设计，技术和社会领域的学生研究信息技术与社会，政治和文化过程与价值之间的相互关系。这既包括对信息系统的更大后果的分析，也包括对公众系统的批评，设计和重新设计，以满足公众的需求和问题。研究可能涉及设计过程，人与人之间的交流和互动，这些系统的较大范围（例如法律，经济，文化，教育或其他范围）以及这些主题中任何一个的影响。该计划领域支持有兴趣从社会科学或人文科学的知识传统和方法以及社区信息学和社会信息学领域从事信息学研究的学生。
Students in the Design, Technology, and Society Area investigate the interrelationship between information technology and social, political, and cultural processes and values. This includes both the analysis of the larger consequences of informatics systems and the criticism, design, and re-design of systems to address public needs and problems. Research may involve design processes, human communication and interaction, the larger contexts of these systems (such as the legal, economic, cultural, educational, or other contexts) and the repercussions of any of these topics. This program area supports students interested in pursuing informatics research from the intellectual traditions and methods of either the social sciences or the humanities, as well as the domains of community informatics and social informatics.