Teaching Tech Ethics and Ethnography: The Human in Human-Computer Interaction

• In Event: Constellation Thinking and AI Ethics

Abstract

Do machines have culture?  How do engineers write themselves into their products? Can we better anticipate the unexpected and unwanted consequences of technologies?

We will discuss our experience designing and teaching the first known university course on the use of ethnographic methods to explore the social impacts and ethical issues of technologies in industry settings

Taking as its point of departure the discipline of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), which examines the design and use of computer technology, the course shifted the focus to the humans creating and utilizing the technology. It invited participants to think about computer science and social science together and to learn how ethnographic methods can be utilized for ethical thinking and design in technology. It combined rigorous theoretical thinking with hands-on in-the-field research, where students devised and engaged in their own ethnographic research projects. Students were from a wide range of disciplines, including: computer science, engineering, medicine, anthropology, sociology, and the humanities. The goal was to have a truly interdisciplinary and open-ended discussion about one of the most pressing social issues of our time, while giving students skills-based training in qualitative methods.

Author

• Cordelia Erickson-Davis, Stanford University