Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

Digital Ethics as a Driver of Design Innovation

Avatar for Per Axbom Per Axbom
November 09, 2023

Digital Ethics as a Driver of Design Innovation

In this talk and workshop you will…

* Understand how digital design can contribute to harm through for example monoculture, invisible decision-making, abuse enablement and more.
* Learn how you can better predict and address impact through design (by adding friction!).
* Find ways of using insights about vulnerability and risk to design more innovative and unique solutions.

Avatar for Per Axbom

Per Axbom

November 09, 2023

More Decks by Per Axbom

Other Decks in Design

Transcript

  1. DIGITAL ETHICS AS A DRIVER OF DESIGN INNOVATION PER AXBOM

    • DIGITAL ETHICIST AND COMMUNICATION THEORIST • AXBOM.COM
  2. We can not keep using the same maps and expect

    negative impact to suddenly disappear.
  3. Organisation Machine Society The Elements of Digital Ethics Un- account-

    ability Digital obfuscation Power concen- tration Mono- culture Naive reckless- ness Algorithmic injustice Invisible decision- making Psycho- engineering Techno- solutionism Surveillance capitalism Attention economy Rule of Quantity Rampant harassment Voice suppression Exclusion Biometric abuse Behavior suppression Abuse enable- ment Ecological neglect Privacy devaluation Human Supply chain neglect Environment CC-BY-NC-SA
 Per Axbom • @axbom Digital gaslighting Worker endanger- ment Date • version
 March 1, 2021 • 1.0 Latest + Hi-Res
 axbom.com/elements Unequal access Lack of ethical ownership Ethics- washing Education defects Geographic resistance Regulation defects Permanent impact Supervision Viral
 repro-
 duction Private public spaces online AXBOM.COM/ELEMENTS
  4. Using design to in fl uence people’s behavior in a

    certain direction, making it harder for them to act in their own interest. The purpose is to have people act in a way that bene fi ts the organisation regardless of a persons’s own goals. Related: Digital gaslighting - making people think any harm is their own fault. BEHAVIOR SUPPRESSION HUMAN https://axbom.com/con fi rmshaming/
  5. Harm as a result of neglect, unwillingness or inability to

    consider how our creations a ff ect people’s wellbeing, exclude them from participation or in other ways mislead. EXCLUSION HUMAN
  6. Harm as a result of sensitive information being managed in

    a way that helps a third party use it for purposes other than what the owners of the information have consented to, or realise they have consented to. NAIVE RECKLESSNESS ORGANISATION
  7. Harm that happens as a selection of participants in a

    service harm others and the people responsible for the platform choose not to see or manage the con fl ict. RAMPANT HARASSMENT SOCIETY
  8. Harm happening as a result of automated decision systems are

    developed from a position of power and based on information that is biased or simply incorrect. Since algorithms work faster than humans, algorithmic injustice leads to more e ff i cient execution of harmful decisions. ALGORITHMIC INJUSTICE MACHINE
  9. RULE OF QUANTITY SOCIETY This omnipresent state of mind implies

    that if something can not be measured it does not carry worth. And the assumption that if something can be measured, it is a clear indicator of worth.
  10. DESIGN INTRODUCES UNFAMILIARITY INTO AN EXISTING ECOSYSTEM. WE DESIGN TO

    MAKE THE SYSTEM WORK DIFFERENTLY THAN IT DID BEFORE.
  11. Platforms designed to bring people closer together are creating more

    hate and division. Platforms designed to make people safer are putting people in harms way. Platforms designed to help people live healthier lives are giving people anxiety. Platforms designed for inspiration and fun are hurting mental wellbeing. NEGATING THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE
  12. They say that if a butter fl y fl aps

    its wings in the Amazonian rain forest, it can change the weather half a world away. If a web designer changes a button, it can change wellbeing for millions of people across the world. LIKE
  13. THOSE ARE JUST EDGE- CASES, NOT THE NORM OTHERS ARE

