The book comes to a close with a final chapter. This chapter takes a stance on the planetary and ... more The book comes to a close with a final chapter. This chapter takes a stance on the planetary and human limits to computing. It takes a look back over the historical developments in technology in general as it has helped to support human life, with an emphasis on the ideas of energy researcher and environmentalist, Daniel Spreng. In historical terms, technology helped human beings in terms of its use of energy to manage processes. Later, information technology, that is, computers used information. Now, just at the period when human beings have reached the limits of energy and information, they discover the good news that there is another dimension—there is time. People can slow down and adopt a Slow Tech approach! With such a responsible, sustainable, and ethical approach to ICT, the future focus needs to be on human happiness and people’s human interactions with each other in their communities and societies.
This chapter looks back in history as well as forward, in terms of where computing is heading. Th... more This chapter looks back in history as well as forward, in terms of where computing is heading. The chapter concentrates on the co-shaping of society and technology. To portray this co-shaping clearly, there is an exploration of the history of computing from its early days, throughout the Second World War, to three distinct periods: host computing, personal computing, and cloud computing. While a preoccupation with computer ethics emerged in the late 01950s, in 02017 the thrust is towards a more proactive form of computer ethics. Indeed, Slow Tech forms a part of this general trend. It also acts as a means to introduce a more holistic view of ICT systems and Complex Socio-Technical Systems. In its conclusion, this chapter explores a new direction in thinking, which facilitates a longer-term view of ICT: it is the concept of responsible research and innovation. The ideas are captured in a simple model. This chapter provides thoughtful insights into the contemporary development of Slow Tech.
Slow tech is a new way of looking at technology. It means designing and developingtechnologies th... more Slow tech is a new way of looking at technology. It means designing and developingtechnologies that are ‘slow’, with the aim of being good, clean, and fair. It has, as anaspiration, the design and use of a new kind of information and communicationtechnologies (ICT): ICT that is human-centred, and that takes into account both thelimits of the planet and those of human beings. The focus of this reflection paper is onICT that speaks to the needs of the environment and society, and is thus implicitlyethical. It contributes towards promoting slow tech to an audience of computerprofessionals and computer end-users.
Purpose– This discussion paper focuses on a notion of information and communication technology (I... more Purpose– This discussion paper focuses on a notion of information and communication technology (ICT) that is good, clean and fair that the authors call Slow Tech. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Slow Tech approach in order to explain how to create a suitable bridge between business ethics and computer ethics.Design/methodology/approach– The paper’s approach is discursive. It provides a viewpoint. Its arguments are based in an examination of literature relevant to both business ethics and computer ethics. Justification is produced for the use of Slow Tech approach. A number of potential future research and application issues still to be investigated are also provided.Findings– Slow Tech can be proposed, and used, as a bridging mechanism between companies’ strategies regarding computer ethics and business ethics. Three case studies illustrate the kind of challenges that companies have to tackle when trying to implement Slow Tech in concrete business context. Further stud...
Celebrating achievements is an important social ritual. Tracks and themes at conferences such as ... more Celebrating achievements is an important social ritual. Tracks and themes at conferences such as ETHICOMP 2015 provide opportunities for the careful discussion of challenges facing society in terms of information and communication technology (ICT). This topic provides the underpinning rationale to the body of papers presented throughout the entire ICT and Society track at this ETHICOMP conference. The conference orientation explains this paper's focus on codes of ethics, professional ethics, organisations and the particular challenges of the cloud and virtuality over a 25-year time-period.
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 2015
Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of clean information and communication technolog... more Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of clean information and communication technology (ICT), including a brief review of recent developments in the field and a lengthy set of possible reading matter. The need to rethink the impact of ICTs on people’s lives and the survival of the planet is beginning to be addressed by a Slow Tech approach. Among Slow Tech’s main questions are these two: Is ICT sustainable in the long term? What should be done by computer ethics scholars, computer professionals, policy makers and society in general to ensure that clean ICT can be produced, used and appropriately disposed of? Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a comprehensive review of clean tech-related literature and an investigation of progress made in the clean tech field. Findings – This opening paper of a Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society special session aims to provide an overview of clean ICT, including a brief review of recent developmen...
