Conference Program

To see an overview of the schedule, open the “Program at a Glance” tab.

In addition, pre-conference programming related to “Technological Stewardship & Responsible Innovation” will take place throughout October as part of several ASSOCIATED EVENTS, which ISTAS21 attendees are welcome to attend!

All sessions are organized by track:

TRACK A
Keynotes & Special Sessions

SPONSOR

TRACK B
Special Sessions

SPONSOR

TRACK C
Papers 1

SPONSOR

TRACK D
Papers 2

SPONSOR

To navigate between different days of the conference, use the horizontal tabs below. On mobile view, tabs will collapse into a single-column accordion view.
Click on panel titles to reveal associated papers and author information.
All times are posted in EDT/GMT-4

Wed. Oct 27

9am-5pm

Second International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Equity (AI4Eq)
Against Modern Indentured Servitude

AI4Eq is a separate event being held in partnership with ISTAS21. Sessions will take place on the ISTAS21 conference platform, and all ISTAS21 attendees are welcome and encouraged to attend.

The Workshop is divided into 4 sessions of panels, each focussing on AI and lived experience in respect of Modern Indentured Servitude:

9–10:30am (EDT)

Panel Session 1: AI & Senior Lived Experience

Roba Abbas, University of Wollongong
The Co-Design of Location-Based Services (LBS) for Individuals Living with Dementia: An Overview of Present and Future Modes of Operation

Jordan Miller, Arizona State University
Social Robots: The friend of the future or mechanical mistake

Todd Pittinsky, Stonybrook
Taking Care with Elder Care Robots

11am–12:30pm (EDT)

Panel Session 2: AI & Junior Lived Experience

Rys Farthing, Reset Tech
Out of the Coal Mines and into the Data Mines: Surveillance Capitalism and Children

Joseph Savirimuthu, University of Liverpool
AI in the Classroom: We Don’t Get No Education

Mina Vasalou, UCL
TBA

1:30–3:00pm (EDT)

Panel Session 3: AI & Everyone's Lived Experience

Thomas Dannhauser, Smart Start Minds
TBA

Christine Perakslis, Arizona State University
Converging Contexts leading to the Age of Allostatic Load (A-Load)

Agnieszka Rychwalska, Uniwersytet Warszawski
Shadow (profiles) in the Dark (patterns): who locked your Digital Self?

3:30–5:00pm (EDT)

Panel Session 4: AI & Community Lived Experience

Allison Gardner, University of Keele
TBA

Genevieve Lively, University of Bristol
AI Futures Literacy

Regine Paul, University of Bergen & Emma Carmel, University of Bath
Unravelling "digital common market" myths: the colonial political economy of AI governance in the European Union

This Workshop also features 2 distinguished invited speakers:

Josiah Ober, Stanford University
Human flourishing, servitude, and why they are incompatible

Katina Michael, Arizona State University
Technology’s Role in Modern Indentured Servitude in Business

For the latest information on program details, visit the AI4Eq website: https://rppc.github.io/ai4eq/

Thurs. Oct. 28

10am-11am

Conference Welcome Session

This session includes opening remarks from the heads of the hosting universities and an orientation to the conference themes and features of the conference platform.

Hosts: Rozita Dara, University of Guelph and Heather Love, University of Waterloo, ISTAS21 Conference Co-Chairs

Welcome Remarks
Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo
Charlotte Yates, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Guelph
Clint Andrews, President, IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology; Rutgers University
Joe Herkert, ETHICS-2021 Conference Program Chair; North Carolina State University

Featured Speaker
Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering, University of Waterloo

11am–12pm

KEYNOTE: Ron Deibert, "Investigating Targeted Espionage: Methods, Findings, Implications"

The Citizen Lab has been undertaking investigations into targeted espionage for well over a decade. This path-breaking research has uncovered widespread global harms and an alarming spread of authoritarian practices across borders connected to a burgeoning and widely abused commercial surveillance industry. In his keynote, Deibert explains the methods, findings and implications of the Citizen Lab's research for human rights and global security.

Ron Deibert is Director of Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto
Moderator: N. Asokan, Director, Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute, University of Waterloo

Meal Break/Networking Time

Student Networking Session | 12–12:30
Led by Seda Gürses, Associate Professor at the Department of Multi-Actor Systems, TU Delft
Area of expertise: Privacy engineering

Students can register for free using this form.

1–2:30pm

Special Session: Critical By Design: Fostering Responsible Innovation with Critical Design Methods

Design theorist Matt Malpas suggests that critical design is “less about problem solving and more about problem finding.” Rather than offering solutions or efficiencies, critical designers develop projects that provide time and space to reflect on specific issues, most often problems related to technological progress. This creative practice can be integrated into the design workflow as a way of exploring and mitigating the potential social and environmental impacts of technological innovations. In this 90-minute workshop, participants will be introduced to critical design methods and apply them in small group projects to create speculative scenarios and objects-to-think-with that promote reflection on key topics in responsible innovation. The workshop will provide participants with skills that can be applied in their own research, design and innovation contexts.

Presenters:
Marcel O'Gorman, Professor of English, Founding Director of the Critical Media Lab, Research Chair, University of Waterloo
Jason Lajoie, ISTAS21 Organizing Chair, University of Waterloo

Special Session: Guiding Responsible Neurotechnology Innovation

This session will feature representatives from the engineering, neuroethics, and end user communities of neurotechnologies who are contributing to different working groups of the IEEE Neuroethics Framework. The session aims to foster an interdisciplinary conversation with the audience on key ethical, legal, social and cultural issues around the use and development of neurotechnology for different domains of application. In the first part of the workshop, each panelist will present a quick overview of the main ethical, legal, social and cultural themes we have identified for different neurotechnology domains of application. The second part of the workshop will provide a moderated-discussion among the panelists to address three main questions: How do the identified issues overlap, or are they unique to a given domain of application? How might this IEEE neuroethics framework differ from other neuroethics frameworks which have been more oriented to neuroscientists? How can the engineering community improve stewardship and responsible innovation regarding neurotechnologies? The session will conclude with an open discussion with the audience to address questions and to engage with comments and suggestions.

Facilitator:
Laura Y. Cabrera, Chair IEEE BRAIN Neuroethics Subcommittee

Presenters:
Jen French, Neurotech Network, user perspective of our work, and contributor to the Medical Working group.
Jack Judy, Director Nanoscience Institute for Medical & Engineering Technology, Tech Lead of several Working Groups, University of Florida
Peter Reiner, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, co-founder of the National Core for Neuroethics, Ethics lead Wellness Working group, University of British Columbia
Nicole Martinez-Martin, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Center for Biomedical Ethics, Ethics Lead Legal Working Groups and other groups, Standford University

ETHICS-2021 Papers (1): Frameworks for Technology, Ethics, and CSR

Moderator:
Jason Borenstein, Georgia Institute of Technology

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Steven Kelts
Princeton University Center for Human Values

Market Value(s): Is there room for social responsibility in the profitable tech company?

This paper explores the relationship between information and the structure of the firm, arguing that a firm that uses available information to innovate is necessarily engaged in ethics. Using suggestions from the knowledge-based theory of the firm and from design thinking, the paper argues that the process of design for technological innovation necessarily involves value-laden questions about human needs and harms, and how best to serve humankind.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Justin Hess, Brent Jesiek, Andrew Whitehead, Purdue University, Andrew Katz, Virginia Tech
and Donna Riley,Purdue University

Intersections between Ethics and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Engineering

In this short paper, we present distinct ways of conceiving of the intersections between ethics and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in engineering education. First, we provide anecdotal conversations about ethics and DEI between ourselves and numerous peers considering how ethics and DEI intersect. Second, we argue that ethics and DEI intersect in many extant theories, but these connections are often implicit.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

John Coburn
University of Utah

Lessons learned from DuPont’s Role in PFOA Exposure

This presentation explores ways that DuPont's corporate culture contributed to toxic substance exposures, and discusses factors and strategies that companies can take to reduce the chances of experiencing ethical mishaps in the future.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Theodore Lechterman, University of Oxford, Ryan Jenkins, California Polytechnic University,
and Bradley Strawser, Naval Postgraduate School

#StopHateForProfit and the Ethics of Boycotting by Corporations

Debate over the ethical obligations of technology corporations has recently extended to the obligations of those who support them financially. These events invite reflection on an understudied topic: the ethics of boycotting by corporations. We propose preliminary principles for the ethics of boycotting by corporations; indicate how these principles relate to different CSR paradigms; and show how these insights contribute to efforts to improve the accountability of technology corporations.

ISTAS21 Papers (1): Ensuring Privacy and Cybersecurity

Moderator:
Melanie McCaig, University of Guelph

PRIVACY & SECURITY

Nastaran Bateni and Rozita Dara
University of Guelph

Automated Generation of Privacy Policy Using Deep Models

Although many regulations and best practices have provided recommendations and guidelines on the content of privacy policies, research has shown that the content of these documents is usually incomplete and miss important topics. To address this issue, we propose and validate the use of automated generative models for creating the content of privacy policies.

PRIVACY & SECURITY

Ashmita Rajkumar
Vanderbilt University

Assessing the Likelihood of a Phishing Attack Based on User Demographics

Phishing is a form of cybercrime in which scammers interact with users through email, text, or other mechanisms in hopes of the victim giving up sensitive information such as identity details or credit card numbers to exploit them. In this paper we present a novel metric that can be employed to help organizations evaluate which employees are most at risk for phishing attacks that may compromise the security of an entire network as well as for individuals to understand whether or not they are at an increased risk for being targeted.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGING TECH

Richard Wilson, Towson University, and Ion Iftimie, George Washington University

Virtual Assistants and Privacy: An Anticipatory Ethical Analysis

While virtual assistants make day-to-day life much easier for the individuals who use it, there is still a question of privacy and who has access to the information gathered by the personal assistant. This analysis will examine examples of different virtual assistants, the ethical problems that are associated with them, and carry out an anticipatory ethical analysis of problems that may arise in the future. From this analysis policy can be developed about personal assistants.

3–4:30pm

Special Session: ETHICS-2021 Corporate Social Responsibility and Engineering Education

Corporate social responsibility has a chameleon-like character. It exists as part of a larger ecology of related concepts: sustainability, corporate citizenship, business accountability, social performance, sustainable development, creating shared value, and ESG (environmental, social and governance). Its definition shifts by industry, geographic context, and company invoking the term. Some academics dismiss CSR as greenwash, while others uncritically treat it as a silver bullet for reconciling ethics and economics, morality and the market. This roundtable session highlights current research and practice on training engineers to navigate CSR as a heterogeneous and ethically complex field of practice. The roundtable will feature brief presentations on each topic and then be opened to discussion. Topics range from findings from a five-year research project that infused ethnographic research on CSR into engineering curricula at four different universities, to theories of “relational CSR,” to assessments of the professional prospects for “engineers for good” in the corporate job market.

Moderator:
Jessica Smith, Colorado School of Mines

Presenters:
Qin Zhu and Jessica M. Smith, "Relational CSR as an engaged communal approach to engineering ethics"
Stephanie Claussen, "Teaching opportunities for CSR in electrical engineering"
Larkin Martini, "A comparison of professor and student experiences of CSR teaching"
Carrie McClelland and Linda Battalora, "Stories from the Classroom: a Retrospective on integrating CSR into Petroleum Engineering Courses"
Jessica Smith, Greg Rulifson, and Stephanie Claussen, "Ethical pessimism and student views of engineers’ agency in corporations"
Marie Stettler Kleine, Rachel Geiger, Scott West, and Juan Lucena, "Engineering for good in/and the corporate job market"

Special Session: Designing Online/Offline Experiences with Children in Mind

Children need space to grow up, learn, evolve in a manner that allows them to develop through their stages of evolving capacities in a trustworthy environment. The exposure of children in cyberspace opens a wide spectrum of opportunities and risks. Educational apps, social networks, and connected toys open up possibilities to enhance inclusion, learning opportunities, and new experiences for children, but they also create serious risks relating to privacy, safety, security, and ultimately the mental and physical wellbeing of children. How can we design an online/offline environment that is made for children and keeps their best interests in mind?

