Applying
Value-Sensitive Design
How to embody our values in design?
• Recall the need for VSD?
• There are some values we hold dear.
• Could ensure these values were upheld by:
• Changing behaviour
• Through institutions and laws
• But now, we have technology!
• These technologies should reflect our values.
• How to translate?
Scope for this lecture
• Can technology embody values?
• What values should we include in design?
• How can we translate values into design requirements?
Can technology embody values?
• 3 viewpoints to think of values in technology
• Instrumentalism
• Substantivism
• Interactionism
Instrumentalism
• Technology is value-neutral.
• It is only a matter of how we use it.
Substantivism
• Technology is value-laden.
• Independent of human choices and actions.
• Overlooks human influence in its creation and use.
Interactionism
• Value is created dynamically.
Designers
• Depends on our interactions with
technology.
• Human influence in both creation and
use of technology.
Technology
Users
What values should we include in design?
• Sources of values in design
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Design brief
Designers
Users and stakeholders
Laws and government policies
Technical codes and standards
Codes of ethics and other moral concerns
What values should we include in design?
• This is a normative question: What *should* we do?
• People may answer very differently: value pluralism.
• Becomes harder to prioritise values, but not impossible.
Dealing with value pluralism.
• Some agreement on some core values.
• Disagreement about importance of values but not
outright rejection.
• Addressing different stakeholders’ values in design
may be possible.
Intrinsic Value vs Instrumental Value
• A way to distinguish between values.
• Intrinsic values: valuable for their own sake.
(e.g. truth, beauty, love)
• Instrumental values: valuable because they contribute to
something else that is valuable (e.g. money).
How to translate values into
design requirements?
Values
Overview of
Values Hierarchy
Norms
Design Requirements
Values Hierarchy for poultry battery cages.
Animal
welfare
Values
Enough
living space
Norms
Design requirements
at least
450 cm2
floor area
per hen
10 cm
feeding
trough per
bird
Presence of
laying nests
40 cm
height over
at least
65% of the
area
floor-slope
of
maximally
14%
Litter
Perches
Constructing values hierarchy for biofuels.
• What are biofuels?
• Fuels that are based on relatively recent lifeless or
living biological material.
• Why use biofuels?
• To deal with expected shortage of fossil fuels.
• To reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (esp. CO2).
Biofuels: some criticisms.
• Environmental effects
• Effects on food production
and food prices due to
resource competition.
• Ethical design possible?
Biofuels & VSD
Sustainability
Intergenerational
justice
Sustain availability
of fuels
Effective fuel
Renewable
Reliable supply
Competitive price
Reduce
greenhouse gas
emissions
High energy
efficiency
No additional
greenhouse
emissions from
cultivation,
production and
transportation
Intragenerational
justice
Care for nature
Avoid increase in
other
environmental
problems
No increased use
of fertilizer and
pesticides
No over-use of
water and of
other inputs
No increased air
pollution
Maintain
biodiversity
Cultivation should
not have negative
effects on
biodiversity
Avoid (additional)
increase in food
prices
Non-edible
No competition
for agricultural
land and other
inputs
Provide
opportunities to
developing
countries
Can be produced
in developing
countries
Can be produced
on small scale
and with limited
investments
Ensure just reward
Flexible use of
license
agreements for IP
(intellectual
Property)
Should not
deteriorate
working
conditions for
farmers
Biofuels & VSD
Sustainability
Intergenerational
justice
Sustain availability
of fuels
Effective fuel
Renewable
Reliable supply
Competitive price
Reduce
greenhouse gas
emissions
High energy
efficiency
No additional
greenhouse
emissions from
cultivation,
production and
transportation
Intragenerational
justice
Care for nature
Avoid increase in
other
environmental
problems
No increased use
of fertilizer and
pesticides
No over-use of
water and of
other inputs
No increased air
pollution
Maintain
biodiversity
Cultivation should
not have negative
effects on
biodiversity
Avoid (additional)
increase in food
prices
Non-edible
No competition
