Correlation between Privacy, Ethics, and Technology

Overview

Technology's unprecedented benefits raise thorny ethical dilemmas, including privacy and ethics. As a UX designer, I explored how design can advance a more ethical and private future through a small case study.

Challenge

I sought to understand how design can make technology more ethical and private, and how I, as a designer, can make a positive impact.

Role & responsibilities

As a personal project, I worked independently, focusing on research and hypothesis development to draw conclusions.

Starting with the right foot

Before I could begin to address the problem, I needed to understand its full scope, limitations, and impact on users' lives. To do this, I started by asking clarifying questions.

As a UX designer, I conducted a literature review to understand the problem from all sides. I then meticulously organized my findings on sticky notes, eager to uncover patterns and insights.

After identifying some groups, the data started taking form. After grouping similar ideas, I synthesized them into themes to simplify the complexity and interpret the data.

From themes, I went extracting insights. I returned to my problem and the questions I wanted to answer and compared them with the insights that I extracted.

“From themes, I went extracting insights. I returned to my problem and the questions I wanted to answer and compared them with the insights that I extracted.”

My insights revealed the relationship between privacy and unfairness issues in technology. As a designer, I knew that solving this problem required resources and multidisciplinary collaboration, so I turned my insights into hypotheses to generate potential solutions.

To share my research findings and potential solutions with potential stakeholders, I created a research presentation to promote future collaboration.

Key takeaways

Lesson learned: UX designers play a vital role in making technology fair and private by understanding and empathizing with users to create inclusive, accessible, and secure products and services. This requires multidisciplinary solutions beyond technical solutions.