In 2018, Silicon Valley, like Hamlet’s engineer, was raised with its own petard. People were stressing about data privacy, researchers were sounding alarms about artificial intelligence, and even market stakeholders rebelled against app dependency. Policymakers, meanwhile, appeared to take a renewed interest in separating big tech, as a string of congressional hearings put CEOs in the hot spot over the products they made. Everywhere, techies were grasping for answers to the unintentional consequences of their own productions. The Omidyar Network– a “philanthropic investment firm” developed by eBay creator Pierre Omidyar– set out to provide them. Through the firm’s freshly minted Tech and Society Solutions Lab, it provided a tool package called the EthicalOS, to teach tech leaders how to analyze the impact of their items ahead of time.
Two years later on, some things have actually altered. It’s not CEOs who are leading the charge. It’s the workers— engineers, designers, product managers– who have ended up being the loudest voices for reform in the market. When it came time for the Omidyar Network to refresh its tool kit, it ended up being clear that a new target audience was needed. “We understood how much the scene had actually changed,” states Sarah Drinkwater, Omidyar Network’s director of beneficial tech. “We believe really securely that individuals who are going to force the modification through are the employees, not the leaders.”
Now, the Omidyar Network has a brand-new tool set, created to get tech employees talking about the method their products form society, democracy, and more. The Ethical Explorer Pack, as it’s called, covers a number of the exact same subjects and ideas as EthicalOS, but with included assistance on how employees can bring these issues up on their groups– whether to recognize red flags early on, to brainstorm options to possible issues, or to set limits around things like data control, surveillance, or disinformation. The kit, which comes as a complimentary digital download or a physical deck of cards, supplies exercises, activities, and triggers that can be used alone or with a group to guide discussions.
The Ethical Explorer Load fits into a wider push for companies to consider social and cultural impacts the way they think about user engagement or revenues. Some business in Silicon Valley have even developed internal business positions to concentrate on those concerns, like Salesforce’s Office of Ethical and Humane Usage. (Sale
