The Internet of Things (IoT) concerns bringing the physical world online. The grand vision is often described as a highly-connected environment, in which the physical and digital worlds blend to transform our homes, workplaces, businesses, hospitals, and cities---leaving no aspect of society untouched.
Though such a vision raises many social and ethical concerns, in practice, these aspects are rarely properly considered by those actually producing the technology. As such, the aim of this roundtable is to _explore the challenges and means for embedding social and ethical considerations into the IoT’s design, development and deployment._
The nature of the topic means an interdisciplinary approach is crucial. As such, we will begin the session with a series of short IoT perspectives from the participants (see author list), who span a range of backgrounds, before opening up to audience participation. Specifically, these perspectives include:
* The nature of the IoT as a ‘systems of systems’, and the points for technical interventions (Jat - technology)
* The role of law, as not only as imposing restrictions, but as a language to mediate competing concerns in the IoT’s development (Christian - law)
* Impacts on disadvantaged, excluded, and potentially endangered groups, through tech-abuse and tech-misuse (Leonie - politics/gender)
* The nuances and mismatches between public perceptions, ethical considerations, and specific technical practices (Alison - ethics)
Charles Ess, who has extensive social-ethical-techno experience, has agreed to both moderate and contribute to the discussion.
Post-event, the participants aim to publish a paper summarising and drawing conclusions from the discourse. This is to ensure a reach beyond the session’s audience, as such considerations will only grow in prominence as the IoT continues to emerge.
