission Deadline: April 30, 2014, 1-2 pages
Proposals invited from researchers and practitioners

Background and Purpose of the Book

This book aims to stimulate thought-provoking dialogue and critical reflection on a variety of themes linking technology and practical wisdom. The dramatic recent advances and emergent trends in technologies have raised many new, vital and interesting questions and dilemmas for organizational leadership such as: are modern technologies beneficial or problematic for the well- being of individuals, organizations, and societies at large? Why do we seem to feel more disconnected in an age of technological connectivity? How can organizations reduce technology-induced stresses and find ways to enable the mindful use of technologies? How can organizations, governments, and societies manage the use of technologies wisely? Such questions can yield significant insights, increase awareness of the issues, deepen the dialogue and help redesign what is increasingly a technology-driven future.

Why practical wisdom? In recent times, we have seen financial crises, wars, political instabilities, unsustainable, ecological calamities and societal problems of all kinds, some of them unprecedented in scale and complexity, all calling for wise and responsive leadership. At the same time, we have created revolutionary technological tools that can either be significant enablers of human potential or can devastate the planet in more ways than one. Rather than the technology itself, it seems to be 'technology-in-practice' that requires urgent and meticulous attention. There is a need for improved trans- disciplinary understanding of a) the role of wisdom in a technology-driven world, and b) the design and impact of technologies in a world crying out for wisdom. Practical wisdom draws from all sources--including scientific knowledge--and is concerned with responding to modern challenges creatively, wisely, mindfully, and proactively. As a focal area of study, wisdom research is increasingly attracting interdisciplinary interest from other academic fields and disciplines, such as management, leadership, psychology, sociology, gerontology, biology, neurosciences, marketing, health, and medicine. A bibliography of wisdom can be found at: http://www.wisdompage.com/Trowbridge2010Bibliography.pdf.

What are some emerging trends in this area? Practical wisdom is intricately connected to many needs of contemporary organizations in areas such as knowledge management, problem finding and problem solving in the face of uncertainty, systems thinking, judgment and decision making, group support, analytics, modeling, social networks, cyber-crimes, and artificial intelligence among others. Many technology leaders and academics have called for a real need to progress from our current focus on data, information, and knowledge to understanding, intelligence and ultimately to wisdom. Wisdom is seen as the pinnacle of the data-information-knowledge-wisdom (DIKW) pyramid and other similar models that are widely cited in the information systems literature but such a categorization is only one aspect of what seems to be a multi-faceted relationship with technology. Scholars and practitioners are exploring many other attributes of practical wisdom such as intelligence, empathy, mindfulness, authenticity, leadership, creativity, problem-solving pragmatics, ethics, and awareness. These are suggested, for example, by research on the isolating effects and stresses associated with technology use, or mindfulness practices increasingly used by technology companies, or Internet-based efforts to tap the wisdom of the crowd (crowd-sourcing), and in the emergence of conferences such as Wisdom 2.0 and projects such as the Chicago wisdom project.

Target audience

This book hopes to be among the first of its kind on wisdom and technology that will provide a foundation for exploration, inquiry, engagement, reflection, dialogue, and discussion among organizational leaders, technology professionals, information systems academicians, wisdom researchers, managers, philosophers of technology, and other practitioners. The book will have an interdisciplinary flavor representing the collective wisdom of diverse and deep perspectives.

Potential topics

Suggested topics and questions include but are not limited to the following:

The promise and the folly of technological solutionism:
• Can we critically question the implicit belief that technologies are a panacea for societal problems?
• Is our understanding of technology narrow-minded, instrumentalist, and primarily driven by utilitarian ends?
• What sorts of problems can technologies best address and for what issues may technological solutions be limited or limiting in significant ways?
• What kinds of new issues do technological solutions create?

