The ethics of designing smart devices
Although smart technology is now a well-ingrained, ubiquitous part of our daily lives, much of society remains rather apprehensive – even distrustful – about it. “There is a lot of discussion about the need for ethical and responsible design of data-intensive technologies and services,” says Irina Shklovski, a professor of communication and computing at the University of Copenhagen. “However, how to actually do that in practice is much less clear.” This is where the EU-funded VIRT-EU (Values and ethics in Innovation for Responsible Technology in EUrope) project comes in. Led by Shklovski, the project created practical tools to help technology developers think and talk about ethics in new and productive ways. “In a nutshell, we wanted to find practical ways to help the people developing technology think about ethics while they do their work,” adds Shklovski.
A theory-driven set of tools
According to Shklovski, although there are a lot of ethical principles, guidelines and statements, there is a lack of practical methods for implementing them. “To fill this gap, we brought together a truly interdisciplinary team of legal scholars, ethnographers, computer scientists, designers and social scientists in order to figure out what ethics means in practice,” she explains. The result is what Shklovski calls a practical theory of ethics – a theory-driven set of tools and concepts to help developers think and learn about ethics in ways that could help them make better design decisions. “Rather than providing yet another checklist, the VIRT-EU toolkit offers a way for technology developers to gain the necessary language, structure and authority to convene and engage in conversations about ethics,” remarks Shklovski. This toolkit, which can be accessed via the project website, includes a unique questionnaire that helps developers and designers assess the privacy, ethical and social impact of their work. Another feature is the Ethical Stack, a series of tools designed to help creators of new connected technology reflect on the potential ethical and social consequences of their products. The toolkit includes offline resources designed to ask difficult questions and challenge assumptions or uncertainties. There is also an animation about ethics within the internet of things and a short ethics primer.
The new standard
This toolkit established VIRT-EU as the new standard for engaging with designers and developers about ethics. “Instead of blaming designers and developers for the failings of data-intensive technologies, we recognised that the tech community itself is experiencing anxiety and uncertainty about their decisions,” concludes Shklovski. “Our tools are designed to help people manage these uncertainties together rather than face them alone.” While the project is still in the process of finalising some of its academic reporting, many of the consortium partners are already incorporating the toolkit into new initiatives.
Keywords
VIRT-EU, ethics, smart devices, technology, developers, privacy
