MIZUMI CONSULTING

Good Technology Index (GTI)

A schema for assessing technology. Encouraging the pursuit of holistic ‘goodness’ in the technical advancement of society.

The ‘Good Technology Index’ group was formed on the audio social media platform ‘Clubhouse’ in March 2021 to (a) develop a weighted schematic framework, (b) apply the agreed schema to assess and score technology, and (c) encourage the pursuit of holistic ‘goodness’ in technical advancement.

Inaugural Meeting

Held by the ‘Good Technology Index’ group on Clubhouse.
Monday, 12 April 2021 (10.00am – 12.05am AEST)

The aim for the inaugural meeting of the Good Technology Index club, was the proposal and consideration of factors that should be considered as important in exploring and accessing good technology. Effectively, what are the ethics of technology?

Proposed Considerations (Factors)

The following list is compiled from the factors proposed by the meeting participants:

UTILITY —The usefulness and benefit of the technology, including functions, features and total benefit of the technology to its users. Importantly combined with other ethical factors.

COMPOSABILITY — Including concepts of interoperability and integration to allow combined benefits of grouping technologies together relative ease. Viewed as a positive attribute.

UBIQUITY — Or more specifically potential ubiquity or appeal. The appeal of the technology and as a result its spread and level of use in more mature technologies, or potential for emergent technologies.

EXPERIENCE — What is the quality of user experience like? Including concepts such as user joy, broader enjoyment, reliability and general quality, efficiency, simplicity and ease of use.

FOCUS – Including the concepts of stated values, purpose and application. Is the ‘direction’ considerate of values, use and benefit, or is it unguided or deliberately harmful. What are the stated ethics?

MULTI-MODALITY — Including aspects or re-usability. Does the technology operate in multiple environments, need states, platforms, languages and other connected constructions?

LONGEVITY — How long will the technology provide benefit, both historically and in forward forecast? This factor looking into aspects of temporal importance and total benefit over time.

INCLUSIVENESS — Does the technology centralize power, creating greater separation between those that benefit from the technology and those that do not, or does it seek to benefit humanity more broadly?

TRANSPARENCY — Is the technology and its benefits and ownership transparent, or does the assessed technology look to obfuscate and hide purpose, ownership or other potentially harmful elements?

MANIPULATION — Does the technology seek to apply human psychology or other understandings to manipulate, oppress, abuse or otherwise harm a social segment, including taking unfair advantage?

DEMOCRATIZATION — Is the control of human impacts from the technology in the hands of the people? Or at least being developed and delivered in a manner that benefits all impacted people?

Other mentioned and ‘for consideration’ factors included radicalization/de-radicalization, centralization/de-centralization (silos), sharing and availability (specifically of information), legal frameworks, quality of governance, history and consideration of feedback (for example complaints and ratings).

Next Steps

The next (second) meeting of the Good Technology Index (GTI) club will:

– Consider the factors from the first meeting, proposing any additional factors for consideration.

– Agree an initial list of factors and look to provide some initial weighting and ranking.

– Consider next steps in development of the GTI model and its initial application for assessment.

The meeting to be held on Clubhouse on Saturday 17 April 2021 (Sydney, Australia at 9am AEST), which is Friday 16 April 2021 for London (11pm), New York (6pm) and Los Angeles (3pm).

Please join ‘Clubhouse’ and follow/join the ‘Good Technology Index’ club.

Vote of Thanks

Thanks to Carl Im for club idea. Thanks to the 20 people who attended the inaugural meeting in whole or in part. Specific thanks to Carl, Kyle, Manuel, Seye, Katrina, Alec, Jacob, Greg, Jeremy, Margi, Sam and Roie who all contributed ideas to this initial consideration list.