The Turn to Practice in Design Ethics: Characteristics and Future Research Directions for HCI Research

TL;DR

This paper reviews the shift in HCI towards practice-based design ethics, emphasizing ethics as an evolving, situated aspect of design, and outlines future research directions for the field.

Contribution

It characterizes the practice-oriented turn in design ethics within HCI and proposes six future research directions to advance the field.

Findings

Shift from static to evolving ethical frameworks

Ethics as an inherent aspect of design activities

HCI's experience can guide future research

Abstract

As emerging technologies continue to shape society, there is a growing emphasis on the need to engage with design ethics as it unfolds in practice to better capture the complexities of ethical considerations embedded in day-to-day work. Positioned within the broader "turn to practice" in HCI, the review characterizes this body of work in terms of its motivations, conceptual frameworks, methodologies, and contributions across a range of design disciplines and academic databases. The findings reveal a shift away from static and abstract ethical frameworks toward an understanding of ethics as an evolving, situated, and inherent aspect of design activities, one that can be cultivated and fostered collaboratively. This review proposes six future directions for establishing common research priorities and fostering the field's growth. While the review promotes cross-disciplinary dialogue, we argue that HCI research, given its cumulative experience with practice-oriented research, is well-equipped to guide this emerging strand of work on design ethics.