鈥淚 think that many of the ethical problems in tech are unintentional; it鈥檚 not that people don鈥檛 care about ethics, it鈥檚 that they don鈥檛 necessarily see the potential harms. And I think this is something we can get better at.听
Casey Fiesler
Assistant Professor
Information Science
Almost every news cycle delivers headlines alerting readers to yet another tech transgression. In each case, by the time an issue is reported, damage has already been done.
Since the founding of early Silicon Valley companies like Apple, Atari and Oracle in the 1970s, the tech industry has expanded to shape almost every aspect of people鈥檚 lives鈥撯�揻rom the ways we connect and communicate to how police investigate crimes to the tools we use to learn and work.听
With this widespread influence, it鈥檚 reasonable to expect that tech companies would carefully consider the consequences of products before launching them. Instead, the motto made famous by Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, 鈥渕ove fast and break things,鈥� sums up how the industry often prioritizes speed and innovation over caution and care.听
鈥淥ne known consequence of 鈥榤ove fast and break things鈥� is what鈥檚 known in the tech industry as 鈥榯echnical debt鈥欌�攖he implied cost of future bug fixes when you rush to release something now with the intention of handling problems later once you know what they are,鈥� says Casey Fiesler, assistant professor in CMCI鈥檚 Department of Information Science. 鈥�, we鈥檝e been talking about 鈥榚thical debt鈥欌�攖he cost of assuming you can deal with ethical harms once tech is out in the real world and you see what happens. The problem is, by that point, it鈥檚 too late because the harm is already done.鈥�
For the next chapter in her career, Fiesler鈥撯�搘ho studies technology ethics, internet law and policy, and online communities鈥撯�搘ill launch a five-year research project on ethical speculation in technology design. Her work will be supported by a $549,513 CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation鈥撯�搊ne of the most prestigious awards given to baby直播app in the early phases of their careers.
The project will entail four phases, all of which Fiesler has tied to courses at CU on programming, information ethics and other areas of computing.听
The first two phases will focus on identifying patterns and pitfalls in the industry and speculating on future harms, with a particular focus on marginalized communities. Throughout the final two phases, she鈥檒l teach students to engage in group-based speculative design and work with them to develop and evaluate a speculative ethics toolkit aimed at helping designers anticipate potential technology problems before their products are released.听
Key outcomes will include taxonomies of past tech ethics controversies and speculative harms; a speculative ethics toolkit with guidance on potential pitfalls for new technology; and an understanding of the differences in harm perception for and by marginalized groups.
鈥淚 think that many of the ethical problems in tech are unintentional; it鈥檚 not that people don鈥檛 care about ethics, it鈥檚 that they don鈥檛 necessarily see the potential harms. And I think this is something we can get better at,鈥� Fiesler says.
We caught up with Fiesler to learn more about her project, 鈥淪caffolding Ethical Speculation in Technology Design,鈥� how her background in law and science fiction supports her research, and the most common questions she fields on her popular TikTok channel.听
听In a nutshell, what is the focus of this five-year research project?
When you hear about some new tech ethics controversy in the news (misinformation! privacy violations! harassment!), you might think: shouldn鈥檛 they have known that would happen? One way of thinking about ethics in tech is that it requires speculating about future harms. This project is about helping people do that. My students and I will be doing work to find patterns in the controversies of the past, to center traditionally marginalized voices in imagining future harms, and ultimately, to develop strategies to help technologists do this kind of ethical speculation, both in the classroom and in the tech industry.听
听You鈥檝e pointed out that ethics is often left out of computer science education altogether. When it is included, what issues can arise and how do you hope to address them?
I鈥檓 sometimes shocked by how many students (at many different universities) tell me they barely hear about ethics at all as part of their computer science curriculum. Even when it is strongly included, the most common model I see is standalone ethics classes, as opposed to teaching it in context all along the way. Standalone classes are great too (I teach one!) but I think that this model alone can give the impression that ethics is a specialization or an add-on rather than something everyone thinks about as part of their technical practice. I鈥檝e been really excited to integrate ethics content into intro programming classes in both Information Science and Computer Science here at CU, and am looking forward to working with a number of project-based computing classes as part of this new work!
