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HBO/WO

MBO

August 18, 2021

Technological Mediation and Ethics

According to the theory of technological mediation, technological artifacts are not ‘passive’; they play an active role in our lives, always mediating the way we engage with the world around us. And this is not only true for artefacts that seem to ‘act’, like robots, digital avatars or the like. No, even simple artifacts like hammers, glasses or the fountain pen mediate our lives. They do so by mediating two important aspects of my existence in the world: my perception of the world, and my actions in it. And in so doing, they also help change who and what we are. The rich tradition of ethical reflection on technology mostly deals with how humans should act, how we should (not) handle/design/implement/regulate artifacts. It relies on the idea that only humans have agency (and thus on the instrumentalist notion that artefacts do not). For mediation theory, this will not do: if no human engagement in the world is unmediated or non-technological, then the question of what artifacts do deserves to be taken more seriously in ethics. Meditation theory has uses in both descriptive and prescriptive ethics of technology.

Document

Jan Bergen

July 1, 2025

Ethics in Technology

The purpose of this text is to serve as an Open Education Resource (OER) designed initially to be used in a secondary or post-secondary education setting. It is intended to be a guide to facilitate focused discussions about contemporary issues of the ethical considerations related to technology evolution, development, deployment, and consumption, as well as issues (both known and unknown) of potential misuse and abuse of technology. This is not a traditional Ethics textbook in that it is not intended to provide a survey of all of the history of Ethics through the ages nor is it intended to dive deeply into any particular ethical movements or frameworks as may be the focus of other ethics studies. Rather, it is intended to focus predominantly on the concepts of applying critical and ethical thinking to issues and subsequent decisions related to our interactions with technology in the 21st century.

Open (Access) Text Book

Edward V. (Ed) Weber

January 27, 2025

A value sensitive analysis of 13 cases in ICT ethics

The exercise proposes a step-by-step activity in which students will perform a value sensitive design analysis of 13 cases related to computer sciences/ ICT technologies. Students are asked to analyse a technology case in small groups. They are asked to identify the underlying value conflict that pertains to contrasting stakeholders’ views. Students do so through group work by selecting and working on one morally salient case study with an identifiable ethical problem (the exercise offers 13 such cases to pick from, but instructors are encouraged to add their own cases to this list). The students are encouraged to solve the value conflict by searching for already existing solutions proposed by different stakeholders (for example, designers, journalists, scholars, engineers, policy makers, etc.), and then analysing how a particular solution prioritizes certain values over others.

Document

Lavinia Marin, Samuela Marchiori, Joseph Emmanuel Sta. Maria, Dmitry Muravyov

August 14, 2020

Ethics in design: Social care robots

Social care robots carry the promise of constant accompaniment of the daily needs of people, while reducing the costs of human supervision. Potential areas of application include care of the vulnerable populations, such as the elderly and people with special needs, in hospital care or in education. However, some are concerned that replacing human caregivers with robots runs the risk of oversimplifying human relationships and reducing the altruism and empathy. This exercise deals with the question of to how to design robots that promote the values of care and sociality.

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Olya Kudina

November 1, 2021

Planning and Design for the Just Transition

In 2019, The European Union launched its “European Green Deal”, aiming to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050. We all know the transition to sustainability is urgent, but will it be fair? This online autumn school addresses planning and designing cities and communities for the just transition by bringing together expertise from spatial planning, urban sustainability and resilience, resilience engineering, ethics of resilience and multi-actor systems. The School enables Master students and young professionals to plan and design for the JUST TRANSITION and THE JUST CITY with a robust understanding of the entanglement between spatial justice and successful sustainability transitions. School begins November 4th, 2021. Content forthcoming

Carissa Champlin

March 2, 2021

Smart Farming Technologies (An interactive exercise in environmental ethics) - Student Version

In this CBE, students will become familiar with the revolutionary innovations in the field of Smart Farming Technologies and, specifically, learn about the ethical notions surrounding this topic. Students have read a literature review on SFT-ethics and will actively dissect it in this session. In groups, they will tackle ethical questions. Afterwards, students assess each other’s ideas and discuss. The main goal of this CBE is to introduce students into the topic of SFT and to get them to reflect on it in an ethical manner.

