Titulo Estágio
Developing tools to support ethical and responsible design and innovation
Local do Estágio
DEI-FCTUC
Enquadramento
Digital technologies are nowadays a pervasive and significant part of our everyday life. As technology reaches into every aspect of our daily lives, the ethical and moral responsibilities of designers increase. Since designers project and develop the tools of tomorrow, designers ultimately shape tomorrows’ society. An important framework that discusses the ethical dilemmas that can emerge in the context of design and technology is the In-Action Ethics framework. In particular, this framework identified some of the key qualities to be considered by teams while designing and developing products and services.
Building upon this framework and other similar ones, this dissertation will contribute to the development of In-Action Ethics by creating and validating tools that can support teams in carrying out their design and development processes (e.g. https://www.ethicsfordesigners.com/). These tools can take a diversity of forms, from templates, to canvas, visual maps or card-based games among others and their final form will depend on the interests and skills of the student as well as the findings from research with experts. Regardless of the final form of the tools, they are expected to contribute to capture, describe, and guide the main steps into developing an ethical and responsible design process.
References:
C. Frauenberger, M. Rauhala, and G. Fitzpatrick, “In-Action Ethics,” Interact Comput, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 220–236, Mar. 2017, doi: 10.1093/iwc/iww024.
Michael J Quinn, “Ethics for the Information Age” (7th Edition) (9780134296548), 2016, https://www.amazon.com/Ethics-Information-Age-Michael-Quinn/dp/0134296540
Objetivo
The goal of this dissertation is to develop a series of tools (e.g. canvas, visual maps or card-based games) that can capture, describe, and guide the main steps into developing an ethical and responsible design process.
This will invite the student to study and reflect on the ethical dilemmas of designing technology in the 21st century, from a practical perspective and through the lenses of the area of Human-Computer Interaction.
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 1
- Literature review and state of the art on ethical and responsible design and innovation
- Contextual research (e.g. fieldwork/interviews with researchers and practitioners in industry and R&D organisations)
- Exploration and experimentation with existing tools for design teams
- Conceptualisation and exploration of tools that can support ethical and responsible design and innovation
- Intermediate dissertation document writing
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 2
- (Co-)Prototyping, (co-)design, and iteration of tools that can support ethical and responsible design and innovation
- Validation of a subset of tools with researchers and practitioners
- Dissertation writing
Condições
The student is expected to have an interest in the Human-Computer Interaction discipline and in developing ethical and responsible innovation. Fluency in English is a plus.
Observações
Students are encouraged to send an email to Dr Paula Alexandra Silva (paulasilva@dei.uc.pt) before applying for the project. Feel free to include your CV and state skills and interests you may have in the topic.
Orientador
Paula Alexandra Silva
paulasilva@dei.uc.pt 📩