Organizer and Moderator:
Moira Patterson, Global Market Affairs & Community Engagement Director, IEEE Standards Association

Presenters:
Nishan Chelvachandran, Iron Lakes, Chair of IEEE IC Trustworthy Technology Implementations for Children's Online/Offline Experiences
Prof. Katina Michael, Arizona State University, Chair of IEEE P2089 Working Group on Age Appropriate Digital Services Framework

We will also conduct an active design exercise ("live class") around the P2089 draft standard on age appropriate digital services frameworks.

ISTAS21 Papers (2): Developing Trust and Affording Dignity in AI Systems

Moderator:
ANK Zaman, Conestoga College

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGING TECH

Dylan Wittkower, Old Dominion University, Stephanie Blackmon, College of William & Mary
Krzysztof Rechowicz, Old Dominion University, and Hanna Herdegen, Virginia Tech

Developing IoT Systems and Devices for Trust by Users with Disabilities

This session will present results from an interdisciplinary mixed-methods research project on trust and access in the use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices by disabled persons. The year-long project is directed by professors in Philosophy, Education, and Modeling and Simulation, and will produce a trust framework as well as a prototype app. This presentation will focus on research outcomes about how designers and engineers can build IoT systems and devices that are most likely to be trusted by users with disabilities.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGING TECH

Monica Tsang
University of Waterloo

Building Trust for Data Sourcing with the Disabled Community to Build Robust AI Systems

This research explores how to build trust between the disabled community and machine learning and AI developers. This is to encourage people with disabilities to contribute their data to build robust models that cater to a greater population. The research will share the opinions of individuals from the communities with sensory disabilities and mobility issues.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGING TECH

Sabrina Knappe
McGill University

Dignity or Degradation: The Risks and Realities of Carebots in Quebec

Care robots (carebots) present an opportunity to improve health outcomes for those in long term care by facilitating patients' independence and reducing the workload on caregivers. However, many existing carebot projects have the potential to do harm, both on an individual and societal level. In this paper, the author examines the ethical implications of deploying carebots in the context of Quebec Public Health with a focus of the potential consequences of use in residential and long-term care centers (CHSLDs) and proposes a set of guidelines for the deployment of carebots in Quebec care homes.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Kiana Mokrian and Beth-Anne Schuelke-Leech
University of Windsor

Ethical Decision-Making Responsibility in Canadian Autonomous Vehicle Policies

The development and deployment of Autonomous Vehicles (AV) brings on a shift in moral agency from human drivers to the vehicle. After reviewing current Canadian policies and papers regarding AV technology, and how various ethical concepts including bias, justice and equity are discussed within them, recommendations are made to assure that the vehicles can be deployed ethically, without introducing biases and pre-mediated ethical decisions that go against values integral to our society.

ISTAS21 Papers (3): Implications of Intelligent Health Systems

Moderator:
Jennifer Boger, University of Waterloo

HEALTH SYSTEMS

Emma Delemere and Rebecca Maguire
Maynooth University

Technology usage, eHealth literacy and attitude towards Connected Health in caregivers of paediatric cancer

While Connected Health (CH) presents an attractive solution to supporting those with paediatric cancer within a burdened healthcare system, uptake has been limited in practice. This study explored the extent to which attitudes towards CH and the ability to identify evidence-based CH interventions could be predicted by technology usage and eHealth literacy for parents of children with cancer and their Health Care Providers (HCPs). A survey of 85 parents and HCPs was conducted consisting of measures of eHealth literacy, attitude towards online sources, electronic device/internet usage and evaluations of existing CH technologies.

HEALTH SYSTEMS

Jordan Schoenherr
Carleton University

Trust, Responsibility, and Autonomy in A/IS-Mediated Health Information Seeking Behaviour

Our healthcare systems are under-resourced. The introduction of autonomous and intelligent (A/IS) systems brings with it the promise of providing expert systems that can supplement, or replace when necessary, healthcare professions. With recent decades, the healthcare professions have acknowledged the importance of trust and the therapeutic alliance in the effective delivery of healthcare. The current paper considers how trust in A/IS can be developed in healthcare professionals and patients and the ethical implications of the development of trust. It also considers how non-traditional health information systems (e.g., search engines) might engender trust and compliance that requires greater monitoring and regulation.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGING TECH

Joseph O'Neill, College of Charleston, Jenario Johnson, Rutledge Detyens, The Citadel
Roberto Batista, Sorinel Oprisan, College of Charleston, Prosenjit Chatterjee, The Citadel, Jordan Gilmore, Clemson University, and Ryan Integlia The Citadel

Ethical Implications of Brain-Computer Interfaces with Emotion, Motor Imagery, and Subvocal Speech Classification

Over the past few years there have been significant advances in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), giving us things like brain-controlled bionic limbs and wheelchairs. It is in the community?s best interest to develop a secure, open, and ethical way to veer away from non-ethical and untrusted development. In this paper, we will discuss the current progress, trends, and future ethical implications that the advancements of BCIs will bring. We also introduce a conceptual BCI-based device with emotion classification, subvocal speech classification, and motor imagery applications.

HEALTH SYSTEMS

Lauryn Remmers and Katina Michael
Arizona State University

Deep Brain Stimulation: At Your Own Risk

This article critiques available educational Deep Brain Simulation (DBS) materials and their adequacy in addressing potential risks of DBS surgery. The findings indicate that hospital informational resources on the DBS surgical technique reaffirm each other's educational materials and greatly inform patient decision-making, and can be linked to better post-operative recovery. The article also outlines the potential short-term and long-term side effects of DBS surgery as identified by the DBS educational literature found on the hospital web sites reviewed.

5–6pm

ETHICS-2021 KEYNOTE: Will Griffin, "Top of Mind Ethics (TOME)"

Top of Mind Ethics is a heuristic that helps engineers, designers, product managers — anyone involved in the solution process—integrate ethics into their workflows.

Will Griffin is Chief Ethics Officer at Hypergiant and recipient of the 2020 IEEE Award for Distinguished Ethical Practices
Moderator: Greg Adamson, ETHICS-2021 Conference Chair, SSIT Technical Committees Chair, University of Melbourne

6–7:30pm Networking Time

Friday Oct. 29

9:15–10:45am

Special Session: Universal Access to Technology

Universal digital access to technology can be as seemingly straightforward as providing electricity access to a remote location or as overwhelmingly complicated as developing a healthcare system that provides immediate and secure access to medical experts, insurance companies, and all of their accompanying infrastructure. This session, featuring members of the SSIT Technical Committee on Universal Access to Technology, discusses how scholars, researchers, practitioners, and educators can actively reduce this digital divide which separates communities and individuals on the basis of ethnicity, religious conviction, sexuality, gender identity, income, age and in many other ways. Drawing on their professional experiences, panelists will discuss strategies for placing humanitarian concerns at the centre of all we do as we strive towards universal digital access; they will demonstrate how to carefully and ethically balance social, cultural and technological dimensions of society to the benefit of all people, particularly those living in rural and underserved areas; and they will elaborate on the role of education, encouragement, and empowerment in the pursuit of these goals.

Organizer/Moderators:
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Chair, SSIT TC Universal Access to Technology; Member, SSIT BoG, University of Kansas, USA
Ramalatha Marimuthu, Secretary, CS and Member of CS BoG, Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, India

Presenters:
Prof Iven Mareels, FIEEE, FTSE, FIFAC, FIEAust Director of the Center for Applied Research, IBM A/NZ
Larry Stapleton, Coordinating Committee (CC9) Chair for Social Effects of Automation and Control Systems International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)
Ramneek Kalra, IEEE Impact Creator, Cloud Support Associate at Amazon Web Services Inc., Lead, SLP Initiative at IEEE Computer Society SYP
Shally Gupta, IEEE Member, IEEE Impact Creator, IEEE SSIT TC UAT Member, Research Scholar, NSUT East Campus, Delhi-34, India
Huazhen Fang, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kansas
Tembine Hamidou, Learning & Game Theory Lab, Paris, France

Special Session: Life Science and its Implications for Society—(In addition to COVID-19)

This multidisciplinary panel of experts in medicine considers the applications and impacts of technological innovations like Artificial Intelligence, automation, and the Internet of Things, focusing especially on addressing global health challenges, particularly for the post-COVID-19 pandemic era, including in developing nations and underserved populations. Panelists will discuss the opportunities and challenges of telemedicine, cybercare, homecare, treating noncommunicable diseases and preventing communicable diseases, as well as the development of reliable policy and standards for privacy and security of digital innovations.

Presenters:
Luis Kun, IEEE Society of Social Implications of Technology, Chair/Moderator
Sameer Antani, IEEE Computer Society
Carole Carey, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society/Standards
Nahum Gershon, IEEE LSTC/Consumer Technology Society
Mohamad Sawan, IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, VP Publications

ETHICS-2021 Papers (2): Ethics and Technology

Moderator:
Yvette Pearson, Old Dominion University

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Azalea Yunus and Stacy Doore
Colby College

Responsible use of agile robots in public spaces

In late 2019, a quadruped agile robot, named Spot, was introduced by the robotics company Boston Dynamics for lease to the public. A number of civil rights groups criticized the deployments of Spot into public spaces based on concerns for its potential for weaponization and its repeated use in poor and marginalized communities. This paper examines the issues raised by the increased use of agile robots like Spot through a combination of case studies and ethical frameworks.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Shalaleh Rismani and Ajung Moon
McGill University

How do AI systems fail socially?: an engineering risk analysis approach

In this work, we explore whether FMEA can serve as a risk assessment tool for machine learning practitioners, especially in deploying systems for high-risk applications (e.g., algorithms for recidivism assessment). In particular, we discuss how FMEA can be used to identify social and ethical risks of AIS, recognizing that FMEAs have the potential to uncover risks beyond these.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Paul Siemers and Greg Adamson
University of Melbourne

Ontological Foundations of the Ethics of Technology

This paper argues that the ethics of technology can be usefully viewed through the lens of the ontology of technology. Through this lens some of the ethical challenges of technology are revealed as arising from our inadequate ontological grasp of technology.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Alexis Fabricius
University of Guelph

Privacy is a feminist issue: Reconsidering data sharing in menstrual self-tracking apps

This presentation focuses on some of the most popular femtech products – fertility and menstrual self-tracking apps – and considers the ethical implications of their data sharing practices. Drawing on Nissenbaum’s (2011) theory of contextual integrity as a model for this action, I explore what menstrual self-tracking apps could look like in the future and argue that privacy is a feminist issue.

ISTAS21 Papers (4): Mitigating bias and improving fairness in emerging technologies

Moderator:
Jin Sol Kim, University of Waterloo

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Sandra Woolley, Keele University
Tim Collins, Manchester Metropolitan University
Peter Andras, Keele University
Allison Gardner, Keele University
Marco Ortolani, Keele University
Jeremy Pitt, Imperial College of London

Compounding Barriers to Fairness in the Digital Technology Ecosystem

Despite drivers supporting and motivating ethical practice in the digital technology ecosystem, there are compounding barriers to fairness that, at every level, impact technology innovation, delivery and access. Amongst these are barriers and omissions at the earliest stages of technology intentionality and design; systemic inadequacies in sensing systems that deteriorate performance for individuals based on ethnicity, age and physicality; system design, co-requisite and interface decisions that limit access; biases and inequities in datasets and algorithms; and limiting factors in system function and security requirements. This paper contributes a perspective on technological stewardship and innovation, considering both fair technology drivers and the compounding barriers to fairness in the current digital technology ecosystem.

