Abstract
This paper reassess the evaluation of ethical, legal and social issues (ELSI) in relation to the agile development of information systems in the domain of crisis management. The authors analyse the differing assessment needs of a move from a traditional approach to the development of information systems to an agile approach, which offers flexibility, adaptability and responds to the needs of users as the system develops. In turn, the authors argue that this development requires greater flexibility and an iterative approach to assessing ELSI. The authors provide an example from the Horizon 2020 EU-funded project iTRACK (Integrated system for real-time TRACKing and collective intelligence in civilian humanitarian missions) to exemplify this move to an iterative approach in practice, drawing on the process of undertaking an ethical and privacy impact assessment for the purpose of this project.
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Notes
These are considered as related to the habits, beliefs and traditions which characterise a society. Such necessary considerations include: gender issues, social impact, liability, trust, and religious and cultural issues.
The project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant agreement No 700510.
Examples of the scenarios provided: 1. Following an attack on a humanitarian organisation in a conflict area, the organisation counts that 34 of their staff members were killed, and 54 have been injured. The media continue to report that in this conflict the lives of aid workers are ever more threatened. There is a shortage of experienced staff to deliver the aid and the organisation sends out some of its newest recruits. They have not used iTRACK before but are given the opportunity to do so now. Time is of the essence; as well as learning about iTRACK they need to digest a range of other information. The staff are local, from ages 24–65 and do not speak English. 2. Humanitarian workers are in an area badly affected by a civil war. With the aid organisation increasingly working in riskier environments their mental health is suffering. Wishing to discuss their experiences with persons in similar situations they begin to communicate via the iTRACK communication system.
This is one of the key distinctions between agile EPIA and privacy-by-design (Langheinrich 2001). Where Privacy-by-design has focused upon technological solutions to privacy challenges, which might be included in a particular design, our account of agile EPIA concerns the process-oriented question of how best to incorporate privacy and ethical influences in the design and engineering process. EPIA is part of operationalising “Privacy Engineering” (Oliver 2014).
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Funding was provided by Horizon 2020 (Grant No. 700510).
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Kroener, I., Barnard-Wills, D. & Muraszkiewicz, J. Agile ethics: an iterative and flexible approach to assessing ethical, legal and social issues in the agile development of crisis management information systems. Ethics Inf Technol 23 (Suppl 1), 7–18 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-019-09501-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-019-09501-6