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are critically impacting society and the environ... more Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are critically impacting society and the environment. They are now an integral part of the challenges posed by the current Anthropocene era. To help in facing these enormous challenges, the entire ICT supply chain (from design to development, manufacturing, usage, deployment, and disposal) should take into account the three dimensions of social desirability, environmental sustainability, and ethical acceptability. In this thesis these concepts are proposed as a joint requirement for a new approach to ICT and with a more precise focus: a good, clean, and fair ICT. A good ICT is designed with a human-centred approach, a clean ICT is environmentally sustainable and minimizes the impact on the planet, and a fair ICT takes into account the working conditions of people along the entire supply-chain. These characteristics represent a triple condition that in this thesis is called Slow Tech (inspired by the Slow Food movement that uses good, clean, and fair with reference to food). Among the many stakeholders of the ICT world, this thesis concentrates on the engineers, the designers of the complex systems (hardware, software, networks) that are shaping our society: in short, computer professionals. They usually work inside organizations and companies, but their skills, competencies, and professional code of ethics are the sources of fundamental design choices. In particular, this thesis identifies ethics as one of the new competencies needed by the next generation of computer professionals and, strongly related to it, complementing their university education with a subject that, for simplicity, will be referred as "Computer Ethics". Two fundamental questions are: how can this requirement for an ethical competence be fulfilled? How can universities prepare the next generation of computer professionals so that they are "ethically grounded"? This grounding in teaching and training is the main reason for the overall title of this thesis: "Teaching Computer Ethics". The main point of this thesis is that the reflections stimulated by the analysis of the ICT stakeholders' network and the use of the three Slow Tech questions are two important tools for improving the ethical skills and competencies of computer professionals. The methodology and my empirical experience of teaching Computer Ethics at the Politecnico of Torino described in this thesis provides interesting results in this direction.Public defence via Zoom: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/67671913201 Meeting passcode: 168840</p
... Patrignani (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano) e la dr.ssa Figini (Direttore Mark... more ... Patrignani (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano) e la dr.ssa Figini (Direttore Marketing Hewlett Packard - Italia) per l&#x27;interessante contributo di ... ad affrontare e&#x27; quello di essere troppo presi dall&#x27;onda tecnologica dell&#x27;innovazione perdendo di vista il mare di cambiamento ...
The book comes to a close with a final chapter. This chapter takes a stance on the planetary and ... more The book comes to a close with a final chapter. This chapter takes a stance on the planetary and human limits to computing. It takes a look back over the historical developments in technology in general as it has helped to support human life, with an emphasis on the ideas of energy researcher and environmentalist, Daniel Spreng. In historical terms, technology helped human beings in terms of its use of energy to manage processes. Later, information technology, that is, computers used information. Now, just at the period when human beings have reached the limits of energy and information, they discover the good news that there is another dimension—there is time. People can slow down and adopt a Slow Tech approach! With such a responsible, sustainable, and ethical approach to ICT, the future focus needs to be on human happiness and people’s human interactions with each other in their communities and societies.
This chapter looks back in history as well as forward, in terms of where computing is heading. Th... more This chapter looks back in history as well as forward, in terms of where computing is heading. The chapter concentrates on the co-shaping of society and technology. To portray this co-shaping clearly, there is an exploration of the history of computing from its early days, throughout the Second World War, to three distinct periods: host computing, personal computing, and cloud computing. While a preoccupation with computer ethics emerged in the late 01950s, in 02017 the thrust is towards a more proactive form of computer ethics. Indeed, Slow Tech forms a part of this general trend. It also acts as a means to introduce a more holistic view of ICT systems and Complex Socio-Technical Systems. In its conclusion, this chapter explores a new direction in thinking, which facilitates a longer-term view of ICT: it is the concept of responsible research and innovation. The ideas are captured in a simple model. This chapter provides thoughtful insights into the contemporary development of Slow Tech.
Slow tech is a new way of looking at technology. It means designing and developingtechnologies th... more Slow tech is a new way of looking at technology. It means designing and developingtechnologies that are ‘slow’, with the aim of being good, clean, and fair. It has, as anaspiration, the design and use of a new kind of information and communicationtechnologies (ICT): ICT that is human-centred, and that takes into account both thelimits of the planet and those of human beings. The focus of this reflection paper is onICT that speaks to the needs of the environment and society, and is thus implicitlyethical. It contributes towards promoting slow tech to an audience of computerprofessionals and computer end-users.