    ALREADY DOING IT WE’VE DONE WHAT WE CAN
  14. THERE WAS AN OBVIOUS SPEAKING PARTNER WITH SUPERIOR KNOWLEDGE IN

    ALL THIS, LET’S HOPE THEY REACH OUT TO US…
  15. AS THE MAKERS OF DIGITAL SERVICES AND PRODUCTS, WE NEED

    TOOLS AND MAPS TO MANAGE AND MITIGATE OUR OWN WEAKNESSES THESE PROBLEMS ARE SOLVABLE
  16. Obvious potential for negative impact Negative impact only discovered after

    it happens Negative impact predicted by speculative, systematic reasoning and strategic foresight
  17. Obvious potential for negative impact Negative impact only discovered after

    it happens Negative impact predicted by speculative, systematic reasoning and strategic foresight Negative impact predicted by involving more people with relevant experience
  18. participants included excluded unwanted (non-participants) negative impact risk-zone risk zone

    INCLUSIVE PANDA Use to foreca st e ff ects beyond what you are normally te st ing and evaluating.
  19. PARTICIPANTS INCLUDED RISK U NWANTED RISK RISK TOOL 2: The

    Inclusive Pand CAN NOT AFFORD PEOPLE WITHOUT AN IPHONE UNAWARENESS OF TRACKING STALKERS ABUSIVE PARTNERS PHYSICAL VIOLENCE FOLLOWING MY STOLEN DEVICE CAN PUT ME IN DANGER I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE WARNING MESSAGE BATTERY RUNS OUT THIEVES PSYCHO- LOGICAL VIOLENCE STOLEN ITEMS EXCLUDED NO WARNING MESSAGE
  20. IMPACT MAPPING How bad/severe is the potential outcome? How much

    do we contribute through what we build? How likely is it to happen? How disadvantaged are the people affected? What? Who? people who want to protect their identity abusers/attackers find them and hurt them
  21. IMPACT MAPPING How bad/severe is the potential outcome? How much

    do we contribute through what we build? How likely is it to happen? How disadvantaged are the people affected? What? Who? people who want to protect their identity abusers/attackers find them and hurt them
  22. IMPACT MAPPING How bad/severe is the potential outcome? How much

    do we contribute through what we build? How likely is it to happen? How disadvantaged are the people affected? What? Who? people who want to protect their identity abusers/attackers find them and hurt them Use to help your organisation under st and impact and prioritise activities
  23. «Zuckerberg used to rave about the virtues of “frictionless sharing,”

    but these days Facebook is working on “imposing friction” to slow the sp read of disinformation.» https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/17/can-mark-zuckerberg- fi
  24. You will find the password by reading the welcome information

    carefully. In this film you will find the password for logging in to the booking system, 5 small characters. Your username is in the confirmation e-mail. Code of conduct explained whilst giving out one letter of the password every thirty seconds. FRICTION
  25. ETHICAL DILEMMAS ARE LIKE BIRDS https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/technology-ethics/ Everywhere Varied Di ffi

    cult to spot Concentrated in particular environments Easier to spot in groups Can often be anticipated if you know where/when they tend to show up Guides and tools can help Noticed by people who are in the habit of looking for them
  26. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/technology-ethics/ GET INTO THE HABIT OF LOOKING FOR THEM! Who

    is in the room and making the decisions? Do we really need to ask for this data? Am I sure the design pattern that worked over there also works here? What faulty assumptions are we making? Instead of making decisions FOR people, how could we actually build something differently to support people in exercising their autonomy and self-determination, to activate system 2 thinking? Am I inside an environment that supports ethical reasoning? Who do we need to talk to?
  27. promotes wellbeing harmful to some harmful to some harmful to

    many harmful to many ETHICAL DESIGN IS NOT ABOUT STOPPING TECHNICAL INNOVATION. IT’S ABOUT INFLUENCING ITS DIRECTION. (WITH BETTER MAPS AND INDICATORS)
  28. promotes wellbeing harmful to some harmful to some harmful to

    many harmful to many ETHICAL DESIGN IS NOT ABOUT STOPPING TECHNICAL INNOVATION. IT’S ABOUT INFLUENCING ITS DIRECTION. (WITH BETTER MAPS AND INDICATORS)
  29. ALL COMPANIES WILL BE OUTPERFORMED BY A MORE ETHICAL VERSION

    CATERING TO THE EXACT SAME NEEDS. ARE YOU DOING YOUR BEST WORK?
  30. END