Ethics in design

I never really thought about ethics in design until reading the three articles/ webpages that we were assigned. However the soap detector example in the “What are ethics in design?” article resounded heavily with me as I often encounter the same problem of the soap dispenser or hand dryer not detecting my hand. I never thought about this frustrating daily happening before and I assumed the technology is just bad in general. But after reading this artice, I think I can attribute this to not being white myself and the technology not recognizing brown hands properly. However, I do not think this is too big a deal as it does end up working eventually.  But I see how this can be a big problem in other technologies and I do agree with the point the article makes that making the technology more inclusive will increase the market size for business making such technologies and could lead to more revenue. However, what is most important to businesses is profit and I think they should do whatever it takes to maximize profit. Business spending is a large part of the economy and if they make more profit, it will lead to faster economic development which could lead to better technologies that recognize everyone to come about faster and cheaper. This links to the other articles about Transgenders not having the best time in the airports as airport technology fails to detect them as different people and can possible cause alarms. However, I am a firm believer in the thought that security is what is most important and if a few people might be inconvenienced by that, it is alright until new technology arrives. After all, nothing is more important than life itself and if airport staff suspects a threat for whatever reason, they must go on with whatever they are doing. This will inconvenience transgenders but the majority must be taaken into account. I personally experience inconvenience at airports myself as I get racially profiled a lot but I bear with it as I know security is of utmost importance and can not be compromised. However, what airports could do is hire more transgender staff so that people who identify outside of male and female genders can feel more comfortable in case of pat downs and do not view them as traumatic. Overall, ethics in design still has a long way to go and technology needs to be made as inclusive as possible.

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