OTHER

Emilly F. F. Lima and Rui de Moraes Júnior
University of Brasilia

Algorithmic Racism: Racial Perception and Socioeconomic Dimensions in Digital Image Banks

Recent studies show how digital image banks reproduce racist stereotypes, contributing to the perpetuation of oppression and microaggression against subalternate groups. Intending to understand this process, the aim of this study was to investigate the representation of racial and socioeconomic perceptions in digital image banks. We report on our preliminary analyses of over 6200 images found using the keywords Poverty, Misery, Wealth, and Money.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Lia Chin-Purcell, University of California Berkeley
America Chambers, University of Puget Sound

Investigating Accuracy Disparities for Gender Classification Using Convolutional Neural Networks

Recent studies have found that several commercial Augmented Gender Recognition (AGR) classifiers are biased against women and darker-skinned people as well as gender non-binary people. In this work, we investigate and quantify AGR classifier bias against transgender people by developing and evaluating three different convolutional neural networks: using images of cisgender individuals, using images of transgender individuals, and using images of both cisgender and transgender individuals. We end with recommendations for commercial classifiers based upon our findings.

11am–12pm

KEYNOTE: Shannon Vallor, "The Digital Basanos: AI and the Virtue and Violence of Truth-Telling"

In ancient Greece, the basanos or touchstone had multiple meanings: a literal stone that tests the authenticity of gold by revealing its characteristic mark upon striking it, or metaphorically, a moral test of the authenticity of a life or a ruler. It also referred to a method of extracting truthful testimony by means of torture; specifically, of non-Greek slaves. The basanos thus embodies the interweaving of truth-telling with virtue, violence, and power in Western moral, political, and technical thought. In this talk I explore how contemporary uses of AI and data science have retraced and reconstituted the basanos in myriad ways, while also revealing a critical opportunity for the invention of new, more just and more sustainable means of truth-telling.

Shannon Vallor is Professor of Philosophy and Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the University of Edinburgh
Moderator: Sheila Ager, Dean of Arts, University of Waterloo

Meal Break/Networking Time

Student Networking Session | 12:30–1pm
Led by Shannon Vallor, Professor of Philosophy and Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh
Areas of expertise: Philosophy and ethics of emerging science and technologies

Students can register for free using this form.

1–2:30pm

Special Session: Technology, Equity, and Social Justice Roundtable

This roundtable discussion, sponsored by a SSHRC Connection Grant, brings together four international faculty members from a range of academic and industry backgrounds in engineering and social sciences to discuss how they engage with equity and social justice issues in their work, focusing specifically on methodology and how students and young professionals can approach these issues. Ansari will describe his current efforts to decolonize design research in the university community, in particular through the _Decolonising Design_ platform. Gürses will discuss her ongoing work in the field of Privacy Engineering, which focuses on designing, implementing, adapting, and evaluating theories, methods, techniques, and tools to systematically capture and address privacy issues in the development of sociotechnical systems. Hoffman will focus on a novel and timely intervention into Data Ethics: Feminist Data Ethics, which engages with the ethical implications of data’s production, circulation, application, and storage. Sloane will highlight the critical importance of responsible AI design and governance, interdisciplinary opportunities for researchers to develop and implement tools to engage with responsible innovation, innovation in AI procurement, and AI auditing.

Organizers:
Heather Love, ISTAS21 Co-Chair, Assistant Professor, English Language and Literature, University of Waterloo
Jason Lajoie, ISTAS21 Organizing Chair, University of Waterloo

Moderator:
Mark A. Vasquez, Senior Program Manager, IEEE TechEthics

Presenters:
Ahmed Ansari, Industry Assistant Professor, Founder of Decolonizing Design Collective and Architecture Design Research Lab, New York University
Anna Lauren Hoffman, Assistant Professor at Information School, University of Washington
Seda Gürses, Associate Professor at the Department of Multi-Actor Systems, TU Delft
Mona Sloane, Adjunct Professor, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University

Special Session: CARE AI Special Session on AI Ethics [3-hour session]

This special session organized by the Centre for Advancing Responsible and Ethical Artificial Intelligence (CARE-AI) consists of two 90-minute parts, focusing on two groups at the frontline of AI Ethics: students and startup founders. Part 1 is a student-led AI Ethics paper presentation and critique: two students from the Philosophy program will present original work, “Analyzing Distrust in Human Interactions with AI,” and “Enactivism and Modelling Human Behaviour in AI,” (20 min); each presentation will be followed by a prepared critique from a student in the Collaborative Specialization in AI (10 min) and a 15 minute general discussion with the audience. Part 2 is an AI Ethics startup showcase: 5 Canadian startup companies (whose products or services either present an AI Ethics dilemma or propose a solution) will present 5-minute pitches, which will each be followed by 5 minutes of expert commentary and 5 minutes of open discussion.

Moderators:
Graham Taylor, Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Professor, School of Engineering, University of Guelph
Joshua August (Gus) Skorburg, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph

Presenters:
Clair Baleshta, MA Student, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph
Dylan White, PhD student, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph

CSAI Critique:
Glen Reavie, MA Graduate, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Guelph
Alysha Cooper , PhD Student, Department of Mathematics & Statistics, University of Guelph

Canadian Start-Ups:
Fairly AI keeps AI responsible and regulated. For organizations that have prioritized AI projects to create business value, Fairly is a tool that runs enterprise-scale, governance, risk, and compliance protocols. alongside your internal systems, at the model risk management level, making explainable AI possible for all stakeholders.
Future Fertility, an innovative Medical AI company focusing on reproductive medicine based in Toronto, Canada, is applying machine learning inside the IVF lab to improve diagnostics and optimize outcomes. Using its patented Artificial Intelligence machine, 'Violet', they are able to instantaneously analyze the quality of an egg based on a single image, a diagnostic and predictive tool that is essential for both women undergoing social egg freezing and IVF. With their proprietary image analysis technology, Future Fertility will evolve the IVF process from relying on human subjectiveness into an automated, objective and accurate procedure.
Pluto Ventures has developed an AI software that analyzes 2D pictures of a person’s body, generating precise and anatomically correct measurements of it. Pluto assists customers in the health, insurance and apparel industries to understand detailed anatomical information about their consumers, in order to personalize their products and offerings.
Private AI has developed software that uses AI to strip personal data from chat transcripts, call logs, emails, and email institutions. The venture allows businesses to preserve the personal data of users and therefore become GDPR compliant. Private AI’s anonymization suite is designed to run directly on the customer’s device as opposed to alternative solutions that require data to be sent to the cloud.
Acrylic is an art-tech start-up on a mission to build the fine art creation tools of the future and make art accessible through technology. We leverage robotics, computer vision and machine learning to enable visual artists to produce authenticated, textured artwork made with real paint on canvas — at scale.

ISTAS21 Papers (5): Automation and Modernization of Labour at the Margins

Moderator:
Ketra Schmitt, Concordia University

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Sarah Collins, University of Western Australia
Ionat Zurr, University of Western Australia, Oron Catts, SymbioticA, and Elizabeth Stephens, University of Queensland

Neutralising Nature: Automation, Agricultural Technologies, and the Morality of Improvement

In this paper, we explore representations of agricultural modernization to argue that the desire to 'automate nature' and neutralise its unruly qualities is undergirded by a particular conception of value based in the morality of improvement. Our paper will map the contemporary social and ethical implications of this finding through a series of recent cases-such as The Open Agriculture Initiative, a failed 'open resource to enable a global community to accelerate digital agricultural innovation'; and Just Eat, a chameleon cellular agriculture start-up-to seek to undercover the link between rhetorical and technological modes of neutralisation.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Pablo Brescia, University of South Florida

Art and Technology at the Border: Anxiety of Progress and the Ethics of Connection

The dystopian movie Sleep Dealer (2008), directed by the Peruvian-American Alex Rivera, reflects upon the effects of technology in the social, economic and cultural domains of Mexican and US societies. I will analyze the movie's imagining of a possible future by focusing on the 'connection' construct, positioning it as a good case study ethical and humanistic values as related to technology.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Soraya Cardenas, Cascadia College

Unpacking Amazon through Meatpacking, Adam Smith, and Digital Colonialism

In understanding the level of labor exploitation, the meatpacking industry is introduced to provide a more intimate portrait of labor exploitation and how Amazon compares. Finally, this paper introduces digital colonialism and how modern colonialism is being used by tech companies, such as Amazon's use of surveillance.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Elke Brucker-Kley, Thomas Keller and Romina Stumpp, Zurich University of Applied Science

Experiencing Smart Farming: Effects of an Interactive Future Scenario

The research presented in this paper explores the potential of narrative scenarios to underpin a discourse on the designability of Smart Farming from the farmer's perspective. The systematic approach to create and validate the multilinear interactive scenario is described and the results of an online field experiment with 56 Swiss farmers are presented.

ISTAS21 Papers (6): Securing Cyberspace in the Age of Information Warfare

Moderator:
Carter Neal, University of Waterloo

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Greg Adamson,
University of Melbourne

Cybersecurity as the protection of cyberspace

The protection of cyberspace includes the immediate, practical and ongoing protection of its elements. Rather than seeing cybersecurity as simply the protection of these elements, it is useful to view cybersecurity in a holistic sense as the protection of cyberspace.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

YuLin Bingle and Donna Schaeffer
Marymount University

Should the private sector conduct "hack back" operations against cyberattackers? An ethical dilemma: cyber self-defense or cyber vigilante?

This project proposes to research and examine the ethical considerations of private sector hack back actions in cyberspace by asking: 1) are there differences between cyber domain and physical domains that make hack back operations ethical in cyberspace? 2) are hack back operations akin to self-defense or vigilante actions?

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Richard Wilson, Towson University, and Michael Shifflett, United States Government

Twitter, Media Ecology, Information Warfare: Ethical and Anticipated ethical issues

This analysis will examine the rhetoric of Donald Trump and his use of Twitter to attack the press, exploring the ethical and anticipated ethical issues based upon how Trump has employed communication technology to wage information warfare on Twitter.

OTHER

Keith McNamara Jr., Imani Sherman, Fatemeh Tavassoli,
Jean Louis and Juan Gilbert
University of Florida

On Media and Disinformation: Examining Viewer Judgment of Political Video Authenticity

While prior research on disinformation has investigated the effects of various news articles and images, to our knowledge, researchers have yet to explore the impact of manipulated videos of political figures on public opinion. Reporting on the results of a user-study (n=420), we see that a viewer's political leanings do affect their judgment of a video's authenticity but the figure involved and the context of the video matter as well.

3–4:30pm

Special Session: Artificial Intelligence (AI) For Literacy—A Cross-Disciplinary Exploration

Moderator:
Jason Lajoie, University of Waterloo

This special session will foster an interdisciplinary conversation with the audience on AI literacy through a roundtable discussion consisting of archivists, digital humanists, literary scholars, and philosophers from several disciplinary backgrounds. Together, we will engage in an open conversation to address a two-part question, namely: how can scholars and the university intervene against technology systems that disproportionately marginalize or discriminate against minorities? And how can they use this intervention to simultaneously platform individuals or groups who can surface counter-narratives within critical discourse surrounding representative technology and its role within the broader fields of policy, geopolitics, and governance? Our conversation will focus on (1) the overarching ethical principles guiding collection, processing, and reuse of data; (2) algorithmic bias, including racial bias in data and discriminatory values in design; (3) the situated and relational nature of data, data practices, and data interpretation; and (4) the practical importance of equitable, open-sourced design within public and private institutions.

Facilitator:
..., ...