Purpose– This discussion paper focuses on a notion of information and communication technology (I... more Purpose– This discussion paper focuses on a notion of information and communication technology (ICT) that is good, clean and fair that the authors call Slow Tech. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Slow Tech approach in order to explain how to create a suitable bridge between business ethics and computer ethics.Design/methodology/approach– The paper’s approach is discursive. It provides a viewpoint. Its arguments are based in an examination of literature relevant to both business ethics and computer ethics. Justification is produced for the use of Slow Tech approach. A number of potential future research and application issues still to be investigated are also provided.Findings– Slow Tech can be proposed, and used, as a bridging mechanism between companies’ strategies regarding computer ethics and business ethics. Three case studies illustrate the kind of challenges that companies have to tackle when trying to implement Slow Tech in concrete business context. Further stud...
Celebrating achievements is an important social ritual. Tracks and themes at conferences such as ... more Celebrating achievements is an important social ritual. Tracks and themes at conferences such as ETHICOMP 2015 provide opportunities for the careful discussion of challenges facing society in terms of information and communication technology (ICT). This topic provides the underpinning rationale to the body of papers presented throughout the entire ICT and Society track at this ETHICOMP conference. The conference orientation explains this paper's focus on codes of ethics, professional ethics, organisations and the particular challenges of the cloud and virtuality over a 25-year time-period.
Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, 2015
Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of clean information and communication technolog... more Purpose – This paper aims to provide an overview of clean information and communication technology (ICT), including a brief review of recent developments in the field and a lengthy set of possible reading matter. The need to rethink the impact of ICTs on people’s lives and the survival of the planet is beginning to be addressed by a Slow Tech approach. Among Slow Tech’s main questions are these two: Is ICT sustainable in the long term? What should be done by computer ethics scholars, computer professionals, policy makers and society in general to ensure that clean ICT can be produced, used and appropriately disposed of? Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a comprehensive review of clean tech-related literature and an investigation of progress made in the clean tech field. Findings – This opening paper of a Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society special session aims to provide an overview of clean ICT, including a brief review of recent developmen...
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are critically impacting society and the environ... more Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are critically impacting society and the environment. They are now an integral part of the challenges posed by the current Anthropocene era. To help in facing these enormous challenges, the entire ICT supply chain (from design to development, manufacturing, usage, deployment, and disposal) should take into account the three dimensions of social desirability, environmental sustainability, and ethical acceptability. In this thesis these concepts are proposed as a joint requirement for a new approach to ICT and with a more precise focus: a good, clean, and fair ICT. A good ICT is designed with a human-centred approach, a clean ICT is environmentally sustainable and minimizes the impact on the planet, and a fair ICT takes into account the working conditions of people along the entire supply-chain. These characteristics represent a triple condition that in this thesis is called Slow Tech (inspired by the Slow Food movement that uses good, clean, and fair with reference to food). Among the many stakeholders of the ICT world, this thesis concentrates on the engineers, the designers of the complex systems (hardware, software, networks) that are shaping our society: in short, computer professionals. They usually work inside organizations and companies, but their skills, competencies, and professional code of ethics are the sources of fundamental design choices. In particular, this thesis identifies ethics as one of the new competencies needed by the next generation of computer professionals and, strongly related to it, complementing their university education with a subject that, for simplicity, will be referred as "Computer Ethics". Two fundamental questions are: how can this requirement for an ethical competence be fulfilled? How can universities prepare the next generation of computer professionals so that they are "ethically grounded"? This grounding in teaching and training is the main reason for the overall title of this thesis: "Teaching Computer Ethics". The main point of this thesis is that the reflections stimulated by the analysis of the ICT stakeholders' network and the use of the three Slow Tech questions are two important tools for improving the ethical skills and competencies of computer professionals. The methodology and my empirical experience of teaching Computer Ethics at the Politecnico of Torino described in this thesis provides interesting results in this direction.Public defence via Zoom: https://uu-se.zoom.us/j/67671913201 Meeting passcode: 168840</p
... Patrignani (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano) e la dr.ssa Figini (Direttore Mark... more ... Patrignani (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Milano) e la dr.ssa Figini (Direttore Marketing Hewlett Packard - Italia) per l&#x27;interessante contributo di ... ad affrontare e&#x27; quello di essere troppo presi dall&#x27;onda tecnologica dell&#x27;innovazione perdendo di vista il mare di cambiamento ...
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