mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06TATuP is a peer reviewed and diamond open access journal, both online and in print. It covers the interdisciplinary field of technology assessment (TA). TATuP is owned, funded, managed, and edited by @ITAS@social.kit.edu.
Out now: TATuP 35/2 (2026) “Science fiction and technology assessment.” 🛸
#Sciencefiction authors shape visions of the future, inspire technological developments, and help reflect on social injustices.
The new Special topic shows how technology assessment can benefit from the perspectives offered by the literary genre.
Read the full issue #OpenAccess
➡️ https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/en/issue/view/188
Many thanks 🙏 to our special topic editors & to all the authors!
Does the TA community need to reflect on its role in assessing the impacts and repercussions of weapons technology?
The guest editors of the current special topic on future warfare, argue that TA cannot stand aside and ignore the challenges posed by rapid change in international relations.
Article "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly":
➡️ https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.7305
Full issue "TA and future warfare":
➡️https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/issue/view/186
#technologyassessment #warfare #dualuse @KIT_Karlsruhe@social.kit.edu
🌀 Toward deep assessments: On the possibility of decolonial digital technologies
Considering the coloniality of current digital tools and their increasingly massive global social and ecological impacts, Dorian Cavé and Rainer Rehak from @Weizenbaum_Institut@social.bund.de explore the question of what socio-cultural assemblages can contribute to deep civilizational transformations.
➡️ Read the full article #openaccess here:
https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/7227/12152
Out now and just in time for the festive season: ❄️🎄 TATuP's winter issue 2025 "Deeply sustainable technologies: Beyond extractivism, exploitation, and exclusion" 34/3 (2025)
The new TATuP Special topic brings together contributions that scrutinize the feasibility of deeply sustainable socio-technical innovations.
Find all articles #openaccess at ➡️ https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/issue/view/185
#technologyassessment #convivialtechnology #deepsustainability #solidarity #care @KIT_Karlsruhe@social.kit.edu @technikfolgen@mastodon.social @ITAS@social.kit.edu
Out now: TATuP's summer issue 2025 "Beyond short-termism: Strategies and perspectives for the long-term governance of socio-technical change" 34/2 (2025)
Find all articles #openaccess at ➡️ https://tatup.de/index.php/tatup/issue/view/184 published by oekom verlag.
Many thanks to our special topic editors Stefania Sardo, Sophie Kuppler and Dirk Scheer from @ITAS_KIT@xn--baw-joa.social & to all the authors. 🙏
#technologyassessment
#longtermgovernance
@KIT_Karlsruhe@mastodon.social
📣 Call for Abstracts: „Generative AI at the workplace: Challenges and implications for knowledge-intensive work”
The Special topic of issue 36/1 (2027) is guest edited by Linda Nierling, Reinhard Heil, and Felix Gnisa from @ITAS@social.kit.edu / @KIT_Karlsruhe@social.kit.edu together with Britta Kirchhoff and and Ulrike Rösler from the Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin (BAuA).
📅 Submit your abstract by 19 March 2026!
➡️ Further information: https://tatup.de/index.php/tatup/announcement/view/69
Artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and the new geopolitics of security: Why technology assessment must engage in emerging military technologies
In his research article, Thomas Reinhold, from the Research Department of International Security and the Cluster Natural and Technical Science Arms Control (CNTR), examines the accelerating militarization of emerging technologies, particularly AI and semiconductors.
Read the full article #openaccess here:
➡️https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/7248/12245
The fifth episode of “TATuP Talk - the Technology Assessment Podcast” is out now! ✨
This episode features Karen Kastenhofer, Astrid Schwarz, Krishna Ravi Srinivas, and Andrea Vetter, the guest researchers of TATuP Vol. 34, No. 3 (2025) "Are deeply sustainable technologies possible?".
The TATuP Talk is hosted by Leonie Seng, Academic Editor of TATuP.
➡️ Listen to the podcast here:
https://youtu.be/_UnI1tK5PQ4
➡️ Find all articles of the issue #openaccess here:
https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/issue/view/185
Technology assessment in ‘imperialist ruins’?: Towards solidarity, conviviality, and care 👥 🌿
In the introduction to the new TATuP Special topic, Karen Kastenhofer, Astrid Schwarz, Krishna Ravi Srinivas, and Andrea Vetter raise the important question of whether we need to reconsider TA scholarship and institutions in light of deeply acknowledged values such as human-ecological sufficiency, solidarity, conviviality, and care.