Presenters:
Kem-Laurin Lubin, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Waterloo
Joseph Shea-Carter, Ph.D. Student, Literary Studies, School of English and Theatre Studies, University of Guelph
Kathryn Harvey, Archivist, Archival and Special Collections, University of Guelph Library; Senior Associate Editor, Archivaria
Asen O. Ivanov, Michael Ridley Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities, University of Guelph

Special Session: CARE AI Special Session on AI Ethics [Continued]

This special session organized by the Centre for Advancing Responsible and Ethical Artificial Intelligence (CARE-AI) consists of two 90-minute parts, focusing on two groups at the frontline of AI Ethics: students and startup founders. Part 1 is a student-led AI Ethics paper presentation and critique: two students from the Philosophy program will present original work, “Analyzing Distrust in Human Interactions with AI,” and “Enactivism and Modelling Human Behaviour in AI,” (20 min); each presentation will be followed by a prepared critique from a student in the Collaborative Specialization in AI (10 min) and a 15 minute general discussion with the audience. Part 2 is an AI Ethics startup showcase: 6 Canadian startup companies (whose products or services either present an AI Ethics dilemma or propose a solution) will present 5-minute pitches, which will each be followed by 5 minutes of expert commentary and 5 minutes of open discussion.

Presenters:
Clair Baleshta, MA Student, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph
Dylan White, PhD student, Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph

ETHICS-2021 Papers (3): Engineering Ethics, Responsibility, and Industry

Moderator:
Mary Jane Parmentier, Arizona State University

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Cindy Rottmann, Emily Moore, Andrea Chan and Dimpho Radebe
Troost ILead, ISTEP, University of Toronto

Who can I turn to? Engineers Navigating Ethical Dilemmas at Work

In this paper, we analyze 16 critical incident narratives shared by engineers across the career trajectory about their early to mid-career engineers’ experiences navigating ethical and equitable dilemmas at work. In particular, we highlight six types of supports across three levels of analysis named by participants as they recount struggles to balance personal ethical commitments with workplace expectations. The precarious nature of work at this stage, especially for individuals whose experiences, social locations, and values diverge from company norms highlights the importance of chosen supports as one of many resources introduced into engineering ethics education.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Jonathan Beever, Stephen Kuebler, Laurie A. Pinker and Lakelyn Taylor
University of Central Florida
Paula Mann, Western Colorado University

Faculty Perspectives on Frameworks of Responsibility in their Disciplines

Understanding frameworks of ethics and views on responsibility through interviews with faculty leaders of closely-related engineering and STEM disciples evidences divergence among understandings of the nature and scope of ethics. This presentation presents data from four interviews and discusses implications for institutional cultures of ethics and responsibility and team-based science.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Raquel Diaz-Sprague and Alan Sprague
Towards an Ethics in Action: App Design Challenge as a Tool in STEM Ethics Education

In this presentation the authors argue that greater institutional accountability and more pedagogical research into what works in teaching and learning are necessary. We suggest that faculty could guide and incentivize students who are required to develop software as part of a course, to develop beneficent software, i.e., apps intending to foster human well-being and human flourishing. Challenges and opportunities relating to these topics, drawing from the authors own experience creating educational experiences, will be discussed.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Jenifer Blacklock,University of Colorado - Boulder
Michael Vieregge, Western Colorado University
Jennifer DeBoer, Western Colorado University
Holly Brunkal, Western Colorado University

Creating and Integrating an Ethics Bootcamp for Engineering and Business Students

For market-share-increasing profit growth value creation or profitability value strategies focused on new or improved features or cost-saving measures, engineering and business professionals have to work together, being the flip-side of the same coin. This close collaboration extends to ethical issues both sides face in the pursuit of these value strategies that lead to sustainable competitive advantages. Research has shown that those companies based on solid ethical cultures have outperformed the market by 7.1 over the last five years (Salmon-Byrne, 2021). This close collaboration in pursuit of competitive advantages suggests a strong need to coordinate efforts to teach the same ethics standards.

ISTAS21 Papers (7): Anticipating and Coordinating Emerging Cybersecurity Threats

Moderator:
Adam Molnar, University of Waterloo

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Donna Schaeffer, Marymount University and Patrick Olson, National University

Cybersecurity Issues in Citizen Science

As Citizen Science projects become more wide-spread and global, we must pay attention to cybersecurity issues that can emerge, regardless of their scope and scale. In this paper, we will share a taxonomy that identifies how research ethics are represented and brought to life in 21st century Citizen Science projects.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Yuan Stevens and Stephanie Tran, Ryerson Leadership Lab and Ryan Atkinson, University of Western Ontario

See Something, Say Something? Coordinating the Disclosure of Security Vulnerabilities in Canada's Infrastructure

Numerous jurisdictions now facilitate coordinated vulnerability disclosure for public systems around the world, providing good faith security researchers a predictable and cooperative process to disclose security vulnerabilities for patching before they are exploited. This study identifies that Canada may be falling behind its global peers by failing to implement such reporting procedures.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

David Kolevski, University of Wollongong
Katina Michael, Arizona State University
Roba Abbas, University of Wollongong
Mark Freeman, University of Wollongong

Cloud Computing Data Breaches: A Review of U.S. Regulation and Data Breach Notification Literature

We present how data breach notification works in the U.S. by examining three mini-case examples: the 2011 Sony PlayStation Network data breach, the 2015 Anthem Healthcare data breach, and the 2017 Equifax data breach. The findings of the paper show that there is a systemic failure to learn from past data breaches, that data breaches not only affect business and government clients of cloud computing services but their respective end-user customer base.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Richard Wilson, Towson University
Ion Iftimie, George Washington University

Emerging Ransomeware Threats: An Anticipatory Ethical Anaylsis

Beginning in late 2019, cybercriminals stepped up their game by deploying new attacks known as "Double-extortion" ransomware, within which files are stolen before being encrypted. This anticipatory ethical analysis will attempt to identify future threats from the development of Multiple-Extortion Ransomware and use this ethical analysis as the basis for developing policy about future ransomware developments.

5–6pm

KEYNOTE: Safiya Noble, "TBD"

Safiya Noble is the author of Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism and is frequently cited by news outlets such as the BBC and CNN for her expertise in algorithmic discrimination and technology bias.
Moderators: Lai-Tze Fan and Kem-Laurin Lubin, University of Waterloo

6–7:30pm Networking Time

Student Networking Session | 7-7:30pm
Led by Anna Lauren Hoffmann, University of Washington
Areas of expertise: Big data, surveillance, research ethics

Students can register for free using this form.

Sat. Oct. 30

9:15–10:45am

Special Session: One Health Informatics and the Stewardship of Complex Systems

This session explores how Complex Adaptive Systems provide a framework for analyzing important social, biological, and environmental systems in One Health. Anthropogenic disturbances, many of which are technological, pose a threat to key ecological and sociological processes. They lead us to consider questions such as: Is artificial intelligence a saviour or a demon? What are the political, ethical, and scientific implications for One Health? How might the Global Burden of Disease (human), the Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) and other Global Burdens constitute a broader “One Health Burdens of Disease” and provide an evidence-base for One Health decisions? It will be necessary to address different data challenges in the developed and developing worlds, many of which are ethical and political, not just technical. Panelists will discuss the GBADs approach to data sharing, including how FAIR-principled metadata can be used to create trustworthy data systems and how the Data Governance Handbook provides important guidance for communicating data sharing principles to data contributors and users. Each panelist will provide a 5-10 minute “primer” talk which will introduce and link the key themes. This will be followed by a moderated panel discussion with opportunities for the audience to pose questions.

Co-Moderators:
Rozita Dara, University of Guelph and Samira Yousefinaghani, University of Guelph

Presenters:
Graham Taylor, Canada Research Chair in Machine Learning and Professor, School of Engineering, Canada CIFAR AI Chair, Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, University of Guelph
Theresa Bernardo, IDEXX Chair in Emerging Technology and Preventive Healthcare and Professor, Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, Co-lead Global Burden of Animal Diseases Informatics Theme, University of Guelph
Deborah Stacey, Associate Professor, School of Computer Science, Co-lead Global Burden of Animal Diseases Informatics Theme, University of Guelph
Kassy Raymond, PhD Student (Computational Sciences Collaborative Specialization in One Health), School of Computer Science, Technical Manager Global Burden of Animal Diseases Informatics Theme, University of Guelph

Special Session: ETHICS-2021 The Role of Ethics Officers and Organizational Ethics Programs

Featuring four current or former Ethics Officers of international corporations or organizations, this panel will focus on the strengths and areas for improvement of organizational ethics programs.

Moderator:
Greg Adamson, ETHICS-2021 General Chair

Presenters:
Edward C. Carr, Head of Compliance with Siemens Digital Industries Software, a Siemens AG business
Anne R. Harris, Owner and Principal of Ethics Works LLC
Chitra Barth-Radhakishun, expert in ethics with over 30 years of experience in the United Nations system
Gretchen A. Winter, Executive Director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society

ISTAS21 Papers (8): Sustainable Data-Driven Governance

Moderator:
Beth-Anne Schuelke-Leech, University of Windsor

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Zeynab Yousefzadeh and Shannon Lloyd, Concordia University

Prospective Life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool for environmentally responsible innovation

Recent framing studies on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of emerging technology, which includes prospective LCA, suggest that uncertainty, data availability, methodological challenges, applicable evaluations techniques, and type of decisions supported are related to technology and market maturity. This study evaluates this framing based on two prospective LCAs of emerging technologies conducted by the authors, using questions and evaluation techniques that were more diverse than those reported by the framing studies and were related to both analyst and stakeholder interests and technology and market maturity.

AI & AUTOMATION

Faisal Shennib and Ketra Schmitt, Concordia University

Data-driven technologies and artificial intelligence in circular economy systems

This paper reviews a broad scope of current applications of data-driven and artificial intelligence in the domain of waste management, as collected from journals, reports, and a survey of business practices, and proposes novel areas for research and development to assess the potential of collaborative, open, data-driven circular economy initiatives.

PRIVACY & SECURITY

Adesola Anidu and Rozita Dara, University of Guelph

A Review of Data Governance Challenges in Smart Farming and Potential Solutions

Maximizing agricultural systems has grown the use of wireless sensors, IoTs, cloud computing and other technologies in farms which have fueled the expropriation of data. This paper reviews the data governance challenges generated in smart farms and provides recommendations on how those challenges can be addressed.

ISTAS21 Papers (9): Designing Engineering Ethics Education

Moderator:
Jordan Schoenherr, Concordia University

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Scott Campbell, University of Waterloo

From Historical Thinking to Critical Thinking about Technology

This paper, a work-in-progress, presents historical thinking, a framework for teaching history, as a tool that can be integrated into undergraduate courses that relate to technology, society, and ethics to improve students' critical thinking about technology. Historical thinking teaches students to distinguish past from present in a potentially humanizing process. The framework also raises analytical tensions and questions about the relationship between technology and society that can produce insightful critical analysis and, potentially, answers.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Richard Wilson, Towson University

Anticipatory Engineering Ethics

When teaching applied ethics, instructing students through the use of cases is an important avenue that can be employed to introduce students to ethical issues concerning the specific fields under study. The method presented in this discussion introduces students in applied ethics classes to the analysis of technical and ethical issues emerging from historical and present cases and then this background can be used to project trajectories for anticipated technological development and the ethical issues related to cases that may potentially arise in the future.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Jordan Schoenherr, Carleton University and Jeanine DeFalco, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command – Soldier Center

Ethically Aligned Design through Education: A Cross-Cultural Framework

The push for ethically aligned design assumes designers and evaluators have an understanding of both the technical and ethical affordances of autonomous / intelligent systems. Despite years of training in computer science, there is currently no systematic systematic integration of ethics into the curriculum. The development and communication of ethical standards represents one means address this issue, however, in the absence of considering how information and computer science (ICS) professionals will make sense of ethical issues within a specific context.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Conor Truax, Alexi Orchard and Heather Love, University of Waterloo

The Influence of Curriculum and Internship Culture on Developing Ethical Technologists: A Case Study of the University of Waterloo

The past decade has witnessed an influx of attention to promoting ethical and responsible tech design from within the industry as well as across governmental and academic sectors. In response to these appeals, this paper engages with engineering ethics education and its approaches to developing ethically competent and socially responsible graduates. Through a case study of the University of Waterloo, Canada, we observed that ethics curriculum in engineering and tech-related disciplines is not the sole influence of the burgeoning technologist's ethical reasoning skills, but that cooperative education and internship culture play a significant role as students are exposed to the ethos of the innovation-driven tech industry that permeates uWaterloo and surrounding Kitchener-Waterloo region.

