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Last updated: Thursday, 30-Jun-2011 18:58:27 EDT
© 2009 Information School and Department of Computer Science & Engineering, University of Washington
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 Value Sensitive Design Theory & Methods

VSD

Development of the theory and methods that constitute the Value Sensitive Design research program.

Project Overview
 Value Sensitive Design emerged in the 1990’s as an approach to the design of information and computer systems that accounts for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process. While emphasizing the moral perspective (e.g., privacy, security, trust, human dignity, physical and psychological wellbeing, informed consent, intellectual property), Value Sensitive Design also accounts for usability (e.g., ease of use), conventions (e.g., standardization of technical protocols), and personal predilections (e.g., color preferences within a graphical interface).

Key features of Value Sensitive Design involve its interactional perspective, tripartite methodology, and emphasis on direct and indirect stakeholders.

Interactional Theory
 Values are viewed neither as inscribed into technology nor as simply transmitted by social forces. Rather, people and social systems affect technological development, and technologies shape (but do not rigidly determine) individual behavior and social systems. Within the technology itself, design decisions made at the lower levels of architecture or infrastructure, in turn, constrain what can be built on top in terms of specific applications, interaction models, and interface design. For example, one problem for information credibility arises from the difficulty of binding an information source to content. Designing underlying technical communication protocols that included mechanisms for binding source to content would provide means for information applications to build in interfaces that, in turn, would enable information providers to supply such source information should they wish to. Without such mechanisms in the underlying protocols, technically coupling source information to content becomes difficult if not impossible. Technical structures, in turn, provide capabilities that users interact with as individuals (e.g., a web site that provides health information to 3 diabetics), in small groups (e.g., in online dialog with other diabetics), and with institutions (e.g., online medical and physical activity monitoring systems for diabetics that aid communication with their health care providers). Around these interactions, arise social expectations and conventions (e.g., certain web sites develop reputations for providing “good” information), institutional and organizational practices (e.g., peer-review processes; professional organizations); and policies, laws, and regulations (e.g., fair information practices). These expectations, conventions, institutional practices, policies, laws, and regulations push back on the technology – shaping and constraining its use, prodding and creating opportunities for new technical developments. Designing the policies, laws, and regulations that shape our technology use is as much a part of the Value Sensitive Design approach as designing the technology.

Tripartite Methodology: Conceptual, Empirical and Technical
 Value Sensitive Design systematically integrates and iterates on three types of investigations. Conceptual investigations comprise philosophically informed analyses of the central constructs and issues under investigation. For example: What values have standing? How should we engage in trade-offs among competing values (e.g., access vs. privacy, or security vs. trust)? Empirical investigations focus on the human response to the technical artifact, and on the larger social context in which the technology is situated. The entire range of quantitative and qualitative social science research methods may be applicable (e.g., observations interviews, surveys, focus groups, measurements of user behavior and human physiology, contextual inquiry, and interaction logs). Technical investigations focus on the design and performance of the technology itself, involving both retrospective analyses of existing technologies and the design of new technical mechanisms and systems. The conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations are employed iteratively such that the results of one type are integrated with those of the others, which, in turn, influence yet additional investigations of the earlier types.

Direct and Indirect Stakeholders
 Direct stakeholders refer to parties who interact directly with the computer system or its output. Indirect stakeholders refer to all other parties who are otherwise affected by the use of the system. For example, online court record systems impact not only the direct stakeholders, such as lawyers, judgers, and journalists who access the court records, but an especially important group of indirect stakeholders: the people documented in the court records.

For a description of recent funding from NSF ITR for Value Sensitive Design please see the grant summary.

Additional Information
 For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research


Value Sensitive Design in Industry  [top]

CodeCOOP Microsoft CodeCOOP  [top]

Use of Value Sensitive Design to support system adoption of collaborative groupware in an industry setting. Development of the value dams and flows method.

