Kenneth Keniston

Kenneth Keniston was Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Human Development, Emeritus, in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He taught at Harvard University, where he was a Junior Fellow; in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Yale University; and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was Director (1986-1992) and Director of Graduate Studies (1992-1996) of the Program in Science, Technology, and Society. Professor Keniston was the author of nine books and more than one hundred articles and chapters. His most recent works were, with D. Guston, The Fragile Contract (1994); with J. Ker Conway and L. Marx, Earth, Air, Fire, Water: Humanistic Studies of the Environment (2000); with Deepak Kumar, IT Experience in India: Bridging the Digital Divide (2004); with Rohit Raj Mathur and R.K. Bagga, The State, IT, and Development (2005), and with V. Balaji, a study of rural information projects for the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Government of India (2006). Trained as a social psychologist, Professor Keniston was interested in the relationship of technology, personality and culture. He studied the education and careers of engineers in the United States and France and the financing and organization of scientific and engineering research in universities in the United States. In later years, Professor Keniston’s research focused on information technology and development in particular within India. His research in India included site visits to on-going projects involving how computer technology is used for information and communication and how it is used in development, political transparency and social justice.