Engineering Engineering DesignDesign

Social, Ethical, & Political Social, Ethical, & Political ConsiderationsConsiderations

Learning OutcomeLearning Outcome

To develop an appreciation for how various non-technical – social, ethical and political – considerations are not only

embedded in the design process but also how they

positively constrain and shape the design process,

technological artifacts, and human behavior.

Zyklon-B Canisters

Schematic of Zyklon-B Introduction Column

Zyklon-B Pellets

Auschwitz I Gas Chamber

Reconstructed Zyklon-B Introduction Column

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Auschwitz I Gas Chamber – Facing Entrance

What is engineering What is engineering design?design?

Engineering DesignEngineering Design

The process of developing technological artifacts, processes or systems to meet

recognized social need Includes everything from the initial

conceptualization of a design to the final production and implementation

Many factors influence and constrain the design process: both technical and

non-technical

Technological vs. Technological vs. Product DesignProduct DesignTechnological Design

Product Design

Development of “unique technically oriented solutions to specific

problems”

Development of artifacts, processes, or systems that not only perform

specific functions but that also can be economically mass produced

Is there always or even Is there always or even ever one best design ever one best design

solution?solution?

““Engineering design is Engineering design is surprisingly open-ended. A goal surprisingly open-ended. A goal may be reached by many, many may be reached by many, many different paths, some of which are different paths, some of which are better than others but none of better than others but none of which is in all respects the best which is in all respects the best way.”way.”E. Ferguson, Engineering and the Mind’s Eye. MIT Press, 1992: 23

Applied Science MythApplied Science Myth

• Engineering is merely the application of scientific knowledge to social

problems

• Wish to portray engineers as agents of progress; however, since science was

assumed to be the cause of progress it was necessary to claim engineering was

applied science

• Technology consists of applying the fruits of the basic sciences in a more or

less mechanical manner• Engineering a giant machine receiving its intellectual fruit from the supposedly

more fundamental sciences

Technological Technological DeterminismDeterminism

• Technological artifacts, systems, & processes develop as a result of some

internal dynamic, unmediated by personal concerns, social forces, or other

factors• Social arrangements necessary for implementation of technologies are often presented as objective social necessities

• Technologies and related social structures are thus viewed as determined

OptimizationOptimization• Essential to engineering design

• Seeks to adapts engineering artifacts to particular goals and values through trade-offs, i.e., maximizing certain

benefits and minimizing undesirable outcomes• Optimization is different than efficiency

which is the maximization of outputs with respect to inputs

• Optimal Designs are not always the most efficient

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Criterion / Objective Function

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Criterion 2

Criterion 1

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Ideal Solution

As we look behind the scenes, we As we look behind the scenes, we find major influences on decision-find major influences on decision-making coming from the making coming from the individual’s own value system, individual’s own value system, from that of his organization, and from that of his organization, and from the culture, as well as from from the culture, as well as from the technology. the technology. Thomas Woodson, Thomas Woodson, Introduction to Engineering DesignIntroduction to Engineering Design. McGraw-Hill, 1966: 204.. McGraw-Hill, 1966: 204.

Engineering designs, i.e., Engineering designs, i.e., the technological artifacts, the technological artifacts,

processes, and systems processes, and systems generated by engineers, generated by engineers, explicitly incorporate, explicitly incorporate,

embody, or contain non-embody, or contain non-technical values.technical values.

Do gender stereotypes infiltrate Do gender stereotypes infiltrate software design?software design?

“Gender, Software Design, and Occupational Equity”SIGCSE Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 2 (June 2002): 112-115,

Chuck Huff

• Gender stereotypes do infiltrate the software design process

• Educational software designed for boys looked like games while those designed for girls looked like tools

for learning

• Performances varied if a subject used the software designed for the other gender BUT this effect only

occurred when the software was used in public (socially constructed expectations of success come into

play)• Programmer provides one context while the social setting provides another – together these determine

the users sense of success

Given all these values in the Given all these values in the design process, should design process, should

technical considerations be technical considerations be subordinated to the subordinated to the

subjective decisions?subjective decisions?

Social DeterminismSocial Determinism

• Technological artifacts, systems, and processes themselves are not what it

important

• Social structures they are embedded in and circumstances out of which they

develop are what is important

• This is better but still WRONG: It ignores the process of optimization and the inherent trade-offs between various

goals

Technological PoliticsTechnological Politics

• Technology and technological artifacts are politically important in their own

right• This analysis pays attention to large-scale socio-technological systems and

the responses of society to certain technological imperatives

• Human goals and purposes are transformed as they are adapted to

specific technological means• Focus is on the characteristics of

technological artifacts and their meanings

2 Senses of 2 Senses of Technological PoliticsTechnological Politics

• First: “instances in which the invention, design, or arrangement of a

specific technical device or system becomes a way of settling an issue in the

affairs of a particular community”

• Second: When technologies “appear to require, or to be strongly compatible

with, particular kinds of political relationships”

Landon Winner, “Do Artifacts Have Politics?”

Overpass on the Robert Moses Causeway, West Islip, NY

Robert Moses

Cyrus Hall McCormick

McCormick Harvester & Twine Binder: 1871

McCormick Manufacturing Plant in Chicago

McCormick Reaper Advertisement

There is a widening recognition of the There is a widening recognition of the responsibility of engineers to consider responsibility of engineers to consider the social and environmental impact of the social and environmental impact of their work. In sharp contrast to the their work. In sharp contrast to the attitudes and practices that prevailed at attitudes and practices that prevailed at mid-century and before, engineers mid-century and before, engineers today are required to design today are required to design sustainable systems that consider as sustainable systems that consider as crucial inputs the environmental crucial inputs the environmental impact of their manufacture and use, impact of their manufacture and use, their accessibility to people of diverse their accessibility to people of diverse ethnicity and physical abilities, their ethnicity and physical abilities, their

safety, and their recyclability.safety, and their recyclability. U.S. Board on Engineering Education (1995)

IEEE Code of EthicsIEEE Code of Ethics

1. to accept responsibility in making engineering decisions consistent with the safety, health and welfare of the public, and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment;

2. to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible, and to disclose them to affected parties when they do exist;

3. to be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data;

4. to reject bribery in all its forms; 5. to improve the understanding of technology, its appropriate application,

and potential consequences; 6. to maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake

technological tasks for others only if qualified by training or experience, or after full disclosure of pertinent limitations;

7. to seek, accept, and offer honest criticism of technical work, to acknowledge and correct errors, and to credit properly the contributions of others;

8. to treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race, religion, gender, disability, age, or national origin;

9. to avoid injuring others, their property, reputation, or employment by false or malicious action;

10.to assist colleagues and co-workers in their professional development and to support them in following this code of ethics

We, the members of the IEEE, in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world, and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession, its members and the communities we serve, do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree:

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