Project Description
 The CodeCOOP is a groupware application designed to help Microsoft Research employees who participate in engineering activities (a) share information (including code) and (b) build community. An internal web application, the CodeCOOP supports two types of content: a code repository (including the ability to post code and to search code) and conversations (including the ability to ask questions, reply to questions, as well as search prior questions and answers). In addition, the CodeCOOP implements an email digest to manage the information flow of requests.

Computer systems built to support collaboration and cooperation in the workplace, such as the CodeCOOP, have great potential to allow employees to effectively collaborate and share knowledge. However, these systems often are not adopted by their target users despite large investments in time, money, and engineering. The Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) community has identified many complex social issues that may lead to lack of groupware system adoption (Bullen & Bennett, 1990; Grudin, 1994; Palen, 1999). A number of these social issues have human values at hand (Orlikowski, 1992; Jancke, Venolia, Grudin, Cadiz, & Gupta, 2001). The CodeCOOP provides first steps in providing an approach to the design of groupware that systematically addresses these complex value issues.

This project is poised to provide three original contributions to the literature on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Value Sensitive Design. First, the project has identified two key methodological constructs, those of "value dams and flows" (technical features or organizational policies which elicit strong negative value reactions from a small but significant part of the population - enough to potentially undermine successful system adoption) and "value flows" (technical features or organizational policies which support the values of stakeholders who might otherwise not benefit greatly by the system). Second, the project investigates how to co-evolve technology with organizational policy, particularly with respect to designing incentives to support system adoption. And, third, this project represents one of the first efforts to extend the theory and methods of Value Sensitive Design to an industry setting, thus providing a proof-of-concept for the viability of this approach within industry.

Additional Information
 For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.

Other projects in this research strand include:
* Value Sensitive Design @ Intel

References
  • Bullen, C. & Bennett, J. (1990). Learning from user experience with groupware. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW ’90) (pp. 291 – 302). New York: Association for Computing Machinery Press.
  • Grudin, J. (1994). Groupware and social dynamics: Eight challenges for developers. Communications of the ACM, 37(2), 92 – 105.
  • Jancke, G., Venolia, G., Grudin, J., Cadiz, J., & Gupta, A. (2001) Linking public spaces: Technical and social issues. Proceedings of the Conference of Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’01) (pp. 530 – 537). New York: Association for Computing Machinery Press.
  • Orlikowski, W. (1992). Learning from notes: Organizational issues in groupware implementation. Proceedings of the Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW ’92) (pp. 262 – 369). New York: Association for Computing Machinery Press.
  • Palen, L. (1999). Social, individual & technological issues for groupware calendar systems. Proceedings of the Conference of Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’99) (pp. 17 – 24). New York: Association for Computing Machinery Press.


Intel Privacy Addendum Value Sensitive Design at Intel  [top]

Application of the Value Sensitive Design methodology at Intel Research Seattle.

Project Overview
Project information forthcoming

Additional Information
 For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.

Other projects in this research strand include the Microsoft CodeCoop (Value Sensitive Design at Microsoft).


Human-Robotic Interaction [top]


AIBO Preschool Robotic Pets & Preschoolers  [top]

Robotic Pets & Preschoolers Investigate how preschool children interact with and understand the robotic dog AIBO (compared to a stuffed dog).

Project Overview
Young children increasingly come of age with technological artifacts that augment their experience of nature. One such class of artifacts is the technological pet - such as the Tamagotchi, Furby, i-Cybie, and Poo-Chi. In this study, we investigated the psychological impact of the most advanced robotic dog on the market today, Sony's AIBO (which sells for about $1,500.00), on the lives of preschool children. As a basis for comparison, we also investigated children's interactions with a stuffed dog.

80 preschool children from two age groups (34-50 months and 58-74 months, with equal numbers of boys and girls) participated in this study. Individual sessions lasted approximately 40 minutes, and were divided into two parts. In one part, the child interacted with AIBO.  In another part, the child interacted with a stuffed dog.