Wisdom management:
• How can we design, build, implement and use technologies for consciously discovering, creating, sharing, and supporting wisdom in individuals, organizations, and societies?
• What are the implications of such systems in practice?
• To what extent can existing research on decision support systems and knowledge management be leveraged for wisdom management?
• Is wisdom the culminating point of a progression of data, information, knowledge and wisdom?
• Can technologies enable deeper dialogues between and among individuals and groups?

Interdisciplinary, trans-disciplinary and integral understanding of the nature of wisdom in a technology-driven world:
• What are the practical implications of wisdom theories and perspectives in a technological context?
• How do Western and Eastern wisdom traditions, theologies, and spiritual approaches impact our relationship with and use of technologies?
• Mindful living with and connected by technologies for personal, professional, and societal well-being
• How can we critically understand technology-induced stresses, work-life balance and technology addiction?
• Do technologies have a role to play in mediating practical wisdom, reducing technology induced stresses, and improving mindfulness?

Organizations and technologies:
• How do we understand emerging leadership practices and paradigms such as learning organizations, inquiring organizations, communities of practice and personal knowledge management?
• How can we go beyond mere ethical frameworks to include wisdom?
• What new organizational forms may be needed in a technology-driven world?
• How may leadership integrate knowledge, truth, and reality?
• How can technology facilitate reflexivity in leadership?

Philosophy of technology and applications of philosophies to a technology-based world:
• Is it possible to do more and more (with the help of technologies) yet actually do less and less existentially? How do we understand such implicit paradoxes and ironies of a technological life?
• How does the phenomenology of technology and Heidegger’s or post-phenomenological critiques of enframing technology apply in this context?
• What is the status of
techne in relation to phronesis?
• How can technologies be developed and implemented through an integrative contribution of phronesis, sophia, and episteme? How can organizations and professional leaders benefit from the technology?
• Technological wisdom and ethics of technology
• What does it mean to be human in a world of computer artifacts such as cyborgs and robots?

Understanding new and emergent phenomena:
• How can we critically understand new phenomena emerging in a technology-driven world? This may include Internet addiction, technological biases, virtual communities and cyberspaces, self-image and social media, cultural anxieties, crowd sourcing, excessive gaming, mobile phone obsession, cyber-crimes, cyber-cultures, humanoid robots, crypto-technologies and currencies such as Bitcoin, and others.

Technology, wisdom, and learning:
• Can wisdom be taught (as we teach ethics) in management schools?
• How can issues dealing with wisdom and technology be discussed and incorporated in educational curricula?

Publisher

Founded in 1967 Gower is recognized as one of the world's leading publishers of specialist business and management books and resources. Gower's publishing program covers many of the main business processes and functions and they are continuously developing new titles. The book is anticipated to be available in Spring 2015.

The Process
The editors invite potential authors to submit a 1-2 page double-spaced chapter proposal with the following:
1. Description of the chapter content
2. Tentative outline of chapter
3. Author’s background/expertise in wisdom and/or technology

Authors may submit a draft chapter in lieu of the proposal.
The proposal should be submitted by email to any of the editors (see email addresses below).
Submitters of accepted proposals agree to serve as reviewers of book chapters.

Important Dates
April 30, 2014: 1-2 page Proposal or draft chapter due
May 15, 2014: Notification of Acceptance
July 30, 2014: Full Chapter Submission
September 30, 2014 (Revised): Review Feedback from Editors
November 15, 2014 (Revised): Final Chapter Submission

Inquiries and submission
Inquiries and submissions can be sent to any of the editors based on your discipline.

Nik Dalal, Ph.D. (nik@okstate.edu)
Department of Management Science and Information Systems
Spears School of Business
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74075
USA
Phone: (405) 744-8618

Ali Intezari, Ph.D. (a.intezari@massey.ac.nz)
School of Management
Massey University
Auckland 0745
New Zealand
Phone: +64 9 4140800 ex. 43410

Marty Heitz, Ph.D. (marty.heitz@okstate.edu)
Department of Philosophy
Spears School of Business
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74075
USA
Phone: (405) 744-9235