After discussing the implications of socio-cultural understanding and business ethics, we’re going into the details of the Responsible Technology Assessment’s third key pillar this week: technology design.
We’re delving into how mental shortcuts can influence your decision making and technology design in particular. Read on if you want to find out why this is especially relevant for tech startups, hear about concrete examples of business’ unintentional design flaws and learn what things you need to consider when coming up with your product or design!
What is technology design?
Coming up with a technological solution to your customers’ problems is a process. From identifying the problem to determining the best way to move forward, from creating the MVP to finally launching it after a lot of trial and error – there are many decisions you and your team have to make along the way.
While it is obvious that technology design depends on the practical skills of the individual(s) who are developing it, the fact that individual beliefs, attitudes and behaviours have an equally great impact on the final outcome is often overlooked.
Does this mean technology design is inherently biased?
The short answer: yes.
The long answer: most likely not on purpose, but still yes.
Our individual experiences shape each of us into the person we are today, which distinctly influence every decision we make. This means that two individuals who are given the same set of information and confronted with the same choices can make profoundly different decisions based on their past experiences.
This is due to the fact that our brain stores acquired knowledge as mental shortcuts, so called “building blocks”. This enables us to make decisions relatively quickly instead of having to rely on our brain’s processing power to ponder on every single action too long.
This can be useful in everyday situations, like shopping for groceries for example. Instead of being paralysed by the sheer amount of choice we can buy a roll of paper towels with relative ease. But these shortcuts are often unconsciously used when making more important decisions too, which means we’re prone to fall back on consolidated stereotypes and biases that might not hold up under closer examination.
Why is it important for tech startups?
If you want to create the best version of your product or service, you need to make conscious, deliberate decisions during the technology design process. This is easier said than done when you’re dealing with unconscious beliefs and attitudes that you might not even be aware of.
Nipping bias in the bud before it profoundly affects your technology is important if you want to come up with a final result that doesn’t accidentally turn off its intended target audience.
What aspects of my technology do I need to give special attention to?
There are different aspects of both hardware and software that run the risk of including unwanted partisan beliefs. Here are four elements that tech2impact and The Institute of Technological Ethics consider particularly significant for tech startup founders:
Data collection
Big data is an important and lucrative aspect of a technology business. Decisions about the type of data to collect (and how much to collect in the first place) have far-reaching consequences for your product or service.
Algorithmic bias & transparency
One of the inherent problems with technology is the manifestation of bias in algorithms, both within the selections of datasets to consider and the way decision-making processes are programmed.
UI/UX design
Features such as buttons, icons, colour schemes and imagery will affect how users engage with your product. Tech founders need to make sure these design choices are made with the best interests of their customers.
Privacy concerns
As a lot of the data that is collected digitally includes personal information – and in some cases highly sensitive and intimate material – protecting people’s personal data and information is crucial to run a responsible startup.
What are examples of biased technology design?
We introduced four businesses whose technology design included inherent flaws in our article on Good Technology Gone Bad, but there are countless other examples. Here’s a short excerpt:
- Face-recognition software of webcams not being able to track dark-skinned faces
- Chatbots created to emulate human conversation adopting and perpetuating racist and anti-feminist rhetoric
- “Beautifying” social media filters mimicking caucasian, western beauty standards and automatically making users’ skin colour a few shades lighter
- Speech recognition software making twice as many errors when transcribing the voices of BIPOC than white Americans
Really, we could go on and on.
How can I make sure I’m making the best decisions for my startup?
1. Become aware of your own personal biases
The very first step towards change is knowledge. Reflecting on your own background, privilege and bias is crucial to prevent them from leaking into your technology design. Taking the Responsible Technology Assessment is an excellent way to start.
2. Know your customers and stakeholders
The first rule of technology design fight club is to know your stakeholders inside and out. For more detailed information on how socio-cultural understanding can help your startup grow, have a look at our article on representation and diversity.
3. Consider your sphere of operation
Base your technology design decisions on information about the characteristics of your ecosystem instead of your own intuitions or assumptions. If we look at our previous example of the racist chatbot, its developers would have had to take a look and assess the data they were providing it in the first place.
4. Create diverse teams
One reason for biases in technology design is the missing diversity within a team. Check your recruiting processes and make diversity in your company a priority. It will not only have advantages for your algorithms but will also improve your overall work culture.
5. Evaluate the outcome of your product or service
After you design your product or service don’t rest on your laurels – make sure to test your output and outcome to ensure both are as unbiased as possible. Integrate continuous reviews to spot any potential accidental adverse effects as soon as possible.
If you want to find out more about your startup’s status quo when it comes to technology design and other topics such as business ethics or health risks, take the Responsible Technology Assessment here – it only takes 15 minutes!