32 structured questions were posed to the children in the course of their interactions, focused around 4 major issues. Children's concepts of physical substrate (e.g., Does AIBO have a stomach? Does AIBO have a brain?). Children's concepts of mental states (e.g., Why did AIBO kick the ball? Can AIBO feel scared? Why? What kinds of things could make AIBO feel scared?). Children's concepts of social rapport (e.g., Can AIBO be your friend? At night when you're going to sleep, would you want to cuddle with AIBO? Why? At night when you're going to sleep, would AIBO want to cuddle with you?). And children's moral concepts (e.g., Let's say AIBO does something bad, like AIBO knocks over a glass of water. Should AIBO be blamed? Can he be punished? Is it all right to hit AIBO?). The sessions concluded with a card sort task, where by means of all pair-wise comparisons, children were asked whether AIBO was more similar to a robot, computer, stuffed dog, or real dog. Sessions were video-taped.

Our research aims to contribute to 3 major areas: (a) social and moral development, (b) theory of mind, and (c) children's relationship with embodied information systems.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.

Other projects in this research strand include:


AIBO Developmental Robotic Pets & Children  [top]

Investigate how older children interact with and understand robotic dog AIBO (compared to a live dog).

Project Overview
Interaction with animals has been shown to increase children's physiological health, social competence, and learning opportunities (Beck & Katcher, 1996; Kahn, 1999; Melson, 2001; Myers, 1998.) In turn, there has been a movement to create technological substitutes for pets, such as the Tamagotchi, Furby, Tama, and AIBO. As this technology becomes more sophisticated and pervasive, its impact on children's lives will increase.

But how, exactly, do robot pets impact children's cognitive, social, and moral development? In this study, we are investigating this question.

Our study builds on some of the interaction studies between children and live pets, many pioneered by Alan Beck and his colleagues (Center for the Human-Animal Bond). 72 children across three age groups (7-8, 10-11, 13-14) interact in separate sessions with a live pet and with a robotic dog (Sony's AIBO - perhaps the most advanced robotic pet on the market today). Sessions are video-taped. Building on questions posed in a study by Kahn, Friedman, et al. with preschool children, we are asking questions that pertain to 4 major areas. Children's concepts of physical essences (e.g., Does AIBO have a stomach? Does AIBO have a brain?). Children's concepts of agency and mental states (e.g., Why did AIBO kick the ball? Can AIBO feel scared? Why? What kinds of things could make AIBO feel scared?). Children's concepts of social companionship (e.g., Can AIBO be your friend? At night when you're going to sleep, would you want to cuddle with AIBO? Why? At night when you're going to sleep, would AIBO want to cuddle with you?). And children's moral concepts (e.g., Let's say AIBO does something bad, like AIBO knocks over a glass of water. Should AIBO be blamed? Can he be punished? Is it all right to hit AIBO?). In addition, we are pursuing numerous questions that examine children's conceptions of (a) the benefits and drawbacks of their coming of age with such technological artifacts, (b) what might be special about real dogs, no matter how sophisticated the technology becomes, and (c) design features that future robotic dogs should have, and why.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.

Other projects in this research strand include:
References
  • Beck, A., & Katcher, A. (1996). Between pets and people. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1999). The human relationship with nature: Development and culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Melson, G. F. (2001). Why the wild things are: Animals in the lives of children. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Myers, G. (1998). Children and animals: Social development and our connections to other species. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.


AIBO Elderly Robotic Pets & Elderly  [top]

Investigate the psychological effects of robotic pets in the lives of the elderly.

Project Overview
According to the Census Bureau's projections, the elderly population will more than double between now and the year 2050 (to 80 million people). The question arises: How can we provide physical and emotional care for our increasingly aged population?