11am–12pm

KEYNOTE: Adam Greenfield, "At the End of the World, Plant a Tree"

If the hellish events of 2020-2021 have left you feeling like the first stirrings of apocalypse are at long last come upon us, you clearly aren't alone. But just what do we do with ourselves, here at the end of all things? What happens to us — psychically, emotionally, socially, politically — when we accept and internalize that events capable of ending human civilization as we've known it have already taken place, and that all we're doing now is waiting for them to unfold in their fullest consequence?

We'll be touring some of the most common responses to this understanding — including the turn toward reactionary blood-and-soil nativism, the false comfort of left accelerationism, and the newly hegemonic rhetoric of "resilience" — before exploring what qualities might actually serve us best, as individuals and collectivities, as the epoch on which we've predicated our entire sense of being draws to its inevitable close.

By developing the notion that there are capacities to which we have permanent recourse, no matter what else happens, this conversation will hopefully leave you feeling able to face the gathering darkness with grace and equanimity. And, hey, if the apocalypse fails to arrive on time, at least you'll have a bunch of clever new things to say at parties.

Adam Greenfield is an American writer and urbanist living in London, UK since 2013.
Moderator: Marcel O’Gorman, Director, Critical Media Lab, University of Waterloo

Meal Break/Networking Time

1–2:30pm

Special Session: ETHICS-2021 Author Meets the Critics—Extracting Accountability: Engineers and Corporate Social Responsibility by Jessica Smith

The growing movement toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) urges corporations to promote the well-being of people and the planet rather than the sole pursuit of profit. Extracting Accountability investigates how the public accountability of corporations emerges from the everyday practices of the engineers who work for them. Focusing on engineers who view social responsibility as central to their profession, Smith finds that the corporate context of their work prompts them to attempt to reconcile competing domains of accountability — to formal guidelines, standards, and policies; to professional ideals; to the public; and to themselves. Their efforts are complicated by the distributed agency they experience as corporate actors —they are not always authors of their actions and frequently act through others. Drawing on extensive interviews, archival research, and fieldwork, Smith traces the ways that engineers practicing in the mining and oil and gas industries accounted for their actions to multiple publics— from critics of their industry to their own friends and families.

Presenter:
Jessica Smith, Associate Professor, Engineering, Design, and Society Division; Director, Humanitarian Engineering Graduate Programs, Colorado School of Mines

Critics:
Sean Field, University of St. Andrews
Angela Bielefeldt, University of Colorado, Boulder
Elaine Englehardt, Utah Valley University

Moderator:
John Impagliazzo, Hofstra University

Special Session: Water and Cities: Get in the Game! [3-hour session]

Flooding is the most frequent and costly disaster threatening the sustainability of cities in Canada and also around the globe. Technical approaches alone are not effective in addressing the problem because flooding issues require discussions and agreements among stakeholders. This workshop will begin with a “5×5” speaker session: five presenters speak for five minutes each offering a different viewpoint on the topic “Water in our Cities”; together, they cover the following perspectives: public, private, global, academic, and artistic. Attendees will then participate in the online Flood Resilience Challenge, an interactive “serious game.” Serious gaming is an approach to learning about complex socio-environmental problems that creates safe spaces for stakeholders to interact and explore innovative ideas for addressing these problems and imagine unknown futures. The game involves role-playing, which offers an effective means of gaining insight into different perspectives, developing communication and conflict resolution skills, and facilitating collective decision-making.

Moderator:
Nadine Ibrahim, University of Waterloo

5x5 Panel
Public sector: Erin Mahoney, Commissioner of Environmental Services, York Region; Engineer-in-Residence, University of Waterloo
Entrepreneurship: Vinay Patel, Founder, Phosphosens
Academic: Clinton Andrews, Rutgers University
Visual expression: Mariko Uda, Independent Eco Author
Global: Sherif Kinawy, Infrastructure Advisory

Flood Resilience Challenge Game
Evalyna Bogdan, University of Calgary
Sina Golchi, University of Waterloo
AC Atienza, Game Designer & Graphic Designer
Shaieree Cottar, University of Waterloo
Chaz Garraway, Engineer
Ajar Sharma, University of Waterloo
Ashley Roszko, Consultant
Gloria Michalchuk, Consultant

Attendees are invited to CLICK HERE to sign up ahead of time for the role they would like to play in the game!

ISTAS21 Papers (10): Coordinating Resources to Build Sustainable Communities

Moderator:
Donna Schaeffer, Marymount University

SUSTAINABLE CITIES & COMMUNITIES

Nic Durish, University of Guelph
Rekkab Gill, University of Guelph
Patrick Houlding, University of Guelph
Charlie Flowers, Rigolet Community Research Lead
Inez Shiwak, Rigolet Community Research Lead
Rigolet Inuit Community Government
Jason Ernst, Rapid Robotics, Inc.
Daniel Gillis, University of Guelph

Co-designing a Community-led Internet Assessment Tool in Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, Canada

Inequitable access to telecommunication networks is having discernible impacts on Canadians, particularly in Northern and remote communities. More complete, available, and interoperable datasets are needed to better quantify inequitable access, particularly at the "last mile" of the internet. The Rigolet Internet Assessment Initiative is a project located in and led by the Inuit of Rigolet, Nunatsiavut, to measure and better understand the community's telecommunications environment. Using participatory design methods, this paper describes the co-creation of the initiative, the design of the system and development of the software suite, deployment of the integrated hardware tools, and analysis of a sample of the resulting dataset.

OTHER

Justin Colyar, Katina Michael, Ross Maciejewski and Luke Tate, Arizona State University

Constructing a Visualization Dashboard to Improve Educational Standards in Arizona Legislative Districts

Despite the push for educational change, there remain many barriers increasing to K-12 public school education funding, including a lack of visibility for how Arizona public schools are performing at a legislative district level. As such, we propose a visualization dashboard that clearly identifies schools and their relative performance within each legislative district would be an invaluable tool for legislative bodies and for the Arizona public.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Cristina Dreifuss-Serrano, Universidad de Lima
José Antonio Cepero-Saravia, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas

Addressing resources to minimize COVID-19 impact in vulnerable neighborhoods using geo referencing

The health emergency of COVID-19 brought challenges to vulnerable regions, especially in the global South. Analyzing the program 'Lima te cuida' as a case study of the use of resources and communication, we show a successful experience of technology-focused decision making, and social participation, through the use of geo-referencing to identify and prioritize intervention areas.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Juan Sebastian Rubiano Chona, Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Entrepreneurship with a Design for Social Justice Mindset: A Case for Hello Tractor

E-mechanization focused start-up Hello Tractor serves as a case study to contrast two different technological design strategies such as Human Centered Design for Communities and Design for Social Justice. The seven criteria of a Design for Social Justice strategy are presented and discussed with information from Hello Tractor as an example of a start-up that at first glance can seem to be a social justice focused project but instead is more aligned with a HCD for Communities strategy.

ISTAS21 Papers (11): Growing Ethical Engineering Education

Moderator:
Lucas da Silva Maciel

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Stephen Rea, Qin Zhu, Dean Niesuma, Kylee Shiekh and Tom Williams, Colorado School of Mines

Cultivating Ethical Engineers in the Age of AI and Robotics: An Educational Cultures Perspective

Examining ethics interventions in AI and robotics curricula may yield insights into challenges and opportunities for cultivating ethical engineers. We present our ongoing research on engineering ethics education, examine how our work is situated with respect to current AI and robotics applications, and discuss a curricular module in "Robot Ethics" that was designed to achieve interdisciplinary learning objectives. Finally, we offer recommendations for more effective engineering ethics education, with a specific focus on emerging technologies.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Susan LeFrancois, Florida Polytechnic University
Kingsley Reeves, University of South Florida
Grisselle Centeno, Florida Polytechnic University

Ethics Training: Cultivating an Ethical Engineer Identity
There is limited research regarding the impact of current engineering ethics programs on the development of engineers. Most of the literature on this topic does not discuss ethics insofar as it functions as a part of how engineers regard their identity as engineers. Realizing that both academia and industry play an important role in the professional formation of engineers, we are developing an approach that merges engineering ethics training in an academic setting with internships in an industrial setting.

OTHER

Jason Lajoie, Jin Sol Kim and Heather Love, University of Waterloo

The Importance of Grant Funding for Growing Engagement in Ethical Engineering Education

Since grant funding agencies influence the scope of academic research, they are ideally suited to help propel research that advances ethical inquiry and ethical instruction in engineering. In this short paper we draw from our ongoing Knowledge Synthesis research funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to highlight ways that grant agencies can support and empower faculty to engage with engineering ethics, particularly macroethical concerns related to the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of technological innovation.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Jia Seow, Erick Ramirez, Jocelyn Tan, Cynthia Thomas and Brett Ashton
Sisu VR

A Proposal to Combat Unconscious Bias Using VR

Combating unconscious bias is an important goal both within the workplace, tech industry, and in the culture more broadly. There have been many attempts to address unconscious bias, such as psychological assessments and traditional training methods. In this white paper, we evaluate the issues associated with traditional unconscious bias training, and argue that these methods are unlikely to be useful tools for promoting empathy and combating bias in the workplace. In its place, we provide guidelines for using VR more effectively as a bias mitigation tool.

3–4:30pm

Special Session: ETHICS-2021 Ethical and Responsible Research Program (ER2) at the US National Science Foundation

The session will have 5 presentations. The first will introduce the ER2’s goals and funding priorities. The second presentation will introduce the Online Ethics Center originally funded by NSF to support training and research of ethics in STEM. The presentation will focus on its new initiative for building communities of practice that support social responsibility through ethical research. The final three presentations will be from Principal Investigators who received funding from the ER2 program that addresses engineering and social responsibility. The project by Centeno and Reeves seeks to create a novel pedagogical approach that merges engineering ethics training in an academic setting with engineering internships in an industry setting to: 1) promote the development of strong ethical sensitivity and reasoning skills within students (i.e. ethical competence), and 2) promote the establishment of ethical competence as a core competence associated with the engineer identity. The fourth presentation by Jesiek, Claussen and Zoltowski will give an overview of a longitudinal study investigating how engineering professionals’ views of ethics and social responsibility evolve over time, from when they first begin their engineering studies to when they graduate and enter the workforce. The project by Qin and Scott approaches social responsibility from a global and (cross-)cultural perspective by examining how national cultures and educational experiences affect the ways in which engineering students from three countries (the United States, Netherlands, and China) make sense of their social responsibilities and develop their professional ethical identities.

Introduction:
Katherine Duncan, President IEEE-USA

Moderator:
Wenda Bauchspies, NSF Program Director for Ethical and Responsible Research

Presenters:
Wenda Bauchspies, NSF Program Director for Ethical and Responsible Research, “The Ethics and Responsible Research Program at NSF: Future Directions”
Julie Simpson, University of New Hampshire, “OEC’s Community of Practice for Scholars, Educators and Administrators Fostering Research Integrity”
Grisselle Centeno, Florida Polytechnic University and Kingsley A. Reeves, Jr., University of South Florida, “Collaborative Research: Enhancing Internships with Professional Ethics Training: Cultivating an Ethical Engineer Identity”
Brent Jesiek, Purdue University, Stephanie Claussen, San Francisco State University, and Carla Zoltowski, Purdue University, “Collaborative Research: Early Career Engineers’ Views of Ethics and Social Responsibility: Trends, Influences, and Contexts”
Qin Zhu, Colorado School of Mines and Scott Streiner, University of Pittsburgh, "Collaborative Research: Responsible Engineering across Cultures: Investigating the Effects of Culture and Education on Ethical Reasoning and Dispositions of Engineering Students"

Special Session: Water and Cities: Get in the Game! [Continued]

ISTAS21 Papers (12): Regulating and Protecting Online Spaces

Moderator:
Brandiff Caron, Concordia University

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Jaigris Hodson, Royal Roads University
Victoria O'Meara, University of Western Ontario
Andrea Galizia, University of Toronto
Chandell Gosse, Royal Roads University

Quietly Coping: A Scoping Review of Online Abuse in Research and Public Education Work

For knowledge workers in research and public education, online abuse is an increasingly common workplace hazard that they must navigate. In this short paper we detail the preliminary results of a systematic and thorough review of the academic and grey literature concerning online abuse across a wide variety of disciplines to understand how the integration of social media technologies have created new risks and responsibilities for knowledge workers.

