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Summary

When making stuff you need to consider that people have goals and will need different features to help achieve these goals. Make sure to consider biases and solve these biases by considering the edge cases that exist in people eg accessibility needs being inclusive of culture etc.

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Readings

Values emerge from the tools that we build and how we choose to use them. Yet, in most of the current practice in designing computer technology and the related infrastructure of cyberspace, little is said about values.

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Keywords -

• Maxim:

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VSD Framework structure

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Reading notes:

Why is value-sensitive design important? Sometimes economic gain may conflict with values. There are people in this world, all with different needs and goals so design your technology to consider all the values of all the individuals, groups, and organisations that are impacted by the development of technologies.

Two major values in Technology Design:

Supporting User Autonomy

1. System Capability: a system providing (hardware/software) features that realise the user’s goal. eg a microphone with a physical on-off switch to protect the privacy of a conversation when not in use
2. System Complexity: Need to think about how easy it is for the system to be used. If a system is too complex then the user will be deterred even if it would be most efficient for the user’s goal.
3. Misrepresentation of a system: being lied to or deceived will impact the user’s goal to participate
4. System Fluidity: People’s goals change constantly, Systems must be fluid enough to match. eg. an email about pregnancy may be filtered out but 3 years later it may be relevant. Systems need a way for review and finetuning to support user’s changing goals.

Bias in Computer Systems

We say that a computer technology is biased if it systematically and unfairly discriminates against certain individuals or groups of individuals in favor of others.

Three ways that a computer system can be biased:

1. preexisting bias ie I was accidentally racist, genderist, not inclusive in design

When computer technologies embody biases that exist independently of, and usually before, the creation of the technology.

This type of bias can enter a technology either through the explicit and conscious efforts of individuals or institutions, or implicitly and unconsciously, even despite the best of intentions eg. a video game with only male characters

1. technical bias ie Accessibility issue, and what about the left handed loosers :(

Pretty much accessibility bias, uneducated or disadvantaged people (visually impaired) cannot use the tech like normal people, therefore are excluded

1. emergent bias PRETTY MUCH: OOPS I DIDNT THINK ABOUT AN EDGE CASE

emergent bias arises only in a context of use by real users. Hard to detect during the designing or implementation phase. It is only when people start using it do you see some issues arise.

Things that need to be balanced:

Economic gain ←→ Moral values

Standardisation ←→ autonomy: Standardizing will restrict autonomy, but standardisation also benefits by reducing the need to relearn new technologies

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It is also worth noting that retrofitting a design is vastly more costly than building things right the first time

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Summary/ other notes

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