One part of the answer may lie at the intersection of robotics and the human-animal bond. What we have in mind is this. Hundreds of clinical reports show that when animals enter the lives of aged patients with chronic brain syndrome (which follows from either Alzheimer's disease or arteriosclerosis) that the patients smile and laugh more, and become less hostile to their caretakers and more socially communicative. Other studies have shown that in a nursing home or residential care center, a pet can serve as a catalyst for communication among residents who are withdrawn, and provide opportunities (petting, talking, walking) for physical and occupational rehabilitation and recreational therapy. More generally, the research literature has established that the physiological health and emotional well-being of the elderly are enhanced by contact with animals (Beck & Katcher, 1996; Katcher & Wilkins, 1993; Center for the Human-Animal Bond). However, many elderly live in places that either prohibit pets or are not conducive to animals due to the physical layout of their buildings. In addition, some physiological conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease, may make animal ownership difficult for the individual and unsafe for the animal.

Thus, is it possible that robotic pets - such as Sony's robotic dog AIBO - can provide the elderly with some of the physiological, cognitive, and emotional benefits of live pets? If so, then some advantages emerge. For one thing, since robots are not sentient, they would not be subject to neglect, as in the case of the live dog. For another thing -- with the advent of ubiquitous computing in the health care field -- it could be possible to embed health-related sensors in future robotic pets. Thus the robotic dog could someday be thought of as health-information data gathering and transmission system, as well as a "companion."

As an initial foray into these possibilities, we are initiating a short-term and longer-term study in a senior residential setting. Our goal is to investigate the psychological effects of robotic pets in the lives of the elderly (cf. Kahn, Friedman, & Hagman, 2002).

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.
Other projects in this research strand include:
References
  • Beck, A., & Katcher, A. (1996). Between Pets and People. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press.
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr., Friedman, B., & Hagman, J. (2002). "I Care About Him as a Pal": Conceptions of Robotic Pets in Online AIBO Discussion Forums. CHI 2002 Extended Abstracts of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 632-633). New York: Association for Computing Machinery. [PDF]
  • Katcher, A., & Wilkins, G. (1993). Dialogue with animals: Its nature and culture. In S. R. Kellert & E. O. Wilson (Eds.), The Biophilia Hypothesis. (pp. 173-197). Washington, DC: Island Press.


AIBO Online Discussion Robotic Pets & Online Discussion  [top]

Analyze people's conceptions of robotic pets through their postings on three online AIBO discussion forums.

Project Overview
In recent years, there has been a movement to create technological substitutes for pets - such as the Tamagotchi, Furby, Techno, Poo-Chi, and I-Cybie. One of the most sophisticated of robotic pets currently on the market is Sony's robotic dog AIBO, which in Japanese means "companion." According to Sony's literature (www.aibo.com), "AIBO's a true companion with real emotions and instinct."  Elsewhere (Friedman & Kahn, 1992), we have argued that computers, as they can be conceived of today in material and structure, are not social agents. In this light, Sony's claims about AIBO (that AIBO has "real emotions and instincts") are epistemologically false. But psychologically that might not matter (Reeves & Nass, 1996). In other words, it may be that through such interactions, people conceive - in some meaningful ways - that they are interacting with an animal.In this study, we analyzed people's conceptions of AIBO through their spontaneous postings that occurred in 3 well-established online AIBO discussion forums.  3119 postings from 182 participants were collected (mean, 17 postings per participant; median, 4; range, 1 - 285).

Results showed that AIBO psychologically engaged this group of participants, particularly by drawing forth conceptions of essences (79%), agency (60%), and social standing (59%). However, participants seldom attributed moral standing to AIBO (e.g., that AIBO deserves respect, has rights, or can be held morally accountable for action) (Kahn, Friedman, & Hagman, in press).

Traditional moral psychological research has shown that conceptions of essences, agency, and social standing help establish a basis for and then become coupled with a moral orientation to animals and humans (Kahn, 1999). Thus, our results suggest that interactions with robotic pets challenge traditional patterns of social and moral reasoning (Friedman & Millet, 1992; Turkle, 1984).

