IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - December 2019 - 33

Of particular significance in this
article is the rejection of anthropo-
morphization of robots for any roles
involving direct human contact, once
again highlighting the effect of The
Uncanny Valley, but also emphasiz-
ing the lack of trust in areas where
robots are expected to assist humans
in their roles. Importantly, of the 14
application areas presented to partic-
ipants, only 6 future scenarios were
perceived favorably.
In the article by Singh et al., the
delegation of decision making to
algorithms is considered through
the use of a sports case study. The
authors deliberate on the the assign-
ment of difficult decisions in sports to
a computer algorithm, presenting the
SmartFlag concept as a technologi-
cal solution that promises benefits
to stakeholders, such as the removal
of human error. However, the authors
warn that "algorithmic definition is
not necessarily a definite good." As
such, our discussion must carefully
consider the complex nature of cer-
tain decisions that cannot be reduced
to a binary, in conjunction with the
diminishing of certain social activi-
ties and responses resulting from
the deployment of such systems. The
paper further notes the importance
of adhering to the precautionary
principle and the necessary exer-
cise of examining the social impact
of decision-making technology in
sport, particularly when this technol-
ogy will inevitably be repurposed for
secondary uses, which may result in
profound impacts in the way humans
engage with these systems.
From artificial intelligence and
decision support systems and their
use in a range of settings, the next
two articles investigate non-conven-
tional HCI and ethical considerations
regarding specific socio-technical
systems in the context of emer-
gency and disaster management.
For instance, Shipman explores the
ethical challenges associated with
DECEMBER 2019

the design of infrastructure that is
informed by human behavior and
pedestrian dynamics. While the
author identifies the opportunities
this introduces, from supporting indi-
vidualized experiences and personal-
ization in smart cities, to facilitating
enhanced evacuations during hostile
or natural emergencies, the ethical
risks are also emphasized. The need
for industry self-regulation is evident,
as is the importance of researchers
and modelers exhibiting awareness
of the relevant ethical challenges.
Munoz similarly focuses on ex-
treme situations, concentrating on
the use of microgrids for disaster
management. The author specifically
explores the latent value of microgrids
and their potential use in humanitar-
ian relief supply chains and disaster
management scenarios. The concept
of antifragility is examined, highlight-
ing that microgrids only demonstrate
their merit in extreme events, there-
by challenging traditional notions of
risk management and ethics. These
notions typically privilege the con-
cept of loss minimization rather than
latent value, the latter of which is
difficult to express to relevant stake-
holders, but regardless should be
deliberately designed and integrated
into complex socio-technical systems
such as microgrids.
The final article demonstrates a
large-scale application of HCI by
providing an overview of the evolu-
tion of China's Social Credit System.
Trauth-Goik posits that surveillance
scholarship has largely been con-
cerned with the Western instituted
surveillance systems, largely ignor-
ing the non-Western context. The
author aims to fill this gap by elabo-
rating on China's desire to develop
and promote a "culture of honesty
and integrity," through the deploy-
ment of a rapidly advancing sur-
veillance system. Furthermore, the
paper calls for the reconceptual-
ization of the Social Credit System
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IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

to the Social "Trust"' System; trust
being a common and underlying
theme throughout this special issue.
In general, this special issue en-
courages discussion of a number of
questions related to the ethics and
regulation of digital technology. It
examines important considerations
moving forward in the interest, and
to the benefit of, the HCI domain
and individuals/society at large. The
preliminary questions are: 1) how
do we manage, communicate and
deliberately design and embed ethics
into existing HCI approaches, given
the diverse nature and reach of the
presented socio-technical systems?,
and 2) what regulatory approaches
are suitable given this complex socio-
technical landscape? These questions
should be considered with a great
deal of urgency and with a human ori-
entation and emphasis, as we clearly
need to reinforce the crucial point
that the "human" (and not the "com-
puter") should be the focus of future
HCI research.

Guest Editor Information
Roba Abbas is with the University of
Wollongong, Australia. Email: roba@
uow.edu.au.
Stephen Marsh is with the Univer-
sity of Ontario Institute of Technol-
ogy, Canada. Email: Stephen.Marsh@
uoit.ca.
Kristina Milanovi´c is with Imperial
College London, United Kingdom.
Email: km908@ic.ac.uk.

References
[1] J. Preece, Y, Rogers, H. Sharp, D. Ben-
yon, S. Holland, and T. Carey, Human-Computer Interaction. Addison-Wesley, 1994.
[2] J.M. Carroll, Ed., Designing Interaction:
Psychology at the Human-Computer Interface. CUP Archive, 1991.
[3] J.M. Carroll, "Human Computer Interac-
tion," in The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd ed. Interaction Design
Foundation, 2013; https://www.interaction
-design.org/literature/book/the-encyclopedia
-of-human-computer-interaction-2nd-ed/
human-computer-interaction-brief-intro;
accessed Sept. 2019.

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