Ethics, Labor and Democracy: Designing Impactful Tech for an Actively Inclusive Society

About the Video: This IEEE TechEthics panel addresses why ethical design, development and deployment of technology must be rooted in the values of equality, diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.

About the Panelists:

- Mathana (they/them) is a tech ethicist, philosopher and inclusivity advocate who is passionate about many socio-technological issues at the heart of digital society. Their work spans disciplines and domains but their advocacy and research includes : facilitating researchers, activists, digital professionals and civil society organizations from outside the Global North to have increased agency around how technology is developed; creating decentralized IT infrastructures based on open source principles and fostering novel solutions to reducing reliance on BigTech from both Silicon Valley and China; promoting critical design perspectives on device/product/service accessibility while decreasing ablest designs of new digital technology; creating community-driven strategies to empower traditional marginalized groups/demographics, mitigating platform misuse by abusive actors; and crafting best practices for information integrity and harm reduction on social platforms. They have been involved in IEEE activities for over five years, sitting on a number of AI-ethics-related technical standards working groups, and have chaired the IEEE’s Global Initiative for the Ethics of Extended Reality.

- Jacqueline Corbett is Professor of Management Information Systems in the Faculty of Business Administration at Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada. She holds a Ph.D. from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada. Prior to joining academia, Jacqueline worked for fifteen years in the financial technology sector. Jacqueline’s research takes a multidisciplinary and multi-method approach to investigate questions related to emerging digital technologies in the areas of clean energy, sustainable development, and Indigenous business. Her research is funded in Canada by both the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and has been published in top information systems and management journals. Jacqueline currently holds leadership roles as President of the Association for Information System’s special interest group in Green IS, and Director of the Centre for Research and Cocreation in Innovation and Sustainable Indigenous Business at Université Laval.

- Juan Amador is the executive director for the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and responsible for leading the USA’s largest multicultural and multidisciplinary STEM diversity organization. He is adept at developing strategic partnerships and collaborations and championing strategic efforts within broader organizational goals and priorities, and his expertise and passion for association management focus on building the capacity of organizations to better serve communities that are historically underrepresented and underserved.

- Floriane Fidegnon-Edoh (moderator) is a defense innovation consultant. Prior to joining BMNT, Floriane headed up the industry, technology and innovation team at a public policy think tank. She is a member of the IET design and manufacturing policy panel and was a member of the UK manufacturing symbiosis network plus advisory board and Make UK equalities working group. As a manufacturing engineer for a major pharmaceutical company, she contributed to several lean and innovation-led programs that were adopted to improve production performance. Floriane is passionate about diversity, inclusion, equity and youth engagement in STEM. She founded and led the Warwick Women’s Engineering Society, is a Royal Academy of Engineering Leaders Scholar, and regular science communicator. She is a charity trustee for Stemette Futures as well as the Chairperson of the Stemette Futures Youth board. As an IEEE TechEthics Global Ambassador, Floriane is part of a volunteer group that helps inform and support the objectives of the IEEE TechEthics program.

Recorded on 15 September 2023 at IEEE ISTAS 2023 (https://attend.ieee.org/istas-2023/). Produced in partnership with the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology (https://technologyandsociety.org/).