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On thinging things and serving services: technological mediation and inseparable goods

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Abstract

In our high-tech society, the design process involves profound questions about the effects of the resulting goods, and the responsibilities of designers. In the philosophy of technology, effects of “things” on user experience and behaviour have been discussed in terms of the concept of technological mediation. Meanwhile, what we create has moved more and more towards services (processes) rather than products (things), in particular in the context of information services. The question is raised to what extent the concept of technological mediation is adequate to understand effects and responsibilities in information services as well. Therefore, this paper discusses differences between product aspects and service aspects of our creations, and evaluates the applicability of the concept of technological mediation to information services. Specific features of a notion of technological mediation for information services are highlighted, in particular with respect to the different relation between production and consumption. Finally, the paper focuses on the ethical consequences of service impact, and recommendations for service providers, especially in terms of the possibilities for second-order mediation by inviting users to change service properties.

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Notes

  1. When there is client-side software installed, such as an app on a smartphone, this software may need to be updated. Client-side software can be seen as a product aspect.

  2. The notion of meta-autonomy is also used, in slightly different senses, in agent design and political philosophy (see e.g. Falcone and Castelfranchi 2001; Redish and Larsen 2007).

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Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank (in alphabetical order) Eline Bunnik, André van Cleeff, Francien Dechesne, Luciano Floridi and several anonymous reviewers for helpful comments.

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Correspondence to Wolter Pieters.

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The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreements SEC-261696 (SESAME) and ICT-318003 (TREsPASS). This publication reflects only the authors’ views and the Union is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.

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Pieters, W. On thinging things and serving services: technological mediation and inseparable goods. Ethics Inf Technol 15, 195–208 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-013-9317-2

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