In this paper, you will write a 1000-1250 word narrative that communicates your assessment of your
technology’s impacts, biases, and political properties.
Your paper should do the following:
1. Introduce your technology by describing its intended use, its location, and its creators and their
demographics.
2. Answer the question, “What invisible biases, values or norms may have been introduced into the
design, planning or intended use of this artifact by the creators or planners, and how can you
determine this?”
3. Based on your observations of interactions between people and this technology, and the context of the technology (physical or digital), discuss who benefits from the technology the most
and who benefits from it the least and offer some reasons why this is the case.
4. Review pages 252-256 Winner’s article, “Do Artifacts Have Politics,” from Week 3 and suggest
how the technology you have chosen can create a certain types of social order in our world by
including and benefiting some people while excluding others. Or, you could talk about how the
artifact emphasizes some values and norms over others in its actual design as well, basing your
observations on Brey’s ideas from “Disclosive Computer Ethics” in Week 4, even if the
technology is not digital. You can include any sociological, anthropological studies that have
been done on the technology or lawsuits that have been filed etc. as part of your research as well.