AI & AUTOMATION

Farshid Faal, Ketra Schmitt and Jia Yuan Yu Concordia University

Protecting Marginalized Communities by Mitigating Discrimination in Toxic Language Detection

As the harms of online toxic language become more apparent, countering online toxic behavior is an essential application of natural language processing. To address the challenge of bias in toxic language detection, we propose a two-step training approach. A pretrained language model with a multitask learning objective will mitigate biases in the toxicity classifier prediction.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Kathleen Leslie, Athabasca University
Tracey L. Adams, Western University
Sophia Myles, Athabasca University
Maggie Szu Nin Lin, Athabasca University
Aleah McCormick, Athabasca University
Catharine Schiller, University of Northern British Columbia
Jacob Shelley, Western University
Sioban Nelson, University of Toronto

Regulating Professionals in Virtual Practice: Protecting the Public Interest in Rapidly Changing Digital Workplaces

Virtual practice is increasingly transforming the nature of service delivery in many professions, particularly with the rapid shift to virtual work during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are many legal and ethical complexities associated with regulating professionals who engage in virtual practice. Our research focuses on how the public interest is conceptualized when regulating professionals engaged in virtual practice. To answer this, we are conducting two inter-related activities that we will report on in our presentation: (1) A scoping review to map the diverse and interdisciplinary academic and grey literature on this topic; and (2) Policy case studies to examine specific challenges and promising practices across Canada.

OTHER

Michelle Alexopoulos, Kelly Lyons, Keli Chiu and Kaushar Mahetaji, University of Toronto

Evaluating the Disruption of COVID-19 on Artificial Intelligence Innovation using Patent Filings

In this paper, we explore the impact of COVID-19 on innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) to better understand future effects on economic growth and productivity. Using patents as a measure of innovation and knowledge production, we analyze monthly patent application filing data from January 2015 to June 2021 to compare and assess trends. Based on this research, we propose a novel approach for examining existing and up-to-date publicly available patent filing data and use that method to gain new insights into the pandemic?s effects on AI-related innovation.

ISTAS21 Papers (13): Building Transparent Civic Infrastructure and Governance

Moderator:
Rozita Dara, University of Guelph

SUSTAINABLE CITIES & COMMUNITIES

Jordyn Dennis, Caitlin Grady and Sarah Rajtmajer, Pennsylvania State University

Comparative Assessment of Cyber-Physical Threats to Megacities

We are seeing a sharp rise in the number of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure with significant impacts cascading across multiple sectors and causing disruption to the provisioning of essential goods and services. Through structured analysis of city statistics, demographic information, cyber incidents, and current cyber policy, our presentation will articulate potential social implications of megacity growth through the lens of cyber-physical infrastructure disruption. Our work suggests the need for future research on social responsibility regarding security of these critical infrastructure sectors and on the need for technology-focused law, policy, and regulation guidelines.

SUSTAINABLE CITIES & COMMUNITIES

Rebecca Dziedzic, Luis Amador, Chunjiang An, Zhi Chen, Ursula Eicker,
Amin Hammad, Fuzhan Nasiri, Mazdak Nik-Bakht, Mohamed Ouf and Osama Moselhi,
Concordia University

A Framework for Asset Management Planning in Sustainable and Resilient Cities

This paper introduces a set of essential policy elements for city officials and government agencies responsible for civil infrastructure management. A number of critical factors and processes needed for efficient infrastructure asset management are recommended, considering community engagement, safety, resilience, sustainability, environmental stewardship, as well as human factors. A framework is proposed that comprises a wide range of enabling technologies and methods for assets? identification and location, condition assessment, optimized intervention plans and budget allocation. The paper is intended to serve as a comprehensive and flexible roadmap as well as a management guide to assist stakeholders responsible for these assets.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Samay Nathani, Ryan Jenkins, Foaad Khosmood, California Polytechnic State University and Christine Robertson, IATPP

Exploring Gaps in California Proposition 54 (2016)

California Proposition 54, 2016 attempted to address gaps in government transparency at the state level by requiring legislative proceedings to be published on the internet, but failed to consider the traditional barriers that limit citizen participation in policy. This study aims to understand where Prop 54 falls short in regards to improving government transparency, evaluating the traditional barriers that prevent citizens from participating in government, identifying the improvements that should be made to increase the impact of Prop 54, and proposing ways artificial intelligence can help with these improvements.

5–6pm

KEYNOTE: Carolyn McGregor, "Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: Ethical and Social Implications of Neonatology"

High-speed physiological data are proving to be one of the most untapped resources in healthcare today. Many medical devices produce data streams at frequencies of a reading a second or faster making the effective use of that data a Big Data challenge. A growing body of research studies are demonstrating common physiological patterns for a range of medical conditions at earlier stages in the condition progression paving the way for new artificial intelligence and machine learning based approaches that could also be more reliable. There is great potential for real-time assessment of this physiological data to improve patient outcomes and to do so on an individualized personalized level. Systemic use of Big Data and AI in Healthcare present many ethics and social implications

This keynote will demonstrate how Big Data and AI can be used systemically for new approaches in research and clinical care for differential diagnosis and condition management. Ethical and social implications will be considered within the context of the application of these approaches in neonatology.

Carolyn McGregor is Research Chair of Artificial Intelligence for Health and Wellness and two-time Research Chair of Health Informatics at Ontario Tech University.

6–7:30pm Networking Time

Sunday Oct. 31

9:15–10:45am

Special Session: Digital and Societal Transformations

As a kickoff teaser for next year’s ISTAS 2022 conference, “Digital and Societal Transformations,” this interdisciplinary panel considers the social impact of digital innovations like 5G in the contexts of privacy, security, socio-economic prosperity and cybercrime. The panelists, who are international leaders and experts in privacy, cybersecurity, and technology policy and governance, will discuss and share their concerns on the socio-cultural and economic benefits and challenges of the ongoing digital transformation.

Presenters:
Laurie Lau, APATAS, ISTAS2022 Chair, Organizing Committee
Luis Kun, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Center for Hemispheric, USA. Chairman IEEE- SSIT Distinguished Lecturer Program, Defense Studies at the National Defense University
T V Ramachandran, President, Broadband India Forum
Lennon Chang, ISTAS2022 Finance Chair, Monash University
T V Gopal, ISTAS 2022 Chair, Technical Programme Committee, Anna University

Special Session: ETHICS-2021 Author Meets the Critics—Engineering Ethics: Contemporary and Enduring Debates by Deborah Johnson

Engineering Ethics, Contemporary and Enduring Debates by Deborah G. Johnson (Yale University Press, 2020) is the first engineering ethics textbook to use debates as the framework for presenting engineering ethics topics. The book addresses foundational issues in engineering ethics, such as whether engineering needs a code of ethics; employment relationships, especially those with clients and employers; and contemporary, societal issues, including whether autonomous cars will ever be safe enough and whether engineers are responsible for social justice. The debate format exposes the underlying rationales for many commonly held beliefs about engineering and technology, and encourages the development of reflective and critical thinking. Johnson approaches engineering ethics with the premise that engineering is both a technical and a social endeavour, and ethical issues arise in the social practices of the profession that are often intertwined with technical decision making.

Presenter:
Deborah G. Johnson, Philosopher, STS scholar whose research interests focus on computer ethics and engineering ethics

Critics:
Keith Miller, University of Missouri – St. Louis
Dayoung Kim, Purdue University
Lambèr Royakkers, Eindhoven University of Technology

Moderator:
Brent Jesiek, National Institute of Engineering Ethics, Purdue University

ISTAS21 Papers (14): Using Emerging Technologies to Overcome Online Disinformation Campaigns and Conspiracy Theories

Moderator:
Neha Chugh, Concordia University

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Richard Wilson, Towson University and Michael Shifflett, United States Government

QAnon, Conspiracy Theories and Social Media Warfare: An Ethical and Anticipatory Ethical Analysis

This paper examines the use of QAnon theories on social media to undermine democracy. This analysis aims to identify the ethical issues with conspiracy theories used by Leaders and groups such as QAnon and to attempt to anticipate ethical and political issues with the continued use of these conspiracy theories.

AI & AUTOMATION

Benjamin Lange and Theodore Lechterman, University of Oxford

The Ethics of AI-supported Disinformation Inoculation

AI-supported methods for identifying and combating disinformation are progressing in their development and application. However, these methods face a litany of ethical and epistemic challenges. These include (1) robustly defining disinformation, (2) reliably classifying data according to this definition, and (3) navigating ethical risks in the deployment of inoculation measures, which involve a mixture of harms and benefits. This paper seeks to expose and offer preliminary analysis of these challenges.

AI & AUTOMATION

Pierre Watine, Ketra A. Schmitt and Arezo Bodaghi, Concordia University

Can the Hawkes Process Be Used to Evaluate The Spread of Online Information?

Most existing methods to model the spread of information online require extensive computational resources and time to train a deep-learning algorithm, as well as a high-level representation of the propagation of the content. In this paper we present the Hawkes process, which makes it possible to evaluate and model information spread tendencies and map out the source of the information by comparing the intensity of shared posts over time.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Joe Masoodi and Sam Andrey, Ryerson Leadership Lab

Disinformation and Online Harms: Understanding the Links to Private Messaging Apps in Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the online challenges of disinformation facing Western governments and societies, including Canada. This presentation will provide a deeper and broader understanding on the spread and evolution of disinformation in Canada, and importantly, it will discuss potential regulatory measures and the need to balance policy with democratic rights and freedoms including privacy and free expression.

ISTAS21 Papers (15): (Re)defining Frameworks and Systems in Emerging Technologies

Moderator:
Brandiff Caron, Concordia University

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Sarah Spiekermann, Vienna University of Economics and Business

From Value-lists to Value-based Ethical Engineering with IEEE 7000

Digital ethics is currently being discussed worldwide as a necessity to create more reliable IT systems. This discussion, fueled by the fear of uncontrollable general artificial intelligence and by ethical dilemmas of existing systems, has moved many institutions and scientists to demand value principles that should guide the development of IT systems in the future. This article explains why working through lists of values is insufficient for good or ethically legitimized system development, and shows how "Value-based Engineering" (VbE) could work instead.

TECH POLICY & GOVERNANCE

Kevin LaGrandeur, New York Institute of Technology

Why and how to regulate emerging technology

My presentation will focus on how our development of intelligent technology intended to make our lives easier has brought along with its advantages numerous hazardous consequences that call for more careful regulation. After giving some examples of specific looming hazards, my presentation will conclude by suggesting multiple avenues for regulation that developers, industry, and government can take that may work to mitigate dangerous consequences of unregulated emerging technology. One of the examples of new AI-based technology that has some great positive potential, but which is also subject to abuse is Brain Computer Interface (BCI).

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Zhen-Rong Gan, National Tsing Hua University

A Normative Framework of Artificial Moral Agents

This paper proposes a normative framework for designing and evaluating ethical machines, that is, artificial moral agents (AMAs). In contrast to the mainstream action-centric models of AMAs, which unjustifiably implies the assumption of "Ethics in ethics out," I will propose an agent-based model of AMAs, which stresses how to design a pattern of a machine that will ensure replicating human ethical behaviours and possessing the abilities of learning, adjusting, and progressing on its own.

