Ethics and technology design

This article offers a discussion of the connection between technology and values and, specifically, I take a closer look at ethically sound design. In order to bring the discussion into a concrete context, the theory of Value Sensitive Design (VSD) will be the focus point. To illustrate my argument concerning design ethics, the discussion involves a case study of an augmented window, designed by the VSD Research Lab, which has turned out to be a potentially surveillance-enabling technology. I call attention to a “positivist problem” that has to do with the connection between the design context and the use context, which VSD seems to presuppose, and I argue that it is necessary to clearly distinguish between the two, since the designers’ intentions do not always correspond with the users’ practice; in fact, the relation between design and use is very complex and principally unpredictable. Thus, a design theory must accept that foresight is limited to anticipation rather than prediction. To overcome the positivist problem, I suggest a phenomenological approach to technology inspired by Don Ihde’s concept of multistability. This argument, which is general in nature and thus applies to any theory of design ethics, is intended as a constructive criticism, which can hopefully contribute to the further development of design ethics.     

近十年来国内外现代经济理论研究进展与趋势

[目的/意义]现代经济理论领域快速发展，如何通过国内外对比系统全面地掌握该领域的发展已经成为重要的研究课题。[方法/过程]基于信息计量学相关理论与方法，选取中国知网和Web of Science中现代经济理论领域2008-2017年的文献数据，运用可视化软件CiteSpace进行统计分析，其中主要从年代分布、高被引论文、核心作者、研究前沿等方面展开。[结果/结论]研究表明，从研究范式上看，国内主要注重理论指导实践模型的构建，国外则是通过先构建模型再得出有价值的结论。从研究内容上看，国内侧重自然生态经济方面的拓展，而国外主要集中于现代经济理论领域的模式和市场研究。通过这种差异化分析，能更加清晰识别国内外现代经济理论领域发展的新趋势。     

基于能值理论的宁夏荒漠化治理生态经济效应研究

运用能值理论分析宁夏荒漠化治理工程实施前后生态经济系统投入和产出的变化情况,评价该地区荒漠化治理的生态经济效应。研究表明,该地区能值产出量的增长幅度大于投入增长幅度,总能值产出结构向多元化发展;在能值投入结构方面,不可更新环境资源和可更新有机能投入量出现下降趋势;能值投资率和环境负载率呈先增加后减少的趋势,净能值产出率呈现先增后降再增长的趋势;系统的功能逐步完善,生态和经济向协调方向发展。     

国际重要艾滋病研究基金发展态势的信息研究

最近20多年艾滋病在全球的蔓延对各国经济发展、社会稳定和人民健康造成了严重的危害,引起全球的广泛关注,世界各国有关投入日益加大。本文对目前国际上若干重要的艾滋病研究基金进行了总结分析。从这些基金的资助额度、资助方式、资助方向等方面来分析国际上艾滋病研究发展态势,以期为我国艾滋病研究提供一定的借鉴。     

网络话题传播规律建模与预测问题研究

[目的/意义]构建数学模型研究网络话题传播规律建模和预测问题，为深入研究网络话题传播规律提供理论参考。[方法/过程]定性分析网络话题传播的大数据特征、可量化性、可度量周期性、可预测性等特征，通过分析网络话题传播机理，构建网络话题传播规律的常态模型和衍生模型，提出划分网络话题传播阶段的一般方法，并据此研究网络话题传播趋势预测方法。[结论/结果]通过"雾霾"微博话题数据开展实证分析，能够较好地划分传播阶段并预测传播趋势，由此，根据本文构建的数学模型研究网络话题传播规律是可行的。     

改进挣值法在大型科研项目进度—成本管理的应用

采用一种基于关键线路的改进挣值法,通过在某大型科研项目实施管理中的应用,印证改进的必要性和良好的管理效果。     

权力的性质与组织结构的演变

权力在组织结构中扮演着重要角色。本文通过对以前权力理论进行比较分析后,对权力的性质进行新的阐述,提出了用权位值对权力进行量化的思路。根据这种阐述,不但能揭示权力的本质,而且还可以了解权力结构与组织结构在演变中的互动作用,预测了两者未来的发展趋势。     

专利权经济价值分析相关的研究梳理及评析

知识产权作为知识经济时代最重要的生产要素,已成为企业核心竞争力的集中体现。现有对专利权经济价值的研究,多以所有权的观念研究专利排他权,热衷于专利量化指标及其计算公式,以致脱离了专利制度和产业事实,与知识经济发展的要求不相协调。专利权经济价值分析应与专利权的创造、运用、保护、管理相呼应,分析过程能够反映专利质量和专利作业要求。     

Surveillance,Privacy and the Ethics of Vehicle Safety Communication Technologies

Recent advances in wireless technologies have led to the development of intelligent, in-vehicle safety applications designed to share information about the actions of nearby vehicles, potential road hazards, and ultimately predict dangerous scenarios or imminent collisions. These vehicle safety communication (VSC) technologies rely on the creation of autonomous, self-organizing, wireless communication networks connecting vehicles with roadside infrastructure and with each other. As the technical standards and communication protocols for VSC technologies are still being developed, certain ethical implications of these new information technologies emerge: Coupled with the predicted safety benefits of VSC applications is a potential rise in the ability to surveil a driver engaging in her everyday activities on the public roads. This paper will explore how the introduction of VSC technologies might disrupt the “contextual integrity” of personal information flows in the context of highway travel and threaten one’s “privacy in public.” Since VSC technologies and their related protocols and standards are still in the developmental stage, the paper will conclude by revealing how close attention to the ethical implications of the remaining design decisions can inform and guide designers of VSC technologies to create innovate safety applications that increase public safety, but without compromising the value of one’s privacy in public. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation PORTIA Grant No. CNS-0331542, and could not have been completed without the valuable guidance of Prof. Helen Nissenbaum (New York University) and Prof. Dan Boneh (Stanford University). I am grateful to many other colleagues who generously contributed to this work with excellent comments and suggestions, including Emily Clark and Steve Tengler at the VSCC, and Sam Howard-Spink, Joseph Reagle and Tim Weber at New York University. Drafts were further sharpened through opportunities to present at colloquia and conferences sponsored by New York University’s Department of Culture & Communication, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Philosophy and Technology, and Computer Ethics: Philosophical Enquiry.     

“Stacking” and “picking” inventions: The patenting behavior of European inventors

By using a sample of 793 inventors drawn from the PatVal-EU dataset, this paper explores three aspects of patent production at the individual inventor level: (1) the number of EPO patents that the inventors produce; (2) the average value of their inventions; (3) the production of the most valuable patents. By jointly estimating the three equations we find that the inventors’ level of education, employment in a large firm, and involvement in large-scale research projects positively correlate with quantity. Yet, apart from the size of the research project, none of these factors directly influence the expected value of the inventions. They do, however, have an indirect influence, as we find that the number of patents explains the probability of producing a technological hit (the maximum value). Also, there is no regression to the mean in the invention process at an individual level, as the number of inventions that an inventor produces is not correlated with the average value.