NeTWork is an international, interdisciplinary study group with the objective to advance the study and intellectual penetration of social and scientific problems posed by the diffusion of modern technologies in all domains of work life. Over the past 26 years NeTWork — partially supported by the Werner Reimers Foundation (Bad Homburg, Germany), the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (Paris), the Eindhoven and Berlin Universities of Technology, the Netherlands Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and the Fondation pour une Culture de Sécurité Industrielle (Toulouse) — has held annual workshops relating to the overall theme of new technologies and work. These have covered a wide range of topics that included human error, training, distributed decision making and management.
While the original activities of NeTWork began with a wide coverage of sub-themes, more recent preoccupations focused more specifically on a theme of great scientific and social significance: the safety of high technology systems and the role of human contribution to either breakdowns or the maintenance of hazardous systems. After several years of an exclusive focus on system safety, NeTWork is open to address again wider issues of new technologies and work.
The themes of annual workshops are planned and evaluated by a small 'core group' whose membership varies slightly according to the respective sub-theme to be treated. Two or three “godfathers” further detail a chosen sub-theme and propose a list of prospective participants. The choice of invitees is made internationally on the basis of their active research involvement with respect to the sub-theme or corresponding practice experience. Thus more than 270 persons from 22 countries participated in the NeTWork workshops between 1982 and 2008.
All contributions to a given workshop are distributed to all participants several weeks in advance in order to facilitate their thorough reading before the workshop itself. Only short statements are possible for each contributor, summarizing the main points of his/her paper contribution, in order to maximize thorough discussion and proposals for the improvement of each contribution. Thus, three day of lively discussion of the papers serve as basis for the publication. The workshop's “godfathers” usually serve as editors for the preparation of the publication which is usually developed from each meeting. So far, 17 publications have appeared from these NeTWork activities, with three more in preparation. The model of this international and interdisciplinary exchange has meanwhile been adopted by various other institutions.
The administration of NeTWork activities is managed by Gudela Grote, Mathilde Bourrier and Babette Fahlbruch and the Fondation pour une Culture de Sécurité Industrielle (Toulouse).
Today, the participants in NeTWork form an international, interdisciplinary network of professionals which world-wide seeks its equal in terms of its unique and productive mix: philosophers, historians, engineers, management experts, sociologists, psychologists, physiologists, economists, ergonomists united in a common concern for the improvement of safety and health in reliable complex modern socio-technical systems.
Twenty-six years of successful theme oriented cooperation of a large international, interdisciplinary group consisting of internationally reputed as well as young promising scholars and experienced practitioners is in itself a remarkable achievement.