"That's Not An Architecture Problem!": Techniques and Challenges for Practicing Anticipatory Technology Ethics

Anticipatory technology ethics is the practice of analyzing how emerging technologies will be built, imagining how they might be used, and interpreting what their consequences might be. Information researchers and professionals are increasingly interested in understanding the possible social impacts of technologies before wide-spread deployment, and anticipatory technology ethics provides one lens through which to do so. This paper reports on two anticipatory ethics projects. These contrasting projects tested techniques for practicing anticipatory ethics, and also illuminated challenges that stem from diverse engineering work practices and the design of user-facing versus infrastructural technologies. In particular, the paper focuses on the problem of at what layer ethical issues can be found in technology design, and the ways that the material realities of design impact developers’ willingness and readiness to participate in anticipatory ethics.ye