Value-Sensitive Design Approach Discussion

1 and 3-Hour

(One Page, Single Spaced, 12-Point Font)

Read Case NSPE No 98-9 Duty to report unsafe conditions/client request for secrecy NSPE No 98-9.pdf Download NSPE No 98-9.pdf

For the Citicorp building, occupants weren’t forced to leave but they did not choose to stay either (in fact they weren’t aware that they had a choice at all). Is that okay with you? Do they have the right to know that building remediation is occurring?
Do we as engineers have the right to act as paternalistic decision-makers over one’s safety? Do you see this as different than for example seatbelt or motorcycle helmet laws?

3-Hour (additional Homework)

(No page limit)

Read “Integrating ethics in design” by M.L. Cummings

What sort of VSD product would you design and how would it function?
Who would be the direct and indirect stakeholders?
What are some of the conceptual issues (e.g., human welfare, ownership and property, privacy, bias, usability)?
How would you modify the design of your product once considering the conceptual issues?

Reference Materials

NSPE Case No 98-9 Duty to report unsafe conditions/client request for secrecy (Approved 1/22/99)
Cummings, M.L. (2006). “Integrating ethics in design through the value-sensitive design approach.” Science and Engineering Ethics, 12, 701-715.