[liberationtech] ‘Kind’ technology?

[Charles M. Ess]

I'm not sure if it's quite in the direction you have in mind, but in 
Scandinavia and now a bit more broadly in Europe at least, there is a 
growing tradition of "slow technology" - aimed at helping us slow down 
rather than always be in the service (enslavement) of greater 
efficiencies, etc.
This tradition begins with the work of J. Redström (2002) and is 
elaborated on in  Patrignani and Whitehouse:
… offers people more time for reflection and for the processes needed to 
design and use ICT that takes into account human well-being (good ICT), 
the whole life cycle of the materials, energy, and products used to 
create, manufacture, power, and dispose of ICT (clean ICT), and the 
working conditions of workers throughout the entire ICT supply chain 
(fair ICT). (Patrignani, Norberto, and Diane Whitehouse. 2018. Slow Tech 
and ICT: A Responsible, Sustainable and Ethical Approach. London: 
Palgrave Macmillan.2018, 1)

"Well-being" resonates with virtue ethics' emphases on flourishing and 
good lives, both individually and collective - one of the premier 
examples of taking virtue ethics as a foundation for design approaches is:
Spiekermann, Sarah. 2016. Ethical IT Innovation: A Value-Based System 
Design Approach. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Most hearteningly (from my perspective) these approaches are 
increasingly being taken on board in various engineering projects and 
communities - including the IEEE "Global Initiative for Ethical 
Considerations in the Design of Autonomous Systems"
(<http://standards.ieee.org/develop/indcon/ec/autonomous_systems.html>).

It seems to me that the collective norms and aims in play here would at 
least resonate with "kind technology"?  In some ways, that is, even in 
the privileged worlds I experience and work in, the enveloping and 
not-always beneficent character of ICT/ networked technologies make all 
of us vulnerable populations - though I am acutely aware that these are 
enormous differences in terms of context, culture, economic resources, 
etc. as well.

In all events, hope this might be helpful and of interest in some way. 
And best of luck!

- charles ess

On 04/02/18 15:09, Yosem Companys wrote:
> From: *Harnidh Kaur* <kharnidh at gmail.com <mailto:kharnidh at gmail.com>>
> 
> I don’t think most of you know this, but I work in the development space
> and we’re always trying to find cool ways to make tech make the world
> better. I’ve been trying to read up more about the same. So, here.
> 
> Is ‘kind technology’ a thing? Where people are trying to change gears of
> existing/incumbent technology to specifically serve vulnerable populations?
> 
> Any existing ideas/something you’re working on/things you think SHOULD find
> a kind tech iteration. Gimme!
> --
> Regards
> 
> Harnidh Kaur
> Lady Shri Ram College for Women '15
> St. Xavier's College, Mumbai '17
> Foreverawkwardandlearning.wordpress.com 
> <http://Foreverawkwardandlearning.wordpress.com>
> <http://foreverawkwardandlearning.wordpress.com/ 
> <http://foreverawkwardandlearning.wordpress.com/>>
> +91-7718951383 <tel:%2B91-7718951383>
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Professor in Media Studies
Department of Media and Communication
University of Oslo
<http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>

Postboks 1093
Blindern 0317
Oslo, Norway
c.m.ess at media.uio.no