As robotic pets become increasingly sophisticated technologically (and compelling psychologically), these findings lead us to be both concerned and hopeful.  We are concerned because people in general, and children in particular, may fall prey to accepting robotic companionship without the moral responsibilities (and moral developmental outcomes) that real, reciprocal companionship involves.  Yet we are hopeful that for some populations - such as for elderly who may no longer be capable of caring for real animals - this separation of social from moral standing may accord benefits.  For example, robotic pets may accord the elderly some degree of comfort and companionship, yet not be harmed by incompetent care.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.
Other projects in this research strand include:
References
  • Friedman, B., and Millett, L.  (1995).  "It's the computer's  fault" -- Reasoning about computers as moral agents.  Conference Companion of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 1995 (pp. 226-227). New York: Association for Computing Machinery. [PDF]
  • Friedman, B. & Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1992). Human agency and responsible computing: Implications for computer system design. Journal of Systems Software, 17, 7-14. Reprinted in B. Friedman (Ed.), (1997), Human values and the design of computer technology (pp. 221-235). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. [PDF]
  • Friedman, B., Kahn, P. H., Jr., & Hagman, J. (2003). Hardware companions? - What online AIBO discussion forums reveal about the human-robotic relationship. Proceedings of CHI 2003 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 273-280). New York: ACM. [PDF]
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr. (1999). The human relationship with nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, Cambridge MA.
  • Kahn, P. H., Jr., Friedman, B., & Hagman, J. (2002). "I care about him as a pal": Conceptions of robotic pets in online AIBO discussion forums. CHI 2002 Extended Abstracts of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 632-633). New York: ACM. [PDF]
  • Reeves, B., and Nass, C. (1996). The media equation. Cambridge University Press, New York NY.
  • Turkle, S. (1984). The second self: Computers and the human spirit. Simon & Schuster, New York NY.


Telegarden Telegarden Chatroom  [top]

Investigate the user experience of telepresence.
Project Overview
The Telegarden is a small plot encircling an industrial robot arm, a telerobotic installation developed in 1995 at the University of Southern California by Ken Goldberg and Joseph Santarromana.  It was physically housed in Austria until August 2004.  Online users can activate the arm to plant seeds, water, and tend the resulting plant through a web-based interface.  Visitors to the Telegarden website can also learn who else is currently at the site and what tasks have been performed in the garden.    The site offers a chat room for visitors.  We analyzed the data from this chatroom in order to better understand the user experience of telepresence.

Based on an analysis of 3 months of associated online chat (347 participants, 16,504 postings), results showed the following: (1) conversations focused on nature (13%), technology (22%), and human relationships (69%); (2) patterns of conversation appeared to follow patterns of physical activity in the Telegarden; (3) the more a sustained user's conversations were about nature, the more likely it was that the user talked about nature as experienced within the Telegarden compared to nature beyond the Telegarden; and (4) users did not personify the robot arm (or robotic installation).

The Telegarden is no longer active, but this link (http://www.usc.edu/dept/garden) provides further information about the online garden's development and history.
Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.
Other projects in this research strand include:


Technological Nature With Large Displays [top]

Room With A View Room with an Augmented Window  [top]

Project Overview
A large body of diverse research shows that direct experiences with nature have beneficial effects on people's physical, cognitive, and emotional well-being. For example, studies have shown that even minimal connection with nature - such as looking at a natural landscape - can reduce immediate and long-term stress, reduce sickness of prisoners, and calm patients before and during surgery. Accordingly, there is an increasing awareness that buildings need to be designed with nature in mind, and in view.

In recent years computer augmentations of the natural world have begun to be inserted into human/nature interactions, or have the potential to be inserted. Thus the question arises: Can technology provide a substitute for a direct view of nature?

In this laboratory experiment, we compare the benefits of working in an office with a view out the window of a beautiful nature scene vs. an identical view (in real time) shown on a large video plasma display that covers the window in the same office. In this latter condition, we employed High Definition TV (HDTV) camera to capture real-time images. The control condition involveed a blank covering over the window. Our psychological measures entailed (a) physiological data (electrocardiogram [ECG] and skin conductance level), behavioral data (performance on cognitive and creativity tasks), video and audio data (of each subject as he or she is engaged in this experiment), and social-cognitive data (based on an interview with each subject at the conclusion of the experimental condition wherein we garner each subject's perspective on the experience).

