Tech Ethics Animated

Tech Ethics Animated is a series of short animated videos from the Notre Dame Technology Ethics Center unpacking central concepts and concerns in technology ethics.

Produced by a student team working closely with a faculty advisor, the videos are intended for a broad audience and do not assume viewers have an extensive background in the field. The animations are based on leading research and journalism in tech ethics and presented with links to associated readings. Written transcripts are also provided.

The initial six videos in the series are available below.

• Moral Distance and the Ethics of Care

  

  Transcript

  ND TEC Team

  Michael Simon (Animation Lead)
  Josiah Broughton (Animation)
  Brooke Anquillare (Script)
  Carolina Villegas-Galaviz (Faculty Advisor)

  Associated Readings

  • Villegas-Galaviz, C. (2022). Ethics of Care as Moral Grounding for AI. In Ethics of Data and Analytics: Concepts and Cases. Taylor & Francis: USA, 78-83.
  • Villegas-Galaviz, C., and Martin, K. (2023). Moral Distance, AI, and the Ethics of Care. AI & Society.
  • Soper, S. (2021). Fired by Bot at Amazon: ‘It’s You Against the Machine’. Bloomberg.

• Fairness & Justice

  

  Transcript

  ND TEC Team

  Michael Simon (Animation Lead)
  Josiah Broughton (Animation)
  Brooke Anquillare (Script)
  Carolina Villegas-Galaviz (Faculty Advisor)

  Associated Readings

  • Martin, K. (2022). Fairness and Justice in Data Analytics. In Ethics of Data and Analytics: Concepts and Cases. Taylor & Francis: USA, 249-253.
  • Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, State, and Utopia. Basic Books.
  • Rawls, J. (1971). A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press.
  • Walzer, M. (1983). Spheres of Justice. Basic Books.
  • Johnson, C. (2019). Racial Bias in a Medical Algorithm Favors White Patients over Sicker Black Patients. The Washington Post.

• AI & Discrimination

  

  Transcript

  ND TEC Team

  Josiah Broughton (Animation Lead)
  Michael Simon (Animation)
  Brooke Anquillare (Script)
  Carolina Villegas-Galaviz (Faculty Advisor)

  Associated Readings

  • Martin, K. (2022). Discrimination and Data Analytics. In Ethics of Data and Analytics: Concepts and Cases. Taylor & Francis: USA, 291-295.
  • Barocas, S., and Selbst, A. D. (2016). Big Data’s Disparate Impact. California Law Review, 104(3).
  • Hoffmann, A. L. (2019). Where fairness fails: Data, algorithms, and the limits of antidiscrimination discourse. Information, Communication & Society, 22(7).
  • Merrill, J. B. (2021). Google Has Been Allowing Advertisers to Exclude Nonbinary People from Seeing Job Ads. The Markup.
  • Hao, K. (2021). Facebook’s ad algorithms are still excluding women from seeing jobs. MIT Technology Review.

• The Big Data Industry

  

  Transcript

  ND TEC Team

  Josiah Broughton (Animation Lead)
  Michael Simon (Animation)
  Carolina Villegas-Galaviz (Faculty Advisor)

  Associated Readings

  • Martin, K. (2015). Ethical Issues in the Big Data Industry. MIS Quarterly Executive, 14(2), 67-85.
  • Zuboff, S. (2015). Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30, 75-89.
  • Kang, C. (2013). Flashlight app kept users in the dark about sharing location data: FTC. The Washington Post.

• Surveillance

  

  Transcript

  ND TEC Team

  Josiah Broughton (Animation Lead)
  Michael Simon (Animation)
  Brooke Anquillare (Script)
  Carolina Villegas-Galaviz (Faculty Advisor)

  Associated Readings

  • Zuboff, S. (2015). Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization. Journal of Information Technology, 30, 75-89.
  • Martin, K. (2022). Surveillance and Power. In Ethics of Data and Analytics: Concepts and Cases. Taylor & Francis: USA, 157.
  • Biddle, S. (2021). Your Car is Spying on You, and a CBP Contract Shows the Risks. The Intercept.
  • Lyon, D. (1994). From Big Brother to Electronic Panopticon. In The Electronic Eye: The Rise of Surveillance Society. University of Minnesota Press, 57-80.

• Privacy

  

  Transcript

  ND TEC Team

  Michael Simon (Animation Lead)
  Josiah Broughton (Animation)
  Brooke Anquillare (Script)
  Carolina Villegas-Galaviz (Faculty Advisor)

  Associated Readings

  • Martin, K. (2022). Privacy, Data, and Shared Responsibility. In Ethics of Data and Analytics: Concepts and Cases. Taylor & Francis: USA, 93-96.
  • Nissenbaum, H. (2011). A Contextual Approach to Privacy Online. Daedalus, 140(4), 32-48.
  • Martin, K. (2016). Understanding Privacy Online: Development of a Social Contract Approach to Privacy. Journal of Business Ethics, 137(3), 551-569.
  • Duhigg, C. (2012). How Companies Learn Your Secrets. The New York Times.