The Ethical Explorers Pack
You’d like to develop products that would make the world a bit better? But you don’t know how to do that because of all the bad publicity and uncertainties around modern technology? The Ethical Explorers Pack of Omidyar Network answers exactly to these doubts and feelings of wanting to do good. Omidyar offers a tool with a card set that can be used as a checklist. This helps you to think about the different aspects of the development of responsible technology. Bonus: you receive a guide to actually change the way technology is developed in your organisation.
Omidyar is a global network where different organisations, companies, innovators and developers try to contribute to the development of responsible technology. The Ethical Explorers Pack is developed together with the Institute for the Future (IFTF) and Artefact.
What you should know before reading further:
- For whom: companies involved in technology development
- Process phase: development of new tech or upgrading of existing tech
- System component: complete system
- Price indication: freely available
Method
The Ethical Explorers Pack exists of a Field Guide and a card set with 8 Tech-Risk-Zones, which all show a possible risk of technology, such as bias or surveillance. Every Tech-Risk-Zone has two cards. The first card has a beautiful front and an introduction with a main question. The second card helps you based on different deeper questions to study this risk for your organisation. The ‘addiction’ card for example helps you to think about in how far your technology can be addictive for the users and how you could prevent unhealthy behaviours by engaging with your users in a different way.
The Field Guide shows multiple ways in which you can use the cards. In a workshop, for example, or on your own to discover your own principles and what you think is important.
What is interesting is that the pack doesn’t assume that everyone within your organisation will understand the need of an ethical exploration in the development of your technology. That’s why the Field Guide offers multiple ways to convince your peers and superiors of the added value of the pack by, for example, showing how to answer common excuses, worries and criticisms.
Result
The Ethical Explorers Pack is clearly trying to make ethical questioning an integrated part of the development process of new technologies, not only once, but for future projects as well. So that ethical responsibility for new technologies should become a habit within your organisation. The Field Guide and the cards will help you to discover the different risks of technology and offer a useful tool to grab again and again during the development of technological applications.
In de Field Guide worden meerdere technieken voorgelegd waarop je de kaarten kan gebruiken. In een workshop bijvoorbeeld, of juist voor jezelf om na te gaan wat jij zelf belangrijk vindt.
Interessant is dat er niet automatisch vanuit wordt gegaan dat iedereen binnen een organisatie de toegevoegde waarde van een ethisch perspectief zal inzien. Daarom bevat de field guide ook handvaten om je te helpen anderen te overtuigen van het nut van de kaarten en veel voorkomende excuses en kritiek te beantwoorden.
Resultaat
Het Ethical Explorers Pack probeert duidelijk ethische vraagstelling niet eenmalig in een ontwikkelproces naar voren te laten komen, maar daadwerkelijk de verantwoordelijkheid voor ‘responsible tech’ als een gewoonte binnen de organisatie te brengen. De field guide en de kaarten zullen jou zelf aan het denken zetten om de risico’s van technologie beter te begrijpen en zijn ook een handige tool om telkens naar terug te grijpen bij de ontwikkeling van technologische toepassingen.
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Links
For explanations and downloads: https://ethicalexplorer.org
This tool was not developed by the Knowledge Center Data & Society. We describe the tool on our website because it can help you deal with ethical, legal or social aspects of AI applications. The Knowledge Center is not responsible for the quality of the tool.