Open Source Social Science: Web Tools for Collaborative Analysis of Ethics and Technology

Abstract

This paper describes work-in-progress to build an interactive, data-base driven website that creates a space for collaborative thinking about the ethical dimensions of information technology. The site is associated with the Center for Ethics and Complex Systems at Rensselaer, which supports social science research that develops data, methodologies and theory to understand how ethics are affected by rapid technological development. The CECS website materializes a commitment to inclusion of diverse voices in the development of new ethical analyses. Failure to include diverse kinds of expertise in the development of ethical analyses is particularly problematic in an era when so many people - including social scientists themselves - acknowledge that ways of thinking about society have not kept pace with its technical development.