Privacy, Ethics & Literacy

About this Expertise

At SMIT, we facilitate the process of integrating public values in the design and usage of innovations. Taking shared human values and concerns seriously from the start of the design process demonstrates to future users of the technology and to other societal stakeholders that you have their interests at heart and instills a strong sense of trust in your technology. While many values can be relevant, we have built up substantial expertise in supporting privacy, literacy and trust by design.

Value-sensitive design

At SMIT, we support value-sensitive design and responsible research and innovation. This means we promote the integration of shared human values in technological innovation. Our research serves to discover, implement and verify such values in the design and usage of digital technologies. While many values can be relevant, we have built up substantial expertise in designing for privacy, digital literacy and trust. For example, we explore how data protection and trust can be promoted in social media. Also, we investigate how media skills can be fostered, specifically among those at risk of exclusion.

Building confidence

Taking public values and concerns seriously from the start of the design process demonstrates to future users of the technology and to other societal stakeholders that you have their interests at heart. It can enable you to catch privacy, accessibility and ethical issues early on, even before they occur. Ultimately, this instills a strong sense of confidence in the technology that you are creating.

Conceptual, empirical and technical investigation

SMIT combines conceptual, empirical and technical investigations similar to Constructive Technology Assessment and Friedman and Kahn’s approach to value-sensitive design. Conceptual work involves, for example, a review of the governance of data use on online platforms (i.e. cooperative responsibility). As part of our empirical work, we deploy profiling tools (e.g. privacy literacy survey and profiles of digital inequality) and impact assessment tools (e.g. on perceived privacy impact and e-inclusion). Technical investigations include reviewing existing tools for privacy awareness and establishing how these tools seek to enhance that awareness.

Examples of services that we offer

• Privacy by design: Is privacy an issue? Which requirements and risks should you take into account? How can you do so?
• Literacy by design: Does your concept, product or service match the digital skills of your target group? How can you improve it?
• Trust by design: How can you assess and promote the trust that your target users put in your technology as well as each other?