Computer ethics: Lecture videos

Slides and lecture videos from the SIL861 course on Applied Ethics in Computer Science, conducted during August-November 2021, are available here.

• Module 1a: What is computer ethics: Slides

Examples of technology fallouts to motivate the question of ethics in technology design and management	Organization of the lecture contents	What makes computers different: Invisibility, logical malleability, scale, informatization
Sources of complexity: Many hands, bugs, attributing fault and causation, liability	Relevance of democracy: Ethics, law, citizen participation, learning about a pluralistic society, structural inequalities	Political economy of technology: Capitalism, worker control, de-skilling, population control, democracy

• Module 1b: Normative ethical theories: Slides

Consequentialism, Kantianism, Social contract, Virtue ethics, application of these theories to build principles

• Module 1c: Ethics needed in the contemporary context: Slides

Part 1: Technologists as political actors, supporting aspirations, social good, power-weak, oppressed	Part 2: Marxist humanism, post-colonial and subaltern lenses

• Module 2a: Ethics of user interface design: Slides

Dark patterns, persuasive design, norm shaping, action triggers

• Module 2b: Ethics of data and privacy design: Slides

Part 1: Different notions of privacy, data protection laws, surveillance	Part 2: K-anonymity, differential privacy, blind signatures, private communication

• Module 2c: Ethics of algorithms and AI: Slides

Part 1: Web search, feedback loops, news feeds, fairness in machine learning	Part 2: Fairness in machine learning	Part 3: Algorithmic auditing, explainability of machine learning models
Part 4: Human in the loop systems, critical look at algorithms

• Module 2d: Ethics of system design: Slides

Part 1: Langdon Winner – Do artifacts have politics	Part 2: Facets of power, how technology shapes power relationships	Part 3: More examples of technology as shaping power relationships, the system thinking approach

• Module 2e: Ethics of management of technology systems: Slides

Part 1: Management of the design process, management of the deployment, user participation in the management process	Part 2: A/B testing, open societies, assumptions under which open societies can be realized

• Module 3a: Design methods for ensuring responsible use and outcomes from technology: Slides

Part 1: Different design methods and their underlying ethics	Part 2: Participatory design, challenges in participation, action research

• Module 3b: Influence of organizational structure and culture: Slides

Barriers within organizations to upholding ethical principles while designing and managing technology, scope for workers to hold their organizations accountable through collective action

• Module 3c: Role of the political economy of technology: Slides

Part 1: Surveillance capitalism, state surveillance, worker control and exploitation	Part 2: Critical look at social media, neo-liberalism, scope of collective action, limits of regulation	Part 3: Counter movements, platform cooperatives, digital commons, rebel technology, appropriate technology