Institutional Transformation: Anticipating Undesirable Consequences of Computer Science Research

机构转型：预测计算机科学研究的不良后果

• 批准号: 2315937
• 负责人: Katharina Reinecke
• 金额: $ 70万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2028-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315937&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Institutional; Transformation; Anticipating; Undesirable; Consequences

Computer Science research has greatly contributed to technological progress, but it has also led to developments that have had unintended and sometimes harmful effects on society. For the researchers designing computing innovations, anticipating undesirable consequences of those innovations can be difficult due to a lack of knowledge and support for how to investigate such consequences. Thus, the aim of this research project is to enable computer science researchers to identify and assess the potential undesirable consequences of their innovations. The project will develop and evaluate a new approach to anticipating undesirable consequences of digital technology. The approach will help computing science researchers better understand the processes and resources for examining the ethical dimensions of their work. The project has the potential to transform how computing programs and other academic departments integrate ethics into their curriculum. The research team aims to develop and test the effectiveness of interventions that incentivize anticipating undesirable consequences of computer science research projects as early as possible, when pivoting a project’s approach is still feasible. Specifically, the team will design a web-based system that enables computer science researchers to: (a) access and contribute case studies of negative societal impacts of computing research projects and lessons learned, (b) brainstorm about undesirable consequences of computing projects and preregister the outcome of the brainstorming activity including potential mitigation strategies, (c) involve other researchers in the brainstorming and review of the ethics preregistration, and (d) have access to an ethics advisory board of individuals with a broad range of scholarly backgrounds. A key component of the team’s approach is that ethics preregistrations will be reviewed by other research groups, which fosters knowledge sharing and collaboration among the groups.This project is funded by the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering and managed by the ER2 Program of the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

计算机科学研究为技术进步做出了巨大贡献，但它也导致了对社会产生意想不到的、有时甚至是有害影响的发展。对于设计计算创新的研究人员来说，由于缺乏如何调查这些后果的知识和支持，预测这些创新的不良后果可能很困难。因此，该研究项目的目的是使计算机科学研究人员能够识别和评估其创新的潜在不良后果。该项目将开发和评估一种新方法来预测数字技术的不良后果。该方法将帮助计算科学研究人员更好地了解检查其工作的道德维度的流程和资源。该项目有可能改变计算项目和其他学术部门将道德规范融入课程的方式。 研究团队的目标是开发和测试干预措施的有效性，以激励在改变项目方法仍然可行时尽早预测计算机科学研究项目的不良后果。具体来说，该团队将设计一个基于网络的系统，使计算机科学研究人员能够：（a）访问并贡献计算研究项目的负面社会影响和经验教训的案例研究，（b）就计算项目的不良后果进行集思广益，并预先注册集思广益活动的结果，包括潜在的缓解策略，（c）让其他研究人员参与集思广益和道德预注册审查，以及（d）有权访问 道德咨询委员会由具有广泛学术背景的个人组成。该团队方法的一个关键组成部分是，道德预注册将由其他研究小组进行审查，从而促进小组之间的知识共享和协作。该项目由计算机和信息科学与工程理事会资助，并由社会、行为和经济科学理事会的 ER2 项目管理。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力和知识进行评估，认为值得支持。 更广泛的影响审查标准。