In this study, we investigated people's relationships with AIBO, a robotic pet, through 6,438 spontaneous postings in online AIBO discussion forums. Results showed that AIBO psychologically engaged this group of participants, particularly by drawing forth conceptions of technological essences (75%), life-like essences (49%), mental states (60%), and social rapport (59%). However, participants seldom attributed moral standing to AIBO (e.g., that AIBO deserves respect, has rights, or can be held morally accountable for action). Our discussion focuses on how robotic pets (now and in the future) may (a) challenge traditional boundaries (e.g. between who or what can possess feelings), (b) extend our conceptions of self, companionship, and community, and (c) begin to replace interactions with live pets. We also discuss a concern that people in general, and children in particular, may fall prey to accepting robotic pets without the moral responsibilities (and moral developmental outcomes) that real, reciprocal companionship and cooperation involves. This research contributes to a growing literature on the human-robotic relationship.

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Value Sensitive Design is a theoretically grounded approach to the design of technology that accounts for human values in a principled and comprehensive manner throughout the design process. It employs an integrative and iterative tripartite methodology, consisting of conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations. We explicate Value Sensitive Design by drawing on three case studies. The first study concerns information and control of web browser cookies, implicating the value of informed consent. The second study concerns using high-definition plasma displays in an office environment to provide a “window ” to the outside world, implicating the values of physical and psychological well-being and privacy in public spaces. The third study concerns an integrated land use, transportation, and environmental simulation system to support public deliberation and debate on major land use and transportation decisions, implicating the values of fairness, accountability, and support for the democratic process, as well as a highly diverse range of values that might be held by different stakeholders, such as environmental sustainability, opportunities for business expansion, or walkable neighborhoods. We conclude with direct and practical suggestions for how to engage in Value

Would people exhibit similarity-attraction and consistency-attraction toward unambiguously computergenerated speech even when personality is clearly not relevant? In Experiment 1, participants (extrovert or introvert) heard a synthesized voice (extrovert or introvert) on a book-buying Web site. Participants accurately recognized personality cues in text to speech and showed similarity-attraction in their evaluation of the computer voice, the book reviews, and the reviewer. Experiment 2, in a Web auction context, added personality of the text to the previous design. The results replicated Experiment 1 and demonstrated consistency (voice and text personality)-attraction. To maximize liking and trust, designers should set parameters, for example, words per minute or frequency range, that create a personality that is consistent with the user and the content being presented. The vast majority of content on computers and on the World Wide Web is textual. E-mail, documents, spreadsheets, presentation outlines, e-commerce sites, news and information sites, bulletin boards and chat rooms, advertisements, and search engines, although enhanced by graphical content, are all dominated by text. The prevalence of textual material is both a problem and an

This paper reports on one of the first efforts to apply Value-Sensitive Design (VSD) to a large-scale real-world software system. We sought to improve informed consent in Web-based interactions through the development of new technical mechanisms for cookie management. We describe our VSD methodology, explicate criteria for informed consent in online interactions, and summarize how current browsers fall short with respect to those criteria. Next we identify four goals for the redesign of current browsers. These goals, in turn, initiate an iterative design process that lies at the heart of the VSD methodology – wherein we move among the design and implementation of new technical mechanisms, formative evaluation, and the design goals coupled with the criteria for informed consent online. Key mechanisms include: peripheral awareness of cookies, and just-in-time interventions. At various phases in the design process, we implement our design improvements in the Mozilla browser (the open-source for Netscape Navigator).

This articleargues that searchengines raise not merelytechnical issues but also political ones. Our study of search engines suggests that they systematically exclude (in some cases by design and in some, accidentally) certain sites and certain types of sites in favor of others, systematically giving prominence to some at the expense of others. We argue that such biases, which would lead to a narrowing of the Web’s functioning in society, run counter to the basic architecture of the Web as well as to the values and ideals that have fueled widespread support for its growth and development. We consider ways of addressing the politics of search engines, raising doubts whether, in particular, the market mechanism could serve as an acceptable corrective. Keywords search engines, bias, values in design, World Wide Web, digital divide, information access The Internet, no longer merely an e-mail and � le-sharing system, has emerged as a dominant interactive medium. Received 17 July 1997; accepted 24 November 1998. We are indebted to many colleagues for commenting on and questioning earlier versions of this article: audiences at the conference “Computer Ethics: A Philosophical Enquiry, ” London; members of the seminars at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University,

The personal archive is not only about efficient storage and retrieval of information. This paper describes a study of forty-eight academics and the techniques and tools they use to manage their digital and material archiving of papers, emails, documents, internet bookmarks, correspondence, and other artifacts. We present two sets of results: we first discuss rationales behind subjects ’ archiving, which go beyond information retrieval to include creating a legacy, sharing resources, confronting fears and anxieties, and identity construction. We then show how these rationales were mapped into our subjects ’ physical, social and electronic spaces, and discuss implications for development of digital tools that allow for personal archiving.

This paper considers the concept of ensoulment in relation to the design principle of promoting quality & equality within Sustainable Interaction Design (SID). The design-theoretic origins and implications are discussed and the background needed to understand this concept and principle are stated. Appropriate design research methods are discussed. Parts of a completed survey are described and initial findings from an ongoing elicitation study for collecting personal inventories is also presented. The implications of the survey and elicitation study for larger scale design research are described, with an eye towards future research. 1.

Supporting public participation is often a key goal in the design of digital government systems. However, years of work may be required before a complex system, such as the UrbanSim urban simulation system, is deployed and ready for such participation. In this paper, we investigate laying the foundations for public participation in advance of wide-scale public deployment, with the goal of having interaction designs ready when the system is put into such use. Moreover, in a highly politicized domain such as this one, value advocacy as well as factual information plays a central role. Using the theory and methods of Value Sensitive Design, we address three design goals toward public participation and value advocacy, and provide evidence that each of them was achieved: (1) enabling indirect stakeholders to become direct stakeholders (i.e. enabling more people to interact directly with UrbanSim in useful ways); (2) developing a participatory process by which these stakeholders can help guide the development of the system itself; and (3) enabling participating organizations to engage in value advocacy while at the same time enhancing overall system legitimation. Categories and Subject Descriptors H5.3. [Information interfaces and presentation]: Group and

The design, development, and deployment of interactive systems can substantively impact individuals, society, and the natural environment, now and potentially well into the future. Yet, a scarcity of methods exists to support long-term, emergent, systemic thinking in interactive design practice. Toward addressing this gap, we propose four envisioning criteria – stakeholders, time, values, and pervasiveness – distilled from prior work in urban planning, design noir, and Value Sensitive Design. We characterize how the criteria can support systemic thinking, illustrate the integration of the envisioning criteria into established design practice (scenariobased design), and provide strategic activities to serve as generative envisioning tools. We conclude with suggestions for use and future work. Key contributions include: 1) four envisioning criteria to support systemic thinking, 2) value scenarios (extending scenario-based design), and 3) strategic activities for engaging the envisioning criteria in interactive system design practice.