Human Values and the Design of Computer Technology

Download or read book Human Values and the Design of Computer Technology written by Batya Friedman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-12-13 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human values--including accountability, privacy, autonomy, and respect for person--emerge from the computer systems that we build and how we choose to use them. Yet, important questions on human values and system design have remained largely unexplored. If human values are controversial, then on what basis do some values override others in the design of, for example, hardware, algorithms, and databases? Do users interact with computer systems as social actors? If so, should designers of computer persona and agents seek to build on such human tendencies, or check them? How have design decisions in hospitals, research labs, and computer corporations protected or degraded such values? This volume brings together leading researchers and system designers who take up these questions, and more.