➡️ Read the full introduction here:
https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup
Military force or the threat thereof is increasingly shaping international relations – and technology plays a key role in this. The current TATuP Special topic examines how TA can address this development.
Read the full issue 35/1 (2026) "Technology assessment and future warfare":
➡️ https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/issue/view/186
Many thanks 🙏 to our special topic editors & to all the authors!
#technologyassessment #warfare, #dualuse @ITAS@social.kit.edu @KIT_Karlsruhe@social.kit.edu
TATuP Interview: Technology, capitalism, and conviviality
In the current TATuP interview, researcher Mario Pansera explores the complex relationship between capitalism, sustainability, and technology. According to Pansera, true transformation requires democratic engagement and collective decision-making about the kind of society we want, with technology serving as a means – not the driver – of that vision. 🌿 👥
➡️ Read the full interview #openaccess here:
https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.7271
Whose future?: Epistemic challenges to the collective ‘we’ in long term-governance 💭
In his article, Martin Boehnert provides a critical examination of the epistemic foundations of long-term governance (LTG), focusing particularly on its underlying assumptions regarding temporality, collective agency and the perception of issues that influence governance practices.
Read the full article #openaccess here:
➡️https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/7205/12128
Science is under pressure in many parts of the world. What about institutionalized TA in the U.S.? 🗽 🇺🇸
Karen L. Howard, Director of Science, Technology Assessment, and Analytics (STAA) at the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), told us about their approach to coping with current developments – and provided some exciting insights into her view of TA by answering the rest of our "5️⃣ questions".
➡️ https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/7232/12140
#TechnologyAssessment #GlobalTA #PolicyAdvice #oekom @KIT_Karlsruhe@social.kit.edu
Navigating the future: Strategies for the long-term governance of socio-technical change 🌍
In the introduction to the new TATuP Special topic Stefania Sardo, Sophie Kuppler and Dirk Scheer highlight the importance of long-term governance (LTG), which addresses complex, enduring socio-technical challenges such as climate change and nuclear waste management.
➡️ Read the full article #openaccess here:
https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/issue/view/184
An approach for prioritizing types of TA-knowledge for long-term governance of mobility 🚘
Jens Schippl emphasizes that a transparent and comprehensible selection of TA methods is crucial, particularly for long-term strategic decisions that can impact the trajectory of socio-technical transitions. Thus, he proposes a typology of innovations in the mobility sector to justify and legitimize prioritizing TA knowledge and methods.
Read the full article #openaccess here:
➡️https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/7220/12120
Prognostic uncertainty and accountability, moral uncertainty and ‘value lock-in’: Three epistemological challenges for long-term governance and their ethical implications 💭
In his article, Tobias Hainz discusses long-term governance from an epistemological and ethical perspective. He focuses on three epistemological challenges for long-term governance and their profound ethical implications.
Read the full article #openaccess here:
➡️https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/7204/12125
In the latest TATuP interview, psychologist Harald Schaub delves into the various facets of technology assessment (TA). As AI blurs the boundaries between civil and military spheres, Schaub argues that TA must evolve into a trust-building tool that bridges the gap between science, policy, and defense psychology.
The conversation was conducted by one of the editors of this issue’s special topic: Markus Bresinsky.
➡️ Read the full interview #openaccess here:
https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/de/issue/view/186
“Science fiction in UK Advanced Air Mobility innovation: Conceptual resource and sensemaking tool” 🚀
In his research article, Will Mason-Wilkes addresses the question of how popular culture and the media influence the ‘imaginaries’ of Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), shaping the functionality, design, and positioning of these technologies within the UK.
➡️ Read the full article #openaccess here:
https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.7277
“Anticipating sociotechnical and ethical challenges of future digital mental health technologies: A case for applied science fiction” 🚀
In their article, C. Aicardi, S. Oram, Z. Firth and H. Fisher consider the use of applied science fiction (SF) in anticipating the sociotechnical and ethical challenges posed by future digital mental health technologies.
Read the full article #openaccess here:
https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.7276
"Exploring technologies through imaginary worlds: At the intersection of science fiction and technology assessment"🪐
In their introduction to the special topic on science fiction and technology assessment (TA), guest editors Wenzel Mehnert, Dr. Isabella Hermann, Andreu Belsunces Gonçalves, Lars Schmeink, and Syamsuriatina Ishak explore the convergence of TA and science fiction as complementary approaches to technological futures.
Read the full introduction here:
https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.7368