The goal this week is to analyze your technology from a historical context to better understand why it developed, and its influence on society. Through this historical analysis, you will gain a more complete understanding of your technology that will help you generate appropriate ethical questions that will be crucial to your analysis in this course.
Please review the historical timeline for Cloud Storage located in the Week 3 Lesson under Contextualizing Technology: Developing Historical Timelines. This example provides a reference to understand how to develop your timeline. Pay close attention to the links made to past technologies as you will be expected to draw similar connections in your own paper.
As you develop your own historical timelines, you will also need to think about the ethical issues that surround your selected technology and develop several ethical questions to consider. When generating these questions, it is important to reflect on your selected technology’s impact on society, especially marginalized groups. Below are some example questions based on the Cloud Storage example to help guide you as you complete this portion of the assignment.
Sample Ethical Questions for Cloud Storage:
Who has access to Cloud Storage? How does the cost of computers, access to the internet, and knowledge of technology influence access to Cloud Storage?
Does Cloud Storage provide equitable outcomes for society? Do marginalized groups have access to this technology?
What level of access do different regions have to this technology?
What impact does Cloud Storage have on the environment?
Does Cloud Storage solve issues of inequity in society?
Does Cloud Storage provide the ability for illegal or detrimental activity for society?
Now that you have had a chance to review the Cloud Storage example, address the following questions to understand the historical context of your technology as you progress with your assignment this week. It is critical to focus on your technology’s impact on marginalized populations and groups when developing your ethical questions.
Why was your technology originally developed? What problem was it trying to solve?
Historically, what has the impact of your technology been on society? Can you identify how different people and demographics have been affected by your technology? Has the impact been proportional?
Develop an ethical question based on your historical analysis of your technology (see the above example questions for guidance).