Our hypothesis - on the most general level - is that physiologically, behaviorally, and cognitively subjects' well-being is most enhanced by the real nature view, followed by the video plasma display, and finally by the blank wall. If our hypothesis is even roughly correct, important implications follow. Our results would speak to the psychological impoverishment of working in inside offices without a view of the natural world, and suggest that such working conditions can be substantially improved by technological augmentations of nature.  At the same time, our results would suggest that real nature is better than augmented nature, and that therefore the technology should not be employed as substitutes for the real thing, but as only partial remedies when real nature is unavailable.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.
Other projects in this research strand include:

Office window of the Future Office Windows of the Future?  [top]

Project Overview
We installed large plasma displays on the walls of seven inside offices of faculty and staff at a university, and displayed, as the default image, real-time HDTV views of the immediate outside scene. Then, utilizing a field study methodology, data was collected over a 16-week period to explore the user experience with these large display windows. Through the triangulation of data - 652 pages of interview transcripts, journal entries, and responses to email inquiries - results showed that users deeply appreciated many aspects of their experience. Benefits included a reported increase in users' connection to the wider social community, connection to the natural world, psychological wellbeing, and cognitive functioning. Users also integrated the large display window into their workplace practice. However, users expressed concerns particularly about the impacts on the privacy of people whose images were captured in the public place by the HDTV camera. Discussion focuses on design challenges for future investigations into related uses of large displays.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.
Other projects in this research strand include:


Urban Simulation [top]

Urban Simulation

Project Overview
UrbanSim is a large-scale simulation system that models the development of urban areas over periods of 20 or more years. Its purpose is to help citizens and local governments make more informed decisions about major transportation and land use issues, by projecting the long-term consequences of the different alternatives. Citizens often bring strongly held values to such decisions, for example regarding equity, sustainability, environmental protection, economic expansion, or property rights, and the decisions are often politically charged. To help shape the design of UrbanSim to better support the democratic process, as well as to be responsive to the values held by different stakeholders and the conflicts among them, we are using Value Sensitive Design, a theoretically grounded approach to the design of technology that seeks to account for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.  Additionally, the UrbanSim project maintains a comprehensive project web site at http://urbansim.org.



Privacy & Informed Consent Online [top]

Informed Consent Online Informed Consent Online  [top]

Project Overview
Informed consent provides a critical protection for privacy, and supports other human values such as autonomy and trust. Yet currently there is a mismatch between industry practice and the public's interest. According to a recent report from the Federal Trade Commission, for example, 59% of sites that collect personal identifying information neither inform Internet users that they are collecting such information nor seek the user's consent. Yet, according to a Harris poll, 88% of users want sites to garner their consent in such situations. The Federal Trade Commission hopes that industry will continue to make progress on this problem, in conjunction with its proposed legislation. Toward such progress, however, we in the CISE community should be helping to shape the dialogue.

Accordingly, in this project we developed a conceptual model, criteria, and design principles for informed consent that can be applied broadly to online interactions. We then conducted a retrospective analysis of informed consent with respect to cookies and browser behavior. In brief, cookies were initially employed to provide a way for users to re-visit sites without having to identify themselves and their preferences each time. In subsequent years, however, cookies have been used in ways that substantively invade users' privacy. For example, cookies have been used by third party Web sites to create user profiles without the users' knowledge, and to track users' online activities across Web sites and visits. These and many other concerns have garnered national attention. The overarching problem can be categorized as involving informed consent: that users were neither adequately informed about what cookies do and how personal information would be used, nor adequately given a choice to decline participation. In our retrospective analysis, we have documented relevant design changes in Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer over a 5-year period, starting in 1995. Our retrospective analyses leads us to conclude that while cookie technology has improved over time regarding informed consent, some startling problems remain. We have specified six problems and have offered design remedies. Finally, we have drawn on our model, criteria, and design principles to redesign the browser Mozilla (the open-source code for Netscape Navigator) to better support informed consent in online interactions. Our modifications will be made available to the Mozilla community and, we hope, incorporated into future releases of Mozilla.

