This document discusses the ethical responsibilities of user experience designers. It notes that designs can shape human behavior and experiences, even unintentionally, so designers must consider the implications of their work. Studies found that artificial intelligence and social media can exhibit and spread biases. The document argues that designers should critically evaluate their work, choose clients carefully, consider how designs may influence behaviors both positively and negatively, and prioritize solving real problems over just making things that get likes or sell products. Designers are responsible to society, their profession, their clients, and themselves.

1. Kick-Ass UX Hour
Towards an Ethics of User Experience
APRIL 13, 2017

2. What are ethics?

3. Moral principles that govern a
person’s behavior or the
conducting of an activity

5. Why do we need ethics?

6. “
Things carry morality because they shape the
way in which people experience their world
and organize their existence, regardless of
whether this is done consciously and
intentionally or not. Designers materialize
morality.
PETER-PAUL VERBEEK

7. • A study published in the journal Science found that AI exhibits racial and gender
biases
• “Word embedding’ algorithms help computers to make sense of language
• Mathematically map language based on frequently grouped words
• Used the Common Crawl- 840bn digitally published words
Machine learning exhibits bias
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6334/183.full

8. Sample data pulled from study in
Science
Word embedding
associations
• Flowers = cheer, pleasure, gentle
• Insects = ugly, rotten, vomit
• Men= executive, science,
professional
• Women= home, poetry, drama
• European American Names = caress,
freedom, health,
• African American Names = abuse,
crash, hatred

9. • Mirrors implicit biases found in social psychology research
• When is it OK to use this technology in it’s current state?
• Should we be building systems that detect and compensate for bias?
• How does what we put online feedback into AI?
Implications

12. • Study done by the UCLA Brain Center studied teen brains via FMRI while asking
them to interact with a social network
• The more likes a photo had, the more likely the subject was to like the photo as well
• Number of likes correlated positively with activity in the rewards center of the brain
• Regions of the brain associated with cognitive control were less active when teens
viewed photos of risky behavior (e.g. smoking, drinking and driving)
• Photos of risky behaviors with a lot of likes lowered self control and triggered a
reward response
“Likes” influence teen behavior
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21700546-even-trivial-acts-social-approbation-
affect-teenagers-opinions-how-likes-affect

13. • Likes could encourage teens to engage in risky, even life-threatening, behavior
• Small button with a simple interaction
• Was this outcome the intention of the designers who implemented this pattern?
• Could the designers have predicted this outcome?
• Who’s responsibility is it to think about this stuff?
Implications

14. Have you worked on a project
where you felt uneasy about the
ethical implications (big or
small)?
DISCUSSION

15. What is our responsibility?

16. “
Doctors influence patients lives and so do
software designers.
TRISTAN HARRIS

17. What kind of oath would you be
willing to take as a designer?
DISCUSSION

18. In his talk “Why Designers are
Destroying the World” Mike
Monteiro notes a four-fold
responsibility
Who are we
responsible
to?
The World
Do we need another Tinder? Use
design to solve real problems and
fulfill needs. Are the problems you’re
taking on worth solving? Be
cognizant of the resources you use,
especially limited ones.
The Craft
The way you work individually
impacts the ability of all other
designers to do their job. When you do
your work poorly, you make the rest
of us look bad and vice versa. Learn
from those who came before and
inspire those who come next.
Clients
Choose the right clients. You have a
responsibility to do the work right,
even when they try to convince you to
do the work wrong. Don’t work for
anybody who you’re afraid to say no
to. Educate clients on doing the right
thing.
Ourselves
If you take responsibility for yourself,
you will do better work. The work you
choose to do defines you. Your
portfolio is a record of your choices
and your integrity. Balance your
responsibility to earn a living with
that of society’s wellbeing. You
always have a choice.

19. As a UX designer, who do you feel
most responsible to? Why?
DISCUSSION

20. Areas of Ethical Consideration
• Research: How do we treat our subjects?
• Information Architecture: What information do we
make the most important? What information do we
hide?
• Content Strategy: How do we describe information?
• Interfaces and patterns: How do visual
representations and interactions influence behavior?

21. What can we do?

22. Know that as a designer,
decisions you make can
fundamentally shape the way
people understand the world
(whether or not you want them
to).
Accept
Responsibility

23. Run through use cases, and
question design implications.
Upgrade the quality of the goals
you set and the questions you
ask.
Ask
questions
and think
critically.

24. Take the time to define your own
values as a designer. What does
your work stand for? What is
unacceptable to you? If you take
the time to define your own
ethics, you’ll be much less likely
to end up doing work that you’ll
regret later on.
Draw your
line in the
sand
http://uxmag.com/articles/towards-an-ethics-of-persuasion

25. What are some tactics you might
use to make your work more
ethical?
DISCUSSION

26. “
Imagine a world where the CEO and Marketing
Director are locked in a room sweating it out
saying “We are never going to be able to talk
the designer into doing this very terrible thing
we want”
MIKE MONTEIRO

27. Thank You.