Interdisciplinary studies in science, technology, and society: “New Directions: Science, Humanities, Policy”

This introductory paper reviews the origin and context of the articles assembled in the following special issue of Technology in Society. In March 2006 a workshop on the Hurricane Katrina disaster of August 2005 in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast attempted to promote interdisciplinary deliberations that would identify contributions that the humanities might make to an understanding of the many interactions between technology and society—interactions that were at the heart of this catastrophe and thus critical to an effective, long-term response. The workshop was itself another activity in an ongoing interdisciplinary effort known as “New Directions: Science, Humanities, Policy.” This paper thus summarizes previous workshops in this project before briefly commenting on the twelve papers and their themes.