Consequences of Computing:
A Framework for Teaching

Principles and Skills Underlying the Social and Ethical Dimensions - Page 26 of 36

[SP2] Power relations are central in all social interaction. Regardless of the protestations of actors in social situations, social relations are shot through with implicit and explicit considerations of power. Designers of technology need to be aware of the power of different parties in an organization as they attempt to design software for that organization. Being aware of these power relations does not imply the designer should take the side of the underdog. It does involve being aware that, for instance, demands for security access may have more to do with tactical power struggles in an organization than with a need for a particular security arrangement [53].

An awareness of power relations can be taught in the software design course, and in the ethical and social issues in computing course. In addition, case analysis done in other technical courses (e.g. database design) can make students aware of the power inequities present in the case that is analyzed.

[SP3] Technology embodies value decisions made by designers. It is a common claim that technology is neutral with regard to values. Those who disagree usually counter that "technology is value-laden" or that "artifacts have politics" -- seeming to imply that the technology itself somehow espouses particular values. Because we are interested in the practical aspects of the design and implementation of computing technology, we would like to rephrase this issue as a principle with which we think both sides in this argument can agree.

Since we have already argued that design often, if not always, involves ethical decisions based on social context and social values, we simply need to say here that technology transmits or embodies those value decisions (or sometimes, assumptions) made during the design stage. Interface design is a clear example of this transmission. Interface designers must make particular assumptions about what their users will be like, what skills and interests they will have, what esthetic standards they will employ, and how quickly they will learn. The interface that is designed embodies these assumptions and succeeds or fails to the extent that the assumptions were correct. Database designs also embody assumptions about what items are important, what ways of linking items are important, and what security is necessary for a particular design. This can easily be extended to systems architecture, networking, and other central technical areas of computing.

Again, this principle can be equally well explored in the dedicated class in this area, or in a class on software design. But it can also be addressed in every technical class by means of making explicit the assumptions about users and their social context that are embedded in particular designs.