Addressing governance and ethics in European technology development projects through scenarios

Failures to consider the ethical aspects of technology development and design have resulted in significant negative impacts on individuals over the last decade. In consequence we have seen the emergence and growing interest in technology design movements such as “value sensitive design” and “privacy by design” aimed at specifically addressing issues of social and ethical impact. However, there is still a long way to go in raising awareness of ethical issues in technology design. This paper presents research undertaken as part of the European co-funded project “EGAIS’ which addresses precisely this issue of ethics consideration in technology development. A key component of the awareness raising initiative in technology design is the use of scenarios to prompt thinking across a range of stakeholders, and with this in mind the authors conducted a workshop at this IFIP Summer School using a scenario to stimulate discussion and promote ‘context aware’ thinking. A summary of the discussions, key points, and suggestions for further work are included here