Ethics as Creativity in Design – Steven Dorrestijn

Together with Wouter Eggink I am convening a track at the Design Research Society conference of 2022 in Bilbao. For more info about the conference and submitting see: https://www.drs2022.org/theme-tracks/.

Ethics as Creativity in Design (track #28)

ABSTRACT
Designing requires enormous social and moral responsibility as we are surrounded by products and services that shape – and simultaneously get shaped by – the way we live. Not only do these products and services serve utilitarian functions, but they also influence our norms and values in multiple and often unforeseen ways. The challenge of responsible design asks for active reflection on ethical issues. However, with the classical top-down approach, ethics may be perceived as restrictive, setting boundaries for what is allowed and what not. Within philosophy of technology, ethical reflection is moving towards a more constructive approach, accompanying technological development with careful considerations. We want to take a step further and are proposing a move towards something that could be called ‘creative ethics’, where a bottom-up approach in dealing with ethical issues fosters inspiration and imagination for desirable futures. In other words; we want to propose ethics as a basis for design, rather than an assessment criterion.

In this track theme we therefore welcome papers that investigate or show how incorporating ethical reflection in the design process can foster creative solutions for future use of technology.

TRACK-CHAIRS
Dr. Ir. Wouter Eggink, University of Twente (the Netherlands) – contact person
Prof. Dr. Steven Dorrestijn, Saxion University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands)

REVIEWERS
Jelle van Dijk – University of Twente
Joseph Lindley – Lancaster University
Geke Ludden – University of Twente
Liesbeth Stam – KU Leuven