What is responsible tech?
What is responsible tech, and more importantly, what does it matter to you and your organisation?
As the global media climate turns up the heat on big tech and its impact on people’s lives, the cohesion of communities and consequences for wider society, how we invest in, design and use tech is coming under increasing scrutiny. It seems that not a day goes by where Facebook isn’t dragged over the coals or Amazon’s power is questioned.
Yet, when tech and the digital platforms through which humans engage in it lead to political misuse (see the Burmese military’s targeted use of social media to incite genocide), communities being displaced (see the mass gentrification and its impact on San Francisco’s traditional population) and people being left out and left behind by technology, questions indeed must be asked.
Often, these questions feel abstract. These companies are global, their impacts most often seen on a national level (like the number of old people struggle to access financial support through the disappearance of high streets banks), but these questions are pertinent at a local level too. In Greater Manchester, where tech is now the second biggest industry (and fintech a major player), what are our considerations?
First up is the widening skills gaps emerging around the tech industry. Amazon, Moonpig and GCHQ have either hinted at or confirmed moves to Manchester, and with money being invested in tech co-working spaces AT The Manchester Science Partnership (Bruntwood) and Enterprise City (Allied London) through Project Forward, considerable investment is being made in our region’s globally facing city.
Thinking of tech through the lens of profit solely, these organisations and tech hubs create jobs and revenue, boosting the economic standing of the city. Yet, we’re also a region’s that struggles with high levels of poverty. Who these jobs go to and where the profit is directed matters, especially as attracting a higher skilled and paid workforce will further polarise the property market.
How our public authorities spend their money on works and skills and where they encourage property development plays a part in the tech ecosystem we’re creating. Yet, beyond employment, what businesses innovate, design and develop matters too. Whilst disrupting industries is often couched in positive terms, global and local consideration is needed for what tech displaces too.
Speaking with Chris Quin, Architecture and Tech Strategy Direct at The Co-op:
Significant industrial innovation is nothing new, whether it is the invention of the steam engines, motor car, or nuclear power then in general humans we have been reasonably good at balancing the benefits and risks, although that balance is often littered with individual or movement struggles to battle with the (mostly) unintended consequences of these innovations.
The Co-operative was founded on the principles of fairness, equality and democracy and as such has always promoted a better societal balance. The impact of technology and the use of it in a responsible manner is no different. For those of us lucky enough to be in responsible decision making positions at the Co-op then we have a number of tools to aid us, such as an ethical decision making compass that ensures when we make decisions we are considering more than just the commercial factors.
Jobs are often the first concern, but in work developed by The Federation’s community of conscientious tech organisations and social innovators and influencers, displacement went beyond just jobs, and looked at how tech displaces human rights (such as housing and an opportunity to afford an income), and human needs (such as the ability to connect with others).
Who creates tech is also important, as it determines who products and services are designed for, with Google image recognition software (designed by white people) returning images of gorillas instead of the images of black people being searched for. when The tech industry still lags far behind in terms of gender equality, in both where investment is directed and who is employed.
Race, sexuality, age and ability when it comes to tech barely scratch the surface, but with The Federation being home to Thoughtworks which is scaling its way up Stonewall’s Top 100 Employer Index, InnovateHer which are mobilising the North West around investing in young girls looking to move into tech and Diverse and Equal opening doors for people of colour into the industry, we’re making a start.
We are also home to proactive enterprises around tech development and data usage. Northcoders have recently opened bursaries to women and gender minorities, and Ethics Kit provides tools and runs workshops to encourage development which considers its broader reaching consequences. Thinking beyond profit can be a stretch, but as the general public become increasingly savvy to tech’s impact, it’s essential.
The Democratic Society pose questions around how tech is influencing our political engagement, and Open Data Manchester is engaging the city in how we capture, design and store data through its Responsible Data Declaration. The Federation is just one building, however, and with Greater Manchester a hotbed of progress, from its growing global standing to its history of social progress, we can do more.
More, and not just because of the bad press, but because the long-term health and sustainability of our region depend on it. The public expects more responsibility when it comes how tech digital and the data they provide to access it used. The people working in the industry demand better behaviour, seen in the women of Google’s walkout to DotEveryone’s research on tech workers need for more conscientious workplaces.
In a region where the co-operative movement was born and the spirit of the suffragettes blends seamlessly with ground-breaking work around graphene and the modern computer, Greater Manchester is in a unique position to explore what responsible tech looks like. That, and establish the city-region as an exemplar in ethical tech globally.
Its why we’re bringing the major players in our tech ecosystem together to explore what responsible tech means, why it’s relevant to your organisation, and more importantly, how we can collectively mobilise to make it a reality.
Digital ability and accessibility, tech skills & employment, tech innovation & design and digital information & data are all up for consideration. Join us at The Federation on Thursday 22nd August and play your part.
Sign up here.
