Mashcat Boston

Value Sensitive Design

University of Washington LibrariesKatherine Deibel, PhDUniversity of Washington Libraries

deibel@uw.edu@metageeky

1 2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston2

Motivation#mashcat discussions have brought up the need to better understand and address diversity issues.

In particular is recognizing the need to re-design: Cataloging methods to better reflect

identities, cultures, and ever-evolving languages

Library technology to facilitate these changes as well as promoting discovery of these issues

Value Sensitive Design may help us achieve these goals

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston3

What is Value Sensitive Design?A design methodology to account for and incorporate human values throughout the design process Developed by Batya Friedman Expands upon traditional user-centered

design efforts

Key Principles: Human values Interactional approach Direct and indirect stakeholders Cross-disciplinary, tripartite methodology 2016-01-

13

4

Principle: Human ValuesA value is a concept or aspect that a person or group of people judge as important in life.

Examples: Privacy Human welfare Freedom from harm Diversity

Mashcat Boston 2016-01-13

Community Trust Sense of Identity Literacy

Mashcat Boston5

Principle: Interactional PerspectiveMany scholars have debated the relationship between society/culture and technology usage: Some argue that society/culture dictates tech

usage Others argue that tech usage shapes our

culture

VSD argues that: Neither direction dominates the other The two are engaged in a complex, mutual

dynamic

Fans of Bruno Latour should recognize this view.

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston6

Principle: Stakeholders, Not UsersUser-centered design focuses primarily on those who use a technology and not necessarily any broader impact.

VSD considers a broader notion of stakeholders: A stakeholder is anyone affected by a

technology Direct stakeholders are those who use the

technology (e.g. doctors using a patient database)

Indirect stakeholders do not use the technology but are still impacted (e.g. patients in the database) 2016-01-

13

Mashcat Boston7

Principle: Tripartite Methodology

2016-01-13

Technical Investigation– Design and evaluate

technology– Engineering methods

Conceptual Investigation– Identify relevant values

and stakeholders – Philosophy/law informed

Empirical Investigation– Confirm and refine

values and stakeholders– Social science methods

Mashcat Boston8

Applications of VSD Urban development modeling/simulation

software for policy negotiation and deliberation.

Informed consent regarding privacy and tracking via web browser cookies

The importance of personal musical devices among homeless youth

Why adults with dyslexia and other reading disabilities rarely use assistive reading technologies

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston9

Value-Theme Literature Analysis Heat Map

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston10

My Doctoral WorkConceptual / Empirical Investigations: Stakeholder Brainstorming Value-Theme Literature Analysis

Empirical Investigations: Case Studies: Online Discussion Threads on

Dyslexia Case Studies: Interviews with Adults with

DyslexiaTechnical Investigations: Value-Based Reviews of Existing Technologies Value-Guided Design Guidelines Calico: Socially-Flexible Reading Tools and

Support2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston11

Finding: Invisibility Hinders Diffusion

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston12

Interview ConfirmationNigel (M, 24, childhood diagnosis)

When asked if he would use an assistive reading device that would visibly identify him as having dyslexia:

“I wouldn’t mind using it at home, but I would never use it for work. I actually think it’s detrimental to tell my employers I’m dyslexic… people just end up treating you differently.”

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston13

Value-Based Design Recommendations ATs must support reading (Literacy) Support acquisition of digital texts (Access) Typography matters (Access, Autonomy, Choice,

Literacy) Control disclosure due to technology usage

(Identity, Normalcy, Privacy) Provide features to manage different usage contexts

(Community, Normalcy, Privacy) Provide multiple forms of accommodations (Access,

Choice) Provide features to facilitate usage negotiations with

other stakeholder groups (Access, Fairness, Privacy) Consider open-source to mitigate costs (Access,

Fairness) Design for all readers (Fairness, Literacy, Normalcy)2016-01-

13

Mashcat Boston14

Strengths of Value Sensitive Design Respecting users, ethics, etc. is inherent. Ready avenues for researchers of different

backgrounds to collaborate on the same project

Encouragement to go beyond disciplinary boxes:How often do CS papers mention Habermas’s theory of communicative action?

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston15

Weaknesses of Value Sensitive DesignMost VSD projects have been conducted by engineers and not researchers from other fields. VSD does not have good protocols to avoid being swamped by too many values or stakeholders.Several VSD projects do have an air of “savior-ness” about them, especially some developing world work.First-generation VSD implicitly assumes all values are positive and should be supported.

2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston16

Opportunities for Mashcat and LibrariesTo the best of my knowledge, VSD has not been applied to library practices nor library technologies.

Mashcat’s interest in bridging cataloging and technology seems a natural fit for VSD’s interdisciplinary nature.

VSD will also allow us to discuss the myriad challenges regarding diversity and cataloging issues.

It’s a worth a try if you ask me.2016-01-13

Mashcat Boston17

Recommended ReferencesBorning, A., Friedman, B., Davis, J., & Lin, P. (2005). Informing public deliberation: Value sensitive design of indicators for a large-scale urban simulation. In Proceedings of the ninth conference on European conference on computer supported cooperative work (pp. 449–468). New York: Springer-Verlag.Deibel, K. (2011). Understanding and Supporting the Adoption of Assistive Technologies by Adults with Reading Disabilities. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.Friedman, B., Howe, D. C., & Felten, E. (2002). Informed consent in the Mozilla browser: Implementing value-sensitive design. In Proceedings of the 35th Hawaii international conference on system sciences (pp. 247–256). Los Alamitos, CA, USA: IEEE Computer Society.Friedman, B., Kahn, P. H., Jr., & Borning, A. (2006). Value sensitive design and information systems. In P. Zhang& D. Galletta (Eds.), Human-computer interaction in management information systems: Foundations (pp. 348–372). Armonk, NY, USA: M. E. Sharpe.Latour, B. (1992). Where are the missing masses, the sociology of mundane artefacts. Bijerker, WE & Law, J.(1992). Eds., Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. MIT Press, Cambridge, 255-258.Woelfer, J. (2012). The role of music in the lives of homeless young people in Seattle WA and Vancouver BC. Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI '12 Extended Abstracts, 955-958. 2016-01-

13

Mashcat Boston18

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank the following for this talk Dr. Alan Borning for encouraging me to look at

VSD for my doctoral work The UW Libraries for travel funding and

opportunities The #mashcat twitter community for

encouraging me to share VSD at this workshop

And Susie, for her feline approval of my dissertation

2016-01-13