Ethical and Social Questions in the Design of Technology

Engineering design

The activity in which certain functions are translated into a blueprint for an artifact, system, or service that can fulfill these functions with the help of engineering knowledge

Design process

An iterative process in which certain functions are translated into a blueprint for an artifact, system, or service.

Problem analysis stage

The stage of the design process in which the designer or the design team analyzes and formulates the design problem, including the design requirements

Design requirements

Requirements that a good or acceptable design has to do the following:

Technical codes and standards

Technical codes are legal requirements that are enforced by a governmental body to protect safety, health, and other relevant values. Technical standards are usually recommendations rather than legal requirements that are written by engineering experts in standardization committees

Certification

The process in which a certain technology is judged to meet the applicable technical codes and standards

Conceptual design stage

The stage in which the designer or the design team generates concept designs. The focus is on an integral approach to the design problem.

Creativity

The virtue of being able to think out or invent, often unexpected, options or ideas

Simulation stage

The stage of the design process in which the designer or the design team checks through calculations, tests, and simulations whether the concept designs meet the design requirements

Decision stage

The stage of the design process in which various concept designs are compared with each other and a choice is made for a design

Design criteria

A kind of design requirements which are formulated in such a way that products meet them to a greater or lesser extent. Design criteria are often used to compare and choose between different concept designs.

Trade

off

Organizational deviance

Norms that are seen as deviant or unethical outside the organization are seen within the organization as normal and legitimate

Detail design stage

The stage in which a chosen design is elaborated on and detailed

Test

Trying out the technology in circumstances set and controlled by the experimenter, and in which data are gathered systematically about how the technology functions in practice

Value conflict

A value conflict arises if the following conditions apply:

Trumping of values

If one value trumps another any (small) amount of the first value is worth more than any (large) amount of the second value

Cost

benefit analysis

Discount rate

The rate that is used in cost

Contingent validation

An approach to express values such as safety or sustainability in monetary units by asking people how much they are willing to pay for a certain level of safety or sustainability (for example, the preservation of a piece of beautiful nature thrown into the free market for buyers and sellers to decide.)

Incommensurability

Two (or more) values are incommensurable if they cannot be expressed or measured on a universal scale in terms of a universal value measure

Multiple criteria analysis

A method for comparing alternative in which various decision criteria are distinguished on basis of which alternative are scored. On basis of the score of each alternative on the individual criteria, usually a total score is calculated for each alternative

Threshold

The minimal level of a (design) criterion or value that an alternative has to meet in order to be acceptable with respect to that criterion or value

Value sensitive design

An approach that aims at integrating values of ethical importance in a systematic way in engineering design

Empirical investigations

Empirical investigations aim at understanding the contexts and experiences of the people affected by technological designs

Conceptual investigations

Conceptual investigations aim at clarifying the values at stake, and at making trade

Technical investigations

Technical investigations analyze designs and their operational principles to assess how well they support particular values, and develop new innovative designs that meet particularly morally relevant values

Regulatory framework

The totality of (product-specific) rules that apply to the design and development of a technology.

Normal design

Design in which the normal configuration and working principle of the product remain the same

Radical design

The opposite of normal design. Design in which either the normal configuration or the working principle (or both) of an existing product is changed

Working principle

The (scientific) principle on which the working of a product is based