听Do you see a hunger among students for lessons on technology ethics?听
Absolutely! Not only among our students but also with the large number of students I interact with online, I am seeing a huge increase in interest in tech ethics. One of the most common questions I get on TikTok is 鈥渉ow do I learn more about this?鈥� or 鈥渨hy isn鈥檛 this in my classes more?鈥� My hope is that this growing awareness contributes to a cultural shift that directly impacts tech companies鈥撯�搘hen they hire these young people in the future, or potentially when they lose good talent because ethical reputation influences decisions about where to work.
听Speaking of consequences, is there an impetus鈥撯�揻inancial or otherwise鈥撯�揻or tech companies to begin baking ethical considerations into their process from the beginning, rather than viewing ethics as an afterthought?听
I would like to think that many tech companies want to do the right thing, or at least don鈥檛 want their tech to do harm. However, even when there鈥檚 not an altruistic motive, there鈥檚 always the threat of bad PR! This is one of the reasons that I鈥檝e centered controversy as part of this research; whereas I don鈥檛 think that media coverage can account for all types of harms (which is why I think it鈥檚 important to also work directly with groups traditionally underrepresented in media and in the tech industry), it can be a window into how we can frame ethical issues in ways tech industry folks might care about.
听Your background includes studying law and writing science fiction. How did these interests and skills lead you toward a focus in tech ethics, and how will they play into this project?听
In law school, they teach you to 鈥渢hink like a lawyer,鈥� which is in part about issue spotting. Can you look at a complicated fact pattern and identify the potential legal issues? Meanwhile, writing science fiction is about imagining the world as it might be in the future, and often, the things that might go wrong.听
When I teach ethics, I try to cultivate both of these skills in my students so they can see new technology and spot potential issues, even those that might arise in the future. Discussing Black Mirror in class is engaging鈥撯�搒o if you can get excited about imagining the ethical implications of some technology that someone might build in 50 years, then why can鈥檛 you imagine the ethical implications of the technology you might build tomorrow? A large part of my motivation for this project was imagining how I could cultivate these skills even better.
听Is there anything about what鈥檚 going on in the tech world today鈥撯�搊r just the world in general鈥撯�搕hat makes you think, now鈥檚 the time when this could really catch on?
鈥淓thics鈥� as a term can be shorthand for a lot of related issues, including responsibility and justice. I鈥檝e talked a lot about harm but thinking about making tech better goes beyond that. I think that there鈥檚 a hunger for social justice right now, and that tech has an important role to play鈥撯�搉ot just in making sure it isn鈥檛 contributing to injustice, but also how it might contribute to making things better.听
听What makes you furious about the world of tech ethics and what gives you hope?
I鈥檝e been thinking a lot lately about how often technological harm seems to be in part rooted in a lack of empathy鈥撯�揳n inability to understand or even perceive harms to someone who isn鈥檛 like you. And not only are marginalized groups (e.g., BIPOC, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities) disproportionately impacted by technological harms, but they are also underrepresented in computing.听
This is one reason why I think that diversity in the tech industry implicates ethical design as well. Changing who is in the room is only part of the solution, but it鈥檚 a good step. So it鈥檚 incredibly frustrating to continue to see a lack of diversity at all stages in the tech pipeline, and to continue to hear excuses for it. But at the same time, I also see movement in the right direction. And what gives me hope are the increasingly loud voices calling for change when it comes to equity, justice, ethics, and just making tech better.听
Learn more about Fiesler鈥檚 work in her recent article for Wired, 鈥溾�� (co-authored with Information Science PhD student Natalie Garrett), her interview with Forbes, 鈥�,鈥� and in CMCI Now and CU Boulder Today. You can also check out her to learn even more about her team鈥檚 research!
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