Document

Roel Veraart

March 2, 2021

Smart Farming Technologies (An interactive exercise in environmental ethics) - Teacher Version

In this CBE, students will become familiar with the revolutionary innovations in the field of Smart Farming Technologies and, specifically, learn about the ethical notions surrounding this topic. Students have read a literature review on SFT-ethics and will actively dissect it in this session. In groups, they will tackle ethical questions. Afterwards, students assess each other’s ideas and discuss. The main goal of this CBE is to introduce students into the topic of SFT and to get them to reflect on it in an ethical manner.

Document

Roel Veraart

June 13, 2022

Anti-Value Sensitive Design - Educational format

This exercise is for students who are already familiar with the methodology of Value Sensitive Design by having had multiple lessons on the theory. The format offered here is a fun and practical application to help students see the real consequences of the ideas they have been learning about, by intentionally reversing the goals to see how outcomes are affected. It is a pedagogical approach to provide students a humorous and inventive way of seeing the importance of Value-Sensitive Design, by instead implementing its opposite. Anti-Value Sensitive Design (AVSD) is identical to VSD except that the values chosen will be negative: replacing fairness with unfairness, and so on. In VSD methodology, the key is understanding that values must be part of technological design and must be consciously distinguished early in the design process. In this exercise, students will make a pitch to an “Evil Boss” highlighting “anti-values” and see how designs are impacted.

Document

Michael Nagenborg, Miranda Nell

March 4, 2022

Smart Grids and Inclusive Design

In this exercise, students will explore the possibility of designing smart energy grids using the approach of value-sensitive design. Rather than using a rule-based ethical theory to determine the best objective answer, students will approach the question with a focus on the ways that different members of society will be affected differently, specifically by looking at values and needs.

Document

Miranda Nell

2019

MOOC Responsible Innovation: Ethics, Safety and Technology

About this course There is no doubt that technological innovation is one of the key elements driving human progress. However, new technologies also raise ethical questions, have serious implications for society and the environment and pose new risks, often unknown and unknowable before the new technologies reach maturity. They may even lead to radical disruptions. Just think about robots, self-driving vehicles, medical engineering and the Internet of Things. They are strongly dependent on social acceptance and cannot escape public debates of regulation and ethics. If we want to innovate, we have to do that responsibly. We need to reflect on –and include- our societal values in this process. This course will give you a framework to do so. The first part of the course focuses on ethical questions/framework and concerns with respect to new technologies. The second part deals with (unknown) risks and safety of new technologies including a number of qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methods. The last part of the course is about the new, value driven, design process which take into account our societal concerns and conflicting values. Case studies (ethical concerns, risks) for reflection and discussions during the course include – among others- nanotechnology, self-driving vehicles, robots, AI smart meters for electricity, autonomous weapons, nuclear energy and CO2capture and coolants. Affordable (frugal) innovations for low-income groups and emerging markets are also covered in the course. You can test and discuss your viewpoint. The course is for all engineering students who are looking for a methodical approach to judge responsible innovations from a broader – societal- perspective. What you'll learn •Understand the urgent need to include ethical questions with respect to (new) technology. •Know various ways/instruments to analyze risks of new technologies, both forward looking as backward looking (causes of accidents) •Understand various types of innovation (like radical, niche, incremental, frugal ) and the conditions for success •Know how to deal with unknown risks (deep uncertainty) when it comes to new technologies •Are able to critically reflect on new technologies from an ethical and risk perspective (case studies). •Understand the concept of responsible innovation and Value Sensitive Design (VSD) and the implications for the design process

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