Value Sensitive Design (VSD)

VSD is a tool that accounts for human values in the design of technologies Technologies we engage with can influence both our lived experience and our ability to meet our aspirations 

• How technology influences humanity is thus shaped by features in design, the context of use, and the people using it.

• Technology is never value-neutral, it is better to explicitly integrate values into the design process.

Value = ”what a person or group of people considers important in life”

• The theory sets forth 12 universal values.

  1. Human Welfare

  2. Ownership and Property

  3. Privacy

  4. Freedom From Bias

  5. Universal Usability

  6. Trust

  7. Autonomy

  8. Informed Consent

  9. Accountability

  10. Identity

  11. Calmness

  12. Environmental Sustainability

• We (and others) argue that the decision of relevant values (or rationalities) should be free to the researcher and practitioner, and the context of the project in question.