Captology+Ethics



The use of computer applications to induce behaviour and or attitude change in individuals leads to some interesting considerations regarding the ethics of captology.

From a user's perspective there are several issues with the use of computer as persuaders -
 * 1) Users can be blind to the applications persuasive intent because they consider the computer to be intelligent and fair.
 * 2) The computers are ubiquitous and are always on.
 * 3) An individual cannot negotiate with a computer - it can only do what it has been programmed to do.
 * 4) The computer application can affect individuals emotions but computers have no emotions nor do they accept moral responsability for any harm done.

Ethical problems can arise when the goals and interests of the application designers don’t match with those of the people who use the technology. BJ Fogg recommended asking the following questions to get an insight into any possible ethical problem areas If you answer no to any of these questions then it suggests that the persuasive technology at hand could be ethically questionable and may need to be reviewed.
 * 1) Does the persuasive technology advocate what’s good and fair?
 * 2) Does the technology allow access to all, regardless of social standing?
 * 3) Does it promote self-determination?
 * 4) Does it represent what’s thought to be true and accurate?

In Atkinson's critical review of Fogg’s Persuasive Technology, she argued that, for persuasion to be ethical, the audience must be informed of the persuaders’ intent and that it would then be possible for the user to determine the program’s relevance and exercise their right to accept or reject its offering. In Australia, this little hurdle has been overcome in the print media by the inclusion of the clause ‘Advertisement only’ and similar clauses could be devised to inform the user of the captological intent of the program or simulation. Gram-Hansen discussed the fact that ethics can be considered a grey area and listed the example of surveillance techniques in monitoring household energy consumption. While the intention of monitoring the energy consumption may be benign, it can also be viewed as an invasion of privacy. It is therefore important that the technologies are designed with the intention of being supportive. The households should be made aware of the persuasive intent of these technologies, that their energy consumption is being continuously recorded, and their permission should be obtained before any information is uploaded to websites.

Therefore when designing applications to take advantage of captology it is important that ethics be integrated into the entire design process, rather than looked upon as an additional and separate consideration once a technology has been put to use.