Who shapes the future?: problem framings and the development of handheld computers

How can computer professionals shape the future of new computingtechnologies? Using the recent history of handheld computers as anexample, this paper investigates how computer professionals canshape the future by helping to define what new technologies shouldbe. Computer professionals can play a variety of roles in creating,maintaining, and questioning problem framings, or the basicassumptions about what problem a new technology is trying to solve.In addition to political activism and professional ethics, computerprofessionals need to reflect on the process of defining newtechnological directions, and how they can help shape technologydevelopment into outcomes they believe in.