11am–12:30pm

Special Session: Workshop on Open-Access Educational Materials

This workshop is targeted at anyone interested in teaching ethics to engineering students. It aims to introduce the participants to the 4TU.Centre for Ethics and Technology method of building up Case-Based Exercises by having them apply it to create a Case-Based Exercise of their own. Participants will work in small groups (break-out rooms), where each group will be asked to start building a Case-Based Exercise intended to be taught in an ethics/philosophy of technology course for engineering students using the toolkit.

Presenters:
Lavinia Marin, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, TU Delft
Tijn Borghuis, Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology
Roel Veraart, Social Sciences, Wageningen University & Research

Special Session: ETHICS-2021 Wellbeing & Ethically Aligned Design

While avoidance of harm is critical for engineering and systems design, the recent focus on risk classification regarding Artificial Intelligence from the European Union has the policy and corporate worlds primarily focused on what shouldn’t happen for society, versus what needs to happen to create our most purpose-driven, positive future.

Session Organizer & Moderator:
John Havens, Director, Emerging Technologies & Strategic Development, IEEE Standards Association

Presenters:
Bogdana Rakova, Data Scientist, Responsible AI, Accenture
Prof. Dr. Sarah Spiekermann, Chair of the WU Institute for IS & Society, IEEE 7000 Vice-chair (2016-2021), Vienna University of Economics and Business
Prof. Melodena Stephens, Professor of Innovation Management, Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government
Deborah Hagar, MBA, President – The Foundation for Sustainable Communities, Sr. Adjunct Professor, University of LaVerne

ISTAS21 Papers (16): STEM Communities of Justice and Care

Moderator:
Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, University of Kansas

OTHER

Robyn Ruttenberg-Rozen, Katelin Hynes, Sarah Habibi, Sanya Cardoza and Jennifer Muchmaker, Ontario Tech University

Towards a Community of Care: Counterspaces for Women in sTem Education

STEM counterspaces are emerging as important communal spaces that support women and their identity development in STEM. Counterspaces are community-driven, safe spaces that nurture a sense of belonging through strategies that are validating for intersectional identity development. In this paper, we review existing research about counterspaces that support women and women of colour in STEM and use the framework of Feminine Ethics of Care to analyze these spaces.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Ann-Louise Davidson and Nathalie Duponsel, Concordia University

Building a Makerspace in a Youth Center and Imagining Futures

Many education institutions are building makerspaces because they have the potential to empower youth and help them build identities to prepare them for STEM careers. In marginalized neighborhoods, the challenge is to interest youth in such activities, engage them in projects without making it look like an impossible task or another high-stake school assignment. We undertook the challenge of building a makerspace in a youth center in the C“te-des-Neiges neighborhood, in Montreal.

OTHER

Rania Al-Hammoud and Andrea Jonahs, University of Waterloo

Building science identity in first-year engineering students

This project offers a timely contribution to the “leaky pipeline,” a metaphor that captures the paucity of women and racialized people in STEM fields. Addressing this gap by focusing on what specifically instructors can do in the classroom to remedy the issue, this project focuses on building "Science identity" in two concurrent first-year engineering courses: a mechanical engineering course and a communication course. Our presentation will outline the current project and describe specific interventions that focus on mentorship and the social impacts of engineering, which are designed to build science identity.

ISTAS21 Papers (17): Defining Ethics and Implications of AI Technologies

Moderator:
Emma Carmel, University of Bath

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Florian Richter, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey

Ethics of AI as Practical Ethics

How can values like fairness, transparency, and accountability be balanced with ethical theories? The traditional approaches in the field of applied ethics do not offer sufficient conceptual means to deal with practical problems created by the implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. If higher-level principles are not a viable approach to resolve conflicts of values, the criteria under which they can be implemented should be taken into consideration. Therefore, it is proposed that specific criteria for the implementation of the values need to be made explicit.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Bianca Helena Ximenes and Geber Ramalho, Centro de Informática da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Concrete Ethical Guidelines and Best Practices in Machine Learning Development

The rapid adoption of Machine Learning (ML) in humans' daily lives and activities is raising ethical dilemmas and issues. A form of minimizing possible harm to society is to provide guidance to ML developers, who can build systems that are ethical by design. This paper proposes ethical recommendations, 18 concrete guidelines and 24 best practices, for developers. This paper also investigates the state of adoption of such recommendations and compares what developers think they should do to achieve more ethical results versus what they actually do.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Joao Pontual de Arruda Falcao, Geber Lisboa Ramalho and Silvio Romero de Lemos Meira, Centro de Informática da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Algorithmic Pragmatics

To improve thinking about the societal impact of algorithms, we explore a philosophical and linguistic approach to design a new conceptual framework named 'Algorithmic Pragmatics'. The algorithmic pragmatics conceptual framework presented might be useful to foster both public legislation and corporate self-regulation.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Isabel Pedersen, Ontario Tech University
Ann Hill Duin, University of Minnesota

Defining a classification system for augmentation technology in socio-technical terms

This short paper provides a means to classify augmentation technologies to reconceptualize them as socio-technical, discursive and rhetorical phenomena, rather than only through technological classifications. It identifies a set of value systems that constitute augmentation technologies within discourses, namely, the intent to enhance, automate, and build efficiency. This short paper makes a contribution to digital literacy surrounding augmentation technology emergence, as well as the more specific area of AI literacy, which can help identify unintended consequences implied at the design stages of these technologies.

Meal Break/Networking Time

1–2:30pm

Special Session: More than Tech for Good: PeaceTech at Waterloo and Beyond

This session will feature engineers and peacebuilders, including C-Suite level experts, with connections to the University of Waterloo who are contributing to the growing global movement for PeaceTech by using technology to augment efforts to advance peace globally, or leveraging peacebuilding to generate critical insights on technology. Presenters will address topics such as the role of research and advocacy in the context of peace and security issues related to technology.

Facilitator:
Paul Heidebrecht, Director of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement

Moderator:
Emily Charron, Coordinator of the Kindred Credit Union Centre for Peace Advancement

Presenters:
Hannah Bernstein, UWaterloo student & PeaceTech Living Learning Community Peer Leader
Branka Marijan, Senior Researcher, Project Ploughshares
Cassie Myers, CEO and Founder, Lunaria Solutions
Jonathan Smith, Machine Learning Scientist, Layer 6 AI
Richard Yim, CEO and Founder, Demine Robotics

Special Session: Smart Cities through the Lens of Human Rights: Technological and Ethical Dilemmas [3-hour session]

Smart Cities can be described as a smart system comprising numerous integrated smart systems that fuse and share data, including personal and potentially sensitive private information. Such circumstances could intrude on the rights to privacy, and human dignity, with disclosures potentially harmful to the individual, families, friends, associates, and communities. This workshop will examine ways to promote the best outcomes for the residents and visitors of smart cities through the lens of human rights. Affective rights will also be discussed as requisite to formulating the optimal smart city. Moreover, this workshop will foster discussion around the still relatively nascent technology of Affective Computing, which is the application of AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), biometric measurement, sentiment analysis, and psychological factor assessment in determining and interacting with the affective states of the individual. This workshop is open to all stakeholders in Smart City development and management, including computer scientists, engineers, Smart City integrators, application developers, third party vendors, ethicists, city managers and administrators. It should be especially informative for oversight and governance organizations providing auditing and performance evaluations.

Keynote Presenters:
Professor Bryant Walker Smith, School of Law, University of South Carolina and Affiliate Scholar, The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School
Cordel Green, MBA; LL.M (Dist.); LL. B (Hons); BA (Hons), Executive Director, Broadcasting Commission—Jamaica, Vice-Chairman, International Bureau—Information for All Programme (IFAP), UNESCO, and Chairman, UNESCO IFAP Working Group on Information Accessibility
Tyler L. Jaynes, Bioethicist, Standards Developer, AI Governance
Lubna Dajani, Digital Innovation OG; Allternet, Ltd.

Organizers and Panelists:
Angelo Ferraro, (large system architecture, smart grids, massive communication failures, affective computing, IoT instrumentation, civil and electrical systems, standards, contract, and financial negotiations)
Larissa Paredes Muse, (energy & street lighting sector specialist, with focus in stakeholder engagement (finance / contracts, private sector, urban planners, academia, public sector agencies, legislation & regulation bodies) & standard development)
Rosaldo Rossetti, (behavioral modelling, social simulation for urban mobility)
Sara Paiva, (smart and inclusive mobility, social inclusion)

ETHICS-2021 Papers (4): Innovative Methods for Engineering Ethics Education

Moderator:
Jonathan Beever, University of Central Florida

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Diana Adela Martin and Gunter Bombaerts, Eindhoven University of Technology

Exploring ethical decision-making in group settings with real-life case studies

This paper examines students' emerging ethical decision-making process in a group setting when faced with a case given by a stakeholder within their university's ecosystem. The study aims to contribute to a better understanding of how students move through the different steps of the decision-making process of finding an ethical solution to a real-life case, how they consider different stakeholder perspectives, the criteria and values guiding their decision-making, and how having a real case affects their view on the role of ethics in engineering decision-making.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Alexandra Morrison and Charles Wallace, Michigan Technological University

Iteration and inquiry: Toward a meaningful model of ethical engagement for engineering and computing students

The Ethical Cycle is an operational model with well-defined stages: statement of the moral problem, analysis, identification of options for action, ethical evaluation, and reflection. We discuss our experiences adopting and adapting the Ethical Cycle for an engineering ethics course, and we pose two questions for further investigation: how can iterative, critical ethical reasoning be incorporated into student project activities, and how can engineering educators receive the professional development they need to facilitate this kind of inquiry?

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Rebecca Bates, Robert Sleezer and Lin Chase, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Infusion of Ethics in Undergraduate Engineering Education through Industry-Sponsored Projects

This presentation explores industry-sponsored undergraduate engineering education projects designed to prepare students to practice corporate social responsibility. Curricular context and key examples will be presented along with a discussion of how these projects are implemented across different regional contexts and how the approach will transfer to a computer science context.

ENGINEERING & CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Luke Fernandez, Weber State University

The Role of the Emotions in Teaching Engineering Ethics

The author discusses how approaches to including more ethics in engineering curriculum can be productively supplemented by studying the emotional and aesthetic dimensions of engineering and the way that engineering artifacts induce feelings of what is termed the “technological sublime.” Making students cognizant of the multivalent aspects of the technological sublime can train engineers who are more aware of the ways that technology, emotions and ethics are mutually entangled.

ISTAS21 Papers (18): Innovations in Design

Moderator:
Zach Pearl, University of Waterloo

HEALTH SYSTEMS

Richard Wilson, Towson University

3D Printing, Nanotechnology and Organ Printing: An Ethical and Anticipatory Ethical Analysis

The term organ printing has been more narrowly defined as a biomedical variant of rapid prototyping technology or computer-aided robotic layer-by-layer at biofabrication of 3D human tissues and organs using self-assembling tissue spheroids as building blocks. The combination of 3D printing, nanotechnology, and organ printing can make a tremendous impact on the practice of medicine. The analysis will review current developments and attempt to identify future developments in organ printing techniques including, micro extrusion based printing, inkjet base printing, and laser-based printing as the possible ways that organs can be printed through developments in nanotechnology and 3D printing.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Dan Weijers and H. Joseph Turton, University of Waikato

Environmentally Smart Contracts for Artists Using Non-Fungible Tokens

We propose Environmentally Smart Contracts, a new kind of smart contract for non-fungible tokens to solve the prudential-moral dilemma facing digital artists. We outline concrete steps to encourage these contracts, which will allow artists to reap the sales benefits of non-fungible tokens without contributing to environmental degradation.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Dylan Cawthorne and Nicolai Iversen, University of Southern Denmark

Exploring high-performance wooden drone structures through speculative design

Although we aspire to make decisions based on logic and systematic analysis, it has been argued that engineers' technical decisions can be influenced by their ideologies about progress and the future - including the material selection process. In this work, we address this potential influence through a holistic and exploratory speculative design process, asking "What are some implications of the use of wood in high-performance drone structures, and what will a high-performance wooden drone structure look like?" A wooden prototype search and rescue drone, developed for use in Denmark, is built, tested and analyzed through quantitative and qualitative means as part of the exploration process.

