Towards a unified conceptual model for surveillance theories

The erosion of values such as privacy can be a critical factor in preventing the acceptance of new innovative technology especially in challenging environments such as the criminal justice system. Erosion of privacy happens through either deliberate or inadvertent surveillance. Since Bentham’s original liberal project in the 1900s, a literature and a whole study area around theories of surveillance has developed. Increasingly this general body of work has focussed on the role of information technology as a vehicle for surveillance activity. Despite an abundance of knowledge, a uni!ed view of key surveillance concepts that is useful to designers of information systems in preventing or reducing unintended surveillance remains elusive. This paper contributes a conceptual model that synthesises the gamut of surveillance theories as a !rst step to a theory building effort for use by Information Systems professionals. The model is evaluated using a design science research paradigm using data from both examples of surveillance and a recently completed research project that developed technology for the UK youth justice system

An approximate theory for value sensitivity

The software engineering community is on a quest for general and specific theories for the discipline. Increasingly, systems constructed for today’s hyper connected world are raising issues of security and privacy, both examples of value concerns. Hence there is a need to articulate a theory for value sensitivity that software engineers can draw upon to evaluate their designs and to embed outcomes into systems that are developed. This paper proposes an approximate theory of value sensitivity in recognition that this is a journey and an interim struggle. The theory is articulated using the framework proposed by Sjøberg et al. An initial evaluation is provided for both the value sensitivity theory and the framework

Human and value sensitive aspects of mobile app design: a Foucauldian perspective

Value sensitive concerns remain relatively neglected by software design processes leading to potential failure of technology acceptance. By drawing upon an inter-disciplinary study that employed participatory design methods to develop mobile apps in the domain of youth justice, this paper examines a critical example of an unintended consequence that created user concerns around Focauldian concepts including power, authority, surveillance and governmentality. The primary aim of this study was to design, deploy and evaluate social technology that may help to promote better engagement between case workers and young people to help reduce recidivism, and support young people’s transition towards social inclusion in society. A total of 140 participants including practitioners (n=79), and young people (n=61) contributed to the data collection via surveys, focus groups and one-one interviews. The paper contributes an important theoretically located discussion around both how co-design is helpful in giving ‘voice’ to key stakeholders in the research process and observing the risk that competing voices may lead to tensions and unintended outcomes. In doing so, software developers are exposed to theories from social science that have significant impact on their product

An ontological representation of a taxonomy for cybercrime

The modern phenomenon of cybercrime raises issues and challenges on a scale that has few precedents. A particular central concern is that of establishing clarity about the conceptualization of cybercrime and its growing economic cost to society. A further related concern is focused on developing appropriate legal and policy responses in a context where crime transcends national jurisdictions and physical boundaries. Both are predicated on a better understanding of cybercrime. Efforts at defining and classifying cybercrime by the use of taxonomies to date have largely been descriptive with resulting ambiguities. This paper contributes a semi-formal approach to the development of a taxonomy for cybercrime and offers the conceptual language and accompanying constraints with which to describe cybercrime examples. The approach uses the ontology development platform, Protégé and the Unified Modeling Language (UML) to present an initial taxonomy for cybercrime that goes beyond the descriptive accounts previously offered. The taxonomy is illustrated with examples of cybercrimes both documented in the Protégé toolset and also using UML

Youth justice in the digital age: a case study of practitioners' perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of social technology in their Techno-Habitat in the United Kingdom

This article draws on original, empirical research that focused on the use of an experimental mobile application developed by the authors and used in the domain of youth justice in England. Against a backdrop of the theory of the paradox of technology with ideas of the networked self and child rights, the article explores the use of social technology with vulnerable/marginalised young people. Given the dearth in knowledge and understanding, in this area of social technology and young people in conflict with the law, the article focuses on an important, original and fast-developing issue in contemporary youth justice. Principally, the article explores the experiences and views of practitioners to promote a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges in the adoption of social technology in working with marginalised young people. Practitioner perceptions on the use of social technology in their own practice and its associated risks and benefits are also revealed. Study findings indicate that digital opportunities and challenges are embedded in organisational and cultural structures and practices. The article discusses implications for youth justice and ultimately for young people in conflict with the law who are caught up in the system. The article raises important issues about the likely increasing use of technology as a tool in rehabilitation and desistance; and its key messages will be of considerable interest to practitioners, managers and policy-makers who will have little option, as time goes on, to enter this controversial field

Value-sensitive co-design for resilient information systems

In Information Systems development, resilience has often been treated as a non-functional requirement and little or no work is aimed at building resilience in end-users through systems development. The question of how values and resilience (for the end-user) can be incorporated into the design of systems is an on-going research activity in user-centered design. In this paper we evaluate the relation of values and resilience within the context of an ongoing software development project and contribute a formal model of co-design based on a significant extension of Abstract Design Theory. The formal analysis provides a full and clear-cut definition of the co-design space, its objectives and processes. On the basis of both, we provide an abstract definition of resilient system (for the end-user). We conclude that value-sensitive co-design enforces better resilience in end-users

On the role of value sensitive concerns in software engineering practice

The role of software systems on societal sustainability has generally not been the subject of substantive research activity. In this paper we examine the role of software engineering practice as an agent of change/impact for societal sustainability through the manifestation of value sensitive concerns. These concerns remain relatively neglected by software design processes except at early stages of user interface design. Here, we propose a conceptual framework and language concepts that will translate value sensitive design from its current focus in participatory design to one located in mainstream software engineering processes. Addressing this need will have an impact of societal sustainability and we outline some of the key research challenges for that journey

Examining the interaction between fourth estate and Twitter: an exploratory case study

The pervasiveness of social media has resulted in increased public involvement in key discussions about social issues, as well as creating greater affordances for individual expression and collective mobilisation. In December 2012, the rape and murder of a 23-year-old Indian student in New Delhi, India, was followed by widespread condemnation and public action organised and coordinated through social media (Barn 2013). In March 2015, a controversial BBC documentary, “India’s Daughter”, about the incident was broadcast despite restrictions imposed by the Indian Government. This paper explores the interplay between mainstream media (the so-called Fourth Estate) and Twitter through a case study analysis using computational techniques to analyse 250000 tweets collated following the broadcast of the documentary. In particular, we apply the theory of postcolonialism to understand the dynamics of this interaction. Issues around implications for conducting inter-disciplinary social media research are also discussed

Re-imaging everyday routines and educational aspirations under COVID-19 lockdown: Narratives of urban middle-class children in Punjab, India

Based on in-depth interviews with 24 middle-class Indian child participants, this is the first exploratory qualitative study, in India, to demonstrate the ways in which children as reflexive social actors re-negotiated everyday schedules, drew on classed resources at their disposal and made sense of the impact of the pandemic on their educational pathways and future aspirations. These narratives offer a unique lens on the politics of middle-classness and its constitutive relation to constructions of normative childhoods in contemporary India. Study findings contribute to the sociology of Indian childhood and more generally help enrich our understanding of southern childhoods and the reproduction of inequalities in contemporary India