Human Values, Ethics, and Design
Human Values, Ethics, and Design
1561/1100000073
Personal Fabrication
Patrick Baudisch and Stefanie Mueller
ISBN: 978-1-68083-258-7
Canine-Centered Computing
Larry Freil, Ceara Byrne, Giancarlo Valentin, Clint Zeagler,
David Roberts, Thad Starner and Melody Jackson
ISBN: 978-1-68083-244-0
Exertion Games
Florian Mueller, Rohit Ashok Khot, Kathrin Gerling and
Regan Mandryk
ISBN: 978-1-68083-202-0
Full text available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/1100000073
Katie Shilton
University of Maryland, College Park, USA
[email protected]
Boston — Delft
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Editors
Ben Bederson
University of Maryland
Sheelagh Carpendale
University of Calgary
Andy Cockburn
University of Canterbury
Jon Froehlich
University of Maryland
Juan Pablo Hourcade
University of Iowa
Karrie Karahalios
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Youn-Kyung Lim
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Nuria Oliver
Telefonica
Orit Shaer
Wellesley College
Kentaro Toyama
University of Michigan
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Editorial Scope
Topics
Foundations and Trends
R
in Human-Computer Interaction publishes survey
and tutorial articles in the following topics:
• History of the research community
• Theory
• Technology
• Computer Supported Cooperative Work
• Interdisciplinary influence
• Advanced topics and trends
Contents
1 Introduction 2
6 Conclusion 45
Acknowledgements 48
References 49
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ABSTRACT
An important public discussion is underway on the values
and ethics of digital technologies as designers work to prevent
misinformation campaigns, online harassment, exclusionary
tools, and biased algorithms. This monograph reviews 30
years of research on theories and methods for surfacing values
and ethics in technology design. It maps the history of values
research, beginning with critique of design from related disci-
plines and responses in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
research. The review then explores ongoing controversies
in values-oriented design, including disagreements around
terms, expressions and indicators of values and ethics, and
whose values to consider. Next, the monograph describes
frameworks that attempt to move values-oriented design
into everyday design settings. These frameworks suggest
open challenges and opportunities for the next 30 years of
values in HCI research.
1
Introduction
Recent news has brought values and ethics in technology design to the
forefront of public debate: questions about the goals and politics of
human-designed devices, and whether the social interactions of those
devices are good, fair, or just. For example, reporters have surfaced
the role of social media platforms such as Facebook in the 2016 U.S.
election (Doubek, 2017; Rosenberg et al., 2018). Designers have spoken
out about the psychological tricks phone apps use to hog user attention
(Lewis, 2017). Weapons of Math Destruction (O’Neil, 2017), an overview
of problems of bias in mathematical modeling, was a New York Times
bestseller and long-listed for the National Book Award. Technically
Wrong: Sexist Aps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic
Tech accused “an insular industry” of creating alienating and harmful
technologies (Wachter-Boettcher, 2017, p. 9). High-profile university
computing programs are reporting increased demand for ethics courses
(Singer, 2018).
How to avoid biased practices, and instead conduct ethical, just
design has been a topic of investigation and conversation within human–
computer interaction (HCI) for more than 30 years. Long the province
of academic debate, it is edifying to see news and industry sources
2
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1
Scholarly publication in general is estimated to grow 8–9% per year (Bornmann
and Mutz, 2015). Human values research well outpaced that growth between 2000
and 2010, although not between 2010 and 2017.
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4 Introduction
Zelenko and Felton (2012) describe “an ‘ethical turn’ occurring in . . . the
design fields.” Van den Hoven similarly describes both “a value turn
in engineering design and on the other hand a design turn in thinking
about values” (van den Hoven, 2017, p. 66).
An ethical turn hardly seems new to HCI, a field long concerned
with accessibility, usability, and participation. This review monograph
considers accumulated wisdom about how to design just, ethical systems
in HCI and cognate areas such as philosophy of technology, science and
technology studies (STS), and information studies. Section 2 describes
these interdisciplinary approaches within the literature on values and
ethics in design. It maps the roots of values-oriented design in philosophy
of technology and describes critical traditions that sensitized academics
and designers to the ethical issues in their work. It then describes
movements within HCI that seek to take ethical action using design
methods.
Section 3 dives into controversies within these literatures. It tackles
meaning and ontology, describing why different literatures use “values,”
“ethics,” or other terms, and what is signaled by this terminology.
It then discusses the problem of recognizing and locating values and
ethics, including scholarship that positions values as attributes of people,
features of technology, or elements of practice. The section also explores
controversies centered on the power and agency of designers, including
questions of whose values matter to design, and to what degree designers
influence the values associated with a technology.
Section 4 departs from controversies to build a practice-oriented way
forward for ethical technology design. It discusses workplace approaches
to ethical technology design motivated and informed by the HCI
literature.
Section 5 explores the limits of values-oriented design by exploring
critical issues that design methods struggle to address, and the new
research areas and opportunities opened by these limits. The conclusion,
Section 6, offers some thoughts on moving forward as a field in a
particularly challenging time for ethics in design.
In their monograph “Values as Hypotheses: Design, Inquiry, and the
Service of Values,” wisely encourage values scholarship “to integrate
stories from concrete situations of design practice” (JafariNaimi et
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References
49
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50 References
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