New technologies emerge all the time. Some technologies, however, are transformative: they introduce new forms of control, both through formal systems of regulation and by informally shaping our behavior. They have profound impacts and are often disruptive; they affect the way we work and play; they influence our mobility and lifestyle. They offer hope and possibility while introducing new fears and unintended consequences.

Too often our social reactions to new technologies occur only in hindsight, after the technology has penetrated the marketplace. However, recent experience...

This book puts the subject of publics and their engagement with emerging technologies on robust footing. With a strong, though not exclusive, focus on genomic technologies, leading theorists and practitioners in the field provide overviews of methods and approaches and theoretical accounts of the processes underlying public engagement.