AI & AUTOMATION

Kari Zacharias and Ketra Schmitt, Concordia University

Canada's Policy Approach to 'Killer Robots' and the Ethics of Autonomous Weapons Systems

This article situates current policy discussions on autonomous weapons systems, and Canadian policy in particular, with respect to the ethical discourse around such systems. We ask how the idea of meaningful human control intersects with various ethical objections to autonomous weapons, and propose a set of questions for policymakers.

3–4:30pm

Special Session: ETHICS-2021 Integrating Virtue Ethics into STEM Courses

The objectives of this workshop are (1) Introduce participants to a virtue ethics framework; (2) Describe modular integration of the framework in a robotics course through 9 weekly “Ethical Considerations in AI” assignments; (3) Assist participants in the development or planning of a virtue ethics module in the context of their own course. Character is “the collection of stable, deep, and enduring dispositions that define who we are and shape how we characteristically think, feel, and act”. Virtue ethics is the theoretical foundation of character education. Virtues of character are thus stable and enduring dispositions that enable us to think, feel, and act in morally good ways for morally good ends. Importantly, though character virtues represent enduring dispositions, like other personality traits, they can be intentionally taught and developed by well-designed pedagogies. The complexities and needs of the future STEM workforce requires knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that extend beyond STEM disciplinary silos. This includes fostering an internationally collaborative approach to research and development that is entrepreneurial, socially responsible, and engages the workforce in life-long learning. An approach our department has taken to develop engineering students to meet these demands is to integrate character education into the curriculum. Current work by our department-wide character project uses an established taxonomy within professional education, the Jubilee Centre Framework. This framework identifies four types of virtues: intellectual, moral, civic, and performance. A recent review on engineering ethics education found that current practices lead to shortcomings in emerging professionals (not just engineers) such as the rigid interpretation of ethics and in considering the broader societal impacts of their decision-making. We have implemented a modular approach to engineering ethics, infusing character education comprehensively into our curricula. Thus, discussions of ethics are not isolated to a single course, but may develop over 4 years. While ethics education may focus on student decision making during specific times of ethical dilemmas, character education focuses on the habitual actions, motivations, and virtues that prepare students for those difficult decisions while also influencing their daily behaviors. This, we believe, offers a more aspirational framework for ethics education, allowing the student to reflect on- and develop their own character while engaging in ethical discussions and decision- making. Further, this seeks to bring utility to ethics education beyond decision-making in the face of ethical dilemma, but in the formation of STEM professionals and their role in society.

Moderator:
Mark A. Vasquez, Senior Program Manager, IEEE TechEthics

Presenters:
Dr. Erin Henslee, Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering, Wake Forest University
Dr. Adetoun Yeaman, Engineering Education Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Engineering, Wake Forest University
Dr. Joseph Wiinikka-Lydon, Department of Engineering, Wake Forest University

Special Session: Smart Cities through the Lens of Human Rights: Technological and Ethical Dilemmas [Continued]

ISTAS21 Papers (19): What's at Risk in the Adoption of AI?

Moderator:
Asen Ivanov, University of Guelph

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Anne Gerdes, University of Southern Denmark

AI can turn the clock back before we know it

This paper outlines intertwined challenges related to three areas: the hype surrounding AI, the consequences of corporate influence on the AI research agenda, and the public sector’s uncritical embracement of AI technologies. We argue that AI can backfire if overconfident predictions influence decisions to introduce AI in high-risk domains. Moreover, the corporate colonization of the AI research agenda may cause a decline in societal trust in science, which is highly problematic considering that AI will increasingly power important domains in society.

AI & AUTOMATION

Emma Carmel, University of Bath and Regine Paul, Bergen University

The Government of Risk in the Age of Big Data: Varieties in Regulating Artificial Intelligence Technologies

Over the last decade, the exponential growth in the use of artificial intelligence technologies (AITs) in public policy and private life has been accompanied by proliferating efforts to regulate artificial intelligence technologies (AITs) in international, regional, national but also sectoral contexts. As yet, we lack comparative accounts of how and why regulatory actors regulate these applications differently. This paper develops a comparative framework for exploring respective policy variety by expanding the classic perspective of "risk regulation regimes" with its triple explanatory focus on market failure, public opinion and interest politics (Hood, Rothstein, and Baldwin 2001).

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Neha Chugh, Concordia University

Risk Assessments Tools on Trial: Lessons Learned for 'Ethical AI' in the Criminal Justice System

In 2018, the Supreme Court Case of Ewert v Canada confirmed that risk assessment tools such as the psychopathy checklists used by Correctional Services of Canada (CSC), failed to account for cultural heritage of the offender, specifically Indigeneity and the impact of colonialism on Canada's aboriginal communities. A further review of Canadian case-law post-Ewert reveals that Canadian courts continue their reliance on risk assessment tools despite the critiques from the legal community and from the Supreme Court of Canada. This paper reviews lessons learned from the Canadian experience of Ewert's challenge of risk assessment tools and to highlight ethical concerns that are being considered in the implementation of artificial intelligence in the criminal justice system.

ETHICAL & HUMAN VALUES IN EMERGENT TECH

Cameron Shelley, University of Waterloo

Fairness in AI applications: More than a matter of calculation

One focus of research about applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been to define these fairness problems and to quantify them in a way that lends itself to calculation of fair outcomes. The purpose of this presentation is to show that this issue of fairness in AI is consistent with fairness problems posed by technological design in general and that addressing these problems goes beyond what can be readily quantified and calculated.

4:30–5:30pm

Conference Closing Session

Reflections on the ISTAS21 conference and its significance within the IEEE and broader engineering and tech communities, plus invitations to all conference attendees to continue engaging with Technological Stewardship principles and stay involved with the IEEE SSIT.

Featured Speakers
Paul Cunningham, IEEE Division VI Director, Former IEEE SSIT President, IST-Africa
Mark Abbott, Executive Director, Engineering Change Lab (Canada)

IEEE SSIT Speakers
Anasuya Devi, SSIT Membership Chair
Ali Muzaffar, SSIT Young Professionals Chair
Saiteja Goud Karingu, SSIT Student Activities Committee Chair
Greg Adamson, SSIT Chair of Technical Activities and ETHICS-2021 Conference Chair, University of Melbourne

Closing Remarks
Jason Lajoie, ISTAS21 Organizing Chair

Program at a Glance

Day	Time (EDT)	Track A: Keynotes & Special Sessions	Track B: Special Sessions	Track C: Papers	Track D: Papers
W-27-Oct	9:00-12:30	AI 4 Equity Workshop: Against Modern Indentured Servitude (Associated Event)
	12:30-2:00		SSIT Young Professionals Vision Workshop
	2:00-5:30
Th-28-Oct	8:15-9:45		ISTAS21 Mentorship Session for Students and Young Professionals (pre-registration required)
	10:00-11:00	Conference Welcome Session
	11:00-12:00	Keynote Address: Ron Deibert
	Meal Break/Networking Time
	1:00-2:30	Critical By Design: Fostering Responsible Innovation with Critical Design Methods	Guiding Responsible Neurotechnology Innovation	ETHICS-2021 Papers (1)	ISTAS21 Papers (1)
	3:00-4:30	ETHICS-2021 Corporate Social Responsibility and Engineering Education	Designing Online/Offline Experiences with Children in Mind	ISTAS21 Papers (2)	ISTAS21 Papers (3)
	5:00-6:00	ETHICS-2021 Keynote Address: Will Griffin
	6:00-7:30	Networking Time
F-29-Oct	9:15-10:45	Universal Access to Technology	Life Science and its Implications for Society - (In addition to COVID-19)	ETHICS-2021 Papers (2)	ISTAS21 Papers (4)
	11:00-12:00	Keynote Address: Shannon Vallor
	Meal Break/Networking Time
	1:00-2:30	Technology, Equity, and Social Justice Roundtable	CARE AI Special Session on AI Ethics	ISTAS21 Papers (5)	ISTAS21 Papers (6)
	3:00-4:30	Artificial Intelligence (AI) For Literacy - A Cross-Disciplinary Exploration	CARE AI Special Session on AI Ethics	ETHICS-2021 Papers (3)	ISTAS21 Papers (7)
	5:00-6:00	Keynote Address: Safiya Noble
	6:00-7:30	Networking Time
Sa-30-Oct	9:15-10:45	One Health Informatics and the Stewardship of Complex Systems	ETHICS-2021 The Role of Ethics Officers and Organizational Ethics Programs	ISTAS21 Papers (8)	ISTAS21 Papers (9)
	11:00-12:00	Keynote Address: Adam Greenfield
	Meal Break/Networking Time
	1:00-2:30	ETHICS-2021 Author Meets the Critics - Extracting Accountability: Engineers and Corporate Social Responsibility by Jessica Smith	Water and Cities: Get in the Game!	ISTAS21 Papers (10)	ISTAS21 Papers (11)
	3:00-4:30	ETHICS-2021 Ethical and Responsible Research Program (ER2) at the US National Science Foundation	Water and Cities: Get in the Game!	ISTAS21 Papers (12)	ISTAS21 Papers (13)
	5:00-6:00	Keynote Address: Carolyn McGregor
	6:00-7:30	Networking Time
Su-31-Oct	9:15-10:45	Digital and Societal Transformations	ETHICS-2021 Author Meets the Critics - Engineering Ethics: Contemporary and Enduring Debates by Deborah Johnson	ISTAS21 Papers (14)	ISTAS21 Papers (15)
	11:00-12:30	Workshop on Open-Access Educational Materials	ETHICS-2021 Wellbeing & Ethically Aligned Design	ISTAS21 Papers (16)	ISTAS21 Papers (17)
	Meal Break/Networking Time
	1:00-2:30	More than Tech for Good: PeaceTech at Waterloo and Beyond	Smart Cities through the Lens of Human Rights: Technological and Ethical Dilemmas	ETHICS-2021 Papers (4)	ISTAS21 Papers (18)
	3:00-4:30	ETHICS-2021 Integrating Virtue Ethics into STEM Courses		ISTAS21 Papers (19)	ISTAS21 Papers (20)
	4:30-5:30	Conference Closing Session

Conference Program

Wed. Oct 27

9am-5pm

Second International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Equity (AI4Eq) Against Modern Indentured Servitude

AI4Eq is a separate event being held in partnership with ISTAS21. Sessions will take place on the ISTAS21 conference platform, and all ISTAS21 attendees are welcome and encouraged to attend.

9–10:30am (EDT)

11am–12:30pm (EDT)

1:30–3:00pm (EDT)

3:30–5:00pm (EDT)

Thurs. Oct. 28

10am-11am

11am–12pm

Meal Break/Networking Time

1–2:30pm

3–4:30pm

5–6pm

6–7:30pm Networking Time

Friday Oct. 29

9:15–10:45am

11am–12pm

Meal Break/Networking Time

1–2:30pm

3–4:30pm

5–6pm

6–7:30pm Networking Time

Sat. Oct. 30

9:15–10:45am

11am–12pm

Meal Break/Networking Time

1–2:30pm

3–4:30pm

5–6pm

6–7:30pm Networking Time

Sunday Oct. 31

9:15–10:45am

11am–12:30pm

Meal Break/Networking Time

1–2:30pm

3–4:30pm

4:30–5:30pm

Program at a Glance

Second International Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Equity (AI4Eq)
Against Modern Indentured Servitude