Editor’s Introduction
As computing technologists, we tend to think of innovations in terms of new products or services
supported by, or made of, computing technologies. But there are other types of innovation
besides products. There are process innovations, such as McDonald’s method of making
hamburgers fast; social innovations, such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving; and business
model innovations, such as Starbucks replacing a coffee shop with an Internet cafe. In all these
categories, we tend to think of innovations as new ways of doing things that positively impact
many people.
Jerry Michalski, a long-time technology and social networking analyst, wonders why we do not
pay more heed to “dark innovations”—new ways of doing things that negatively impact many
people. He finds dark innovations all around us, many facilitated by information technology.
Michalski thinks we should wake up to this phenomenon so that more do not sneak in on us. We
asked him to discuss dark innovation.
Peter