Apologos: A Lightweight Design Method for Sociotechnical Inquiry

Luke Stark

doi:10.23919/jsc.2021.0028

Abstract

While scholars involved in studying the ethics and politics flowing from digital information and communication systems have sought to impact the design and deployment of digital technologies, the fast pace and iterative tempo of technical development in these contexts, and the lack of structured engagement with sociotechnical questions, have been major barriers to ensuring values are considered explicitly in the R&D process. Here I introduce Apologos, a lightweight design methodology informed by the author's experience of the challenges and opportunities of interdisciplinary collaboration between computational and social sciences over a five-year period. Apologos, which is inspired by “design apologetics”, is intended as an initial mechanism to introduce technologists to the process of considering how human values impact the digital design process.

Highlights

Human values pervade technical systems of all kinds[1], including computational technologies such as machine learning (ML) and other digital automation systems often termed artificial intelligence (AI)[2,3,4]
Scholars involved in studying the ethics and politics of digital information and communication systems have long sought to have a concrete impact on the design and deployment of such artifacts in technical research and development (R&D) contexts such as academic laboratories and commercial development spaces[26,27,28,29]
The fast pace and iterative tempo of technical development in these contexts, and the importance of business decisions over wider societal concerns, have been major barriers to ensuring consideration of human norms and values is at play at every stage in the R&D process[30]

Summary

Introduction

Human values pervade technical systems of all kinds[1], including computational technologies such as machine learning (ML) and other digital automation systems often termed artificial intelligence (AI)[2,3,4]. Apologos is inspired by the notion of “design apologetics”[33], which uses speculation to appraise technologies and their social impacts This method seeks to present a coherent, practical, and principled approach to the problem of actively identifying norms, ethics, and values in a design process quickly. The author deploys insights from scholarship in design fiction[38], speculative design[39, 40], and the notion of “design apologetics”—thought experiments through which participants in a design process work backwards from existing or prospective artifacts to destabilize and make novel the normative notions behind digital technologies and systems Such design apologetics ideally stimulate productive disorientation[41], and generative reflection about these technologies’ possible social effects. What does the “nitty-gritty” of collaboration between computer scientists, social scientists, and humanists tell us about how to work across the socio-technical divide? Second, how can this experience shape an efficacious method for introducing audiences to the rich existing literature exploring how human values come to bear on the process of designing computational systems?

Lessons from Future Architecture Project

Key emergent theme

Apologos as Design Prompt

Conclusion