Our research also contributes to the emerging field of Value-Sensitive Design, situated in computation and social systems, software engineering, and human-computer interaction. This project represents one of the first efforts to apply Value-Sensitive Design theories and methods to the analysis and redesign of a real-world software system. This project contributes to a clearer understanding of the linkages among the conceptual, empirical, and theoretical investigations in Value-Sensitive Design. It also clarifies how to move from Value-Sensitive Design analyses to design to implementation, and highlights the iterative nature of these processes.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research. Other projects in this research strand include:

The Watcher and the Watched The Watcher and the Watched  [top]

Project Overview
As argued elsewhere (Friedman & Kahn, 2003) certain trends - technologically and societally - will pose particular challenges in terms of human values, ethics, and design. One trend is that computational technologies will increasingly allow for the erosion of personal privacy. Even today, for example, surveillance cameras capture our images in banks and airports, and in many stores, malls, and even streets. In cars, GPS navigation systems not only receive positioning data, but can broadcast one's position. Businesses can (and sometimes do) monitor workers' electronic communications. Indeed, think of perhaps the last bastion of the private space, the home; and recognize that "aware homes" of the future will have the potential to record virtually every movement an individual makes within his or her home, and to link that data to large networked databases.

Against this backdrop, we are investigating the effects of the augmented window not only on "direct stakeholders" (those people that are able to watch other people as they walk through a public space that is captured by a webcam) but "indirect stakeholders" (those people who in the course of their regular business on the University of Washington campus pass through the scene and have their images displayed on the augmented office window).

Our investigation focuses on direct and indirect stakeholders' social judgments of the boundaries of privacy in public spaces, informed consent, and other values affected by the augmented window view.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.
Other projects in this research strand include:


Network Browser Security & Human Values [top]

Network Browser Security

Project Overview
The common good of our information infrastructure depends on well-designed network security that is embraced by the public and private sectors. Well designed network security requires well-formed technical mechanisms and responsiveness to underlying moral and societal values, as well as a well-thought out system of user interactions. In recent years, significant efforts have been directed toward developing the technical dimensions of network security, but little systematic work investigates and integrates the corresponding dimensions of human values and user experience.

This collaborative project provides a model of interdisciplinary collaboration that can deepen our understanding of the cognitive, ethical and social implications of new types of inter-activity. It will study and implement security for a network browser that integrates these three key considerations: technical excellence, responsiveness to moral and societal values, and sensitivity to users' perceptions. It will: (1) develop a conceptual framework, or model, for network security that accounts for human values and user experience; (2) design and implement a working prototype of a network security system guided by the conceptual model; and (3) apply the experience of this project toward a better understanding of methodology for the general purpose of designing technology that is responsive, or sensitive to, human values.

Drawing on the technical, philosophical, and social science expertise of the three investigators, the work will begin with a close study of the network security in existing browsers such as Netscape 4.0 and Internet Explorer 4.0. The goal is to characterize the technical mechanisms, grasp value implications, and understand users' perceptions, of these systems. Based on this study, the investigators will develop a conceptual model that represents the interaction among technical characteristics, values supported by (or embodied in) the system, and users' perceptions of their interactive experience with it. This model will guide the next phase of the project: to design and implement a prototype for a security configuration that is explicitly responsive to values and users' perceptions. User studies and further philosophical analysis of the prototype will be used, in turn, to refine the security configuration and, ultimately, to refine and assess the model itself. Through industry contacts and other traditional methods, the investigators will disseminate the results of their study, including the conceptual model, prototype, and aspects of the multidisciplinary methodology they develop.

Additional Information
For further information, please see the publications related to this strand of research.