for agricultural
land and other
inputs
Provide
opportunities to
developing
countries
Can be produced
in developing
countries
Can be produced
on small scale
and with limited
investments
Ensure just reward
Flexible use of
license
agreements for IP
(intellectual
Property)
Should not
deteriorate
working
conditions for
farmers
Biofuels & VSD
Sustainability
Intergenerational
justice
Sustain availability
of fuels
Effective fuel
Renewable
Reliable supply
Competitive price
Reduce
greenhouse gas
emissions
High energy
efficiency
No additional
greenhouse
emissions from
cultivation,
production and
transportation
Intragenerational
justice
Care for nature
Avoid increase in
other
environmental
problems
No increased use
of fertilizer and
pesticides
No over-use of
water and of
other inputs
No increased air
pollution
Maintain
biodiversity
Cultivation should
not have negative
effects on
biodiversity
Avoid (additional)
increase in food
prices
Non-edible
No competition
for agricultural
land and other
inputs
Provide
opportunities to
developing
countries
Can be produced
in developing
countries
Can be produced
on small scale
and with limited
investments
Ensure just reward
Flexible use of
license
agreements for IP
(intellectual
Property)
Should not
deteroriate
working
conditions for
farmers
Biofuels & VSD
Sustainability
Intergenerational
justice
Sustain availability
of fuels
Effective fuel
Renewable
Reliable supply
Competitive price
Reduce
greenhouse gas
emissions
High energy
efficiency
No additional
greenhouse
emissions from
cultivation,
production and
transportation
Intragenerational
justice
Care for nature
Avoid increase in
other
environmental
problems
No increased use
of fertilizer and
pesticides
No over-use of
water and of
other inputs
No increased air
pollution
Maintain
biodiversity
Cultivation should
not have negative
effects on
biodiversity
Avoid (additional)
increase in food
prices
Non-edible
No competition
for agricultural
land and other
inputs
Provide
opportunities to
developing
countries
Can be produced
in developing
countries
Can be produced
on small scale
and with limited
investments
Ensure just reward
Flexible use of
license
agreements for IP
(intellectual
Property)
Should not
deteriorate
working
conditions for
farmers
Biofuels & VSD
Sustainability
Intergenerational
justice
Sustain availability
of fuels
Effective fuel
Renewable
Reliable supply
Competitive price
Reduce
greenhouse gas
emissions
High energy
efficiency
No additional
greenhouse
emissions from
cultivation,
production and
transportation
Intragenerational
justice
Care for nature
Avoid increase in
other
environmental
problems
No increased use
of fertilizer and
pesticides
No over-use of
water and of
other inputs
No increased air
pollution
Maintain
biodiversity
Cultivation should
not have negative
effects on
biodiversity
Avoid (additional)
increase in food
prices
Non-edible
No competition
for agricultural
land and other
inputs
Provide
opportunities to
developping
countries
Can be produced
in developing
countries
Can be produced
on small scale
and with limited
investments
Ensure just reward
Flexible use of
license
agreemnets for IP
(intellectual
Property)
Should not
detoriate working
conditions for
farmers
Evolution of biofuels: responsible innovation?
• First generation biofuels: (existing) food crops.
• Second generation: non-edible crops but
competition for land and some negative ecological effects.
• Third generation: based on bacteria and algae
(but still very expensive).
Constructing a values hierarchy.
• Can be done top-down or bottom-up.
• Usually in combination in an iterative process
• Top-down:
• Specification of values into operational alternatives
• Bottom-up:
• Asking what greater purpose are we trying to achieve?
Rethinking battery cages and biofuels.
• Does meeting lower level norms count as
an instance of meeting higher level norms or values?
Animal
welfare
Values
Enough
living space
Norms
Design requirements
at least
450 cm2
floor area
per hen
10 cm
feeding
trough per
bird
Presence of
laying nests
40 cm
height over
at least
65% of the
area
?
floor-slope
of
maximally
14%
Litter
Perches
What we covered in this lecture
• How to embody values in design?
• Defending the interactionist position.
• Value pluralism and how to deal with it?
• Values hierarchy: translating values into design.
Thank you for your attention!
Please post any questions you may have in our discussion forum.