Design Good: A weekly newsletter dedicated to creating a better future, through technology
1st Edition // Ethics & Automation
At this point in history, algorithms and Big Tech are operating as the governing bodies of our world. As designers we have been put into a position to represent the people using our systems the same way government officials represent their constituents. It is time we take this role more seriously. This is why last year I left my job at R/GA where I was working as an Experience Design consultant for Google.
My decision to leave wasn’t an easy one, but it was one that I felt I needed to make. While the experience taught me a lot, both about Google and all of its competitors, there was also a lot that concerned me. So I left it all behind in order to pursue something I thought was much more meaningful and necessary: To educate the world about the current state of technology, the dangers that are near, and how we, as a society, can make it better.
For this reason I’m launching a research foundation called Design Good, which will straddle the intersection of user research, social impact and public policy. It will provide the people designing these technologies with cutting edge research to support ethical design implementation that still drives the bottom line, tutorials on how to implement these techniques, and design assets to help speed up the process of creating the changes that need to be made.
Since leaving the valley, I’ve been invited to more than 19 states or nations across four different continents talking about this work but I will now be leaving my notes here each week in a weekly post about how you can design good into your products. Each post will supply you with one book to dive deep, one official government or academic research report, and one short form article, video or interactive piece to get the info as quick as possible.
It will also give you updates as to where you can find me as I travel across the globe, and I hope to see you along the way!
For our initial newsletter, the topic is the foundation of all of this: Ethics.
Links
BOOK
The Future Computed
This is more of a micro book than a book, but it’s going in the book section this week because it has a lot of great content in it. From the forward of the report:
“Today, there are some people who might say that ethical principles and best practices are all that is needed as we move forward. They suggest that technology innovation doesn’t really need the help of regulators, legislators and lawyers.
While they make some important points, we believe this view is unrealistic and even misguided.”
Need I say more?
OFFICIAL REPORT
AI Now 2017 Report
AI companies promise that the technologies they create can automate the toil of repetitive work, identify subtle behavioral patterns and much more. However, the analysis and understanding of artificial intelligence should not be limited to its technical capabilities.
The design and implementation of this next generation of computational tools presents deep normative and ethical challenges for our existing social, economic and political relationships and institutions, and these changes are already underway. Simply put, AI does not exist in a vacuum. We must also ask how broader phenomena like widening inequality, an intensification of concentrated geopolitical power and populist political movements will shape and be shaped by the development and application of AI technologies.
Building on the inaugural 2016 report, The AI Now 2017 Report addresses the most recent scholarly literature in order to raise critical social questions that will shape our present and near future.
HIGHLY CREDIBLE SOURCE
Why Privacy Matters
Glenn Greenwald was one of the first reporters to see — and write about — the Edward Snowden files, with their revelations about the United States’ extensive surveillance of private citizens. In this searing talk, Greenwald makes the case for why you need to care about privacy, even if you’re “not doing anything you need to hide.”
Upcoming Events
As mentioned in previous emails, I’m going to mostly be focused on burying myself heads down over the next couple of months until I leave for Germany so I can finish writing and hand it off to Ellen, but here are the events I have coming up that I’d love to see you at! If you’re in town and have some time open on your calendar.
Internationally I’m also working on events in other parts of Germany, the UK, Denmark, and Colombia. Locally, in the United States, I’m working on more in Denver/Boulder as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Chicago, and more.
If you know of someone or some event that would be interested in having me, or you want to set something up yourself, let me know!
3.10 — Design Good Foundation Launch Party
I will be hosting the official launch of the Design Good foundation in Lincoln, Nebraska with my friends and family. It’s a private event where we’ll be filming, I’ll be popping out the content nobody has seen yet, and I’m excited to see what everyone thinks.
Although it is private, you’re more than welcome to join if you’re in the area. Family, friends, and members of this newsletter, only!
4.3 — Design Hour in Boulder, Colorado
Design Hour is a group of creatives based in Boulder, Colorado that converge monthly to discuss the latest in design across UI/UX, print, product, industrial, and XR — among others. I’ll be speaking with the group about automation, ethics, and impact both within automation in general, and more specifically as it’s implemented within conversations.
RSVP link coming soon!
4.19 — Newscamp in Augsburg, Germany
Switching up gears for this one, instead of covering the field of AI as an overarching topic of discussion, I’ll be taking a deep dive into the topic of the Attention Economy and Automation. How is Automation effecting our news, how it is it harming democracies across the globe? What implications does this have for humanity, at large?
We’re seeing some of the largest, most “developed” nations implode on each other — the UK with Brexit, the US with Trump, France with Macron and Le Pen, Brazil with Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro. And more. Why are these countries so separated? What part does the Internet play in this? How do we move forward.
I’m incredibly passionate about this topic and can’t wait to talk with the global leaders at NewsCamp!
If you’d like to learn more about what I’m working on or make plans with me as I travel the globe, whether that be conference, Meetup event, private event with your team or just meeting one-on-one, you can follow me here on Medium or Twitter for more frequent updates. Or feel free to reach out directly at yo@realjoet.me!
And if you’d like to get early access to my book Automating Humanity and others in the Design Good series, sign up for the waitlist and join more than 1,400 people who have already done the same!
