Journal of responsible technology最新文献

Social sciences are investigating the societal implications of using blockchains for social collaborative economies and participatory practices. This article contributes by advancing an original approach to blockchain-based applications defined as Civic Blockchain. It is implemented with a wallet app currently experimented upon in local communities.

Our approach is informed by an analysis of the critical literature on ethical and design dilemmas concerning blockchain for social impact. The conceptual framework revolves around three principles (Internet of Values 2.0, disintermediation of services, and local adaptation), that are reflected in our technical choices. The approach makes blockchains accessible to local community members, leveraging some of their core affordances and advancing new interpretations with a focus on technical and economic accessibility. Blockchain technology can support new socio-economic practices on a local level when intentional actions are undertaken by developers and users to address the societal challenges.

This paper examines the notion of capability development through the lens of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). It describes how RRI capabilities can be promoted and developed through capacity-building activities by drawing on a reflection of the experiences of some members of the Ethics and Society team of the EU-funded Human Brain Project (HBP) who have contributed to the development of an extensive RRI capacity building programme for HBP researchers, EBRAINS research infrastructure developers and users, as well as interested external audiences. It also highlights some of the outcomes of the RRI capacity-building exercise and the challenge of assessing the impact of such activities.

Responsible Innovation (RI) aims to enable research and innovation to take a more systematic approach to anticipating potential risks and consequences of planned research/innovative outputs. The Anticipation, Reflection, Engagement and Action (AREA) framework provides a flexible mechanism for organisations and researchers to align research and innovation with societal values, needs and challenges. However, its actual application may prove challenging for practitioners. In this paper, we describe how the AREA framework has been embedded in an interdisciplinary research project in the UK over the period of 2019–2021 through dedicated monthly RI workshops. To gain insights from this practice, we have collected qualitative data from discussions throughout the project and performed a systematic analysis of the logging practice itself. We discuss benefits and challenges associated with embedding an RI framework within an interdisciplinary research team, and present recommendations for future adoption of the AREA framework in a cross-disciplinary research setting.

The UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) were adopted by the United Nations as a “universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity.”  These goals prove to have a strong appeal to managers in both public and private sectors. Despite the popularity of the goals, little is known about the consequences (intended and unintended, desired and undesired) of organisations adopting SDGs in their management practices. Therefore, our research question is: “What is the potential role of SDGs as an accountability mechanism?”  The following article will study how organisations responsible for technological infrastructures in the Netherlands use the SDGs as an accountability mechanism. To do this, the authors will first provide an overview of the SDGs and how we conceptualize accountability. We will then present our case study methodology before looking at a single case study based on interviews with employees from three organizations running infrastructure in the Netherlands. Based on this case study, we will provide a broader analysis of the key tensions that are becoming apparent when using the SDGs as an accountability mechanism. In conclusion, we will argue that the SDGs may provide a valuable tool to make organizations more accountable to societal needs, however further shifts are needed in the way the accountability mechanisms are designed in order to ensure meaningful accountability.

The emergence of OpenAI's ChatGPT has put intense spotlight on Generative AI (Gen-AI) systems and their possible impacts on Academic integrity. This paper provides an overview of the current arguments around ChatGPT and Academic integrity and concludes that although these technologies are capable of revolutionising academia, the way ChatGPT and other generative AI systems are used could surely undermine academic integrity. However, to ensure that the risks to academic integrity are mitigated for greater maximisation, institutional and multi-stakeholder efforts are required.

Here we reflect on how a multidisciplinary working group explored the ethical complexities of the use of new technologies for data sharing in the food supply chain. We used a three-part process of varied design methods, which included collaborative ideation and speculative scenario development, the creation of design fiction objects, and assessment using the Moral-IT deck, a card-based tool. We present, through the lens of the EPSRC's Framework for Responsible Innovation how processes of anticipation, reflection, engagement and action built a plausible, fictional world in which a data trust uses artificial intelligence (AI) to support data sharing and decision-making across the food supply chain. This approach provides rich opportunities for considering ethical challenges to data sharing as part of a reflexive and engaged responsible innovation approach. We reflect on the value and potential of this approach as a method for engaged (co-)design and responsible innovation.

In this paper we present findings of research into Trust, specifically within the context of Autonomous Systems. The research is based upon an exploratory workshop attended by domain experts from academia and industry. The aim of the work is to synthesise interdisciplinary and high-level understandings of pertinent issues into a singular and cohesive Master Narrative relating to Trust an Autonomous Systems. The inquiry constructs a Master Narrative that casts Trust as a notion that is necessarily constructed by complex relationships, disciplinary lenses, and multiple concurrent stakeholders. We term this ‘Trust as a Distributed Concern’. The paper describes the research and analysis which underpins the concept of Trust as a Distributed Concern and discusses how the concept may be operationalised in research and innovation contexts.