Thanks
Gabriele
for raising the issue of an ethic for designers. I have written about this important ossue as well Extreme examples are obvious like designing bombs or a medical device that cures pne problem at the expense of introducing others more severe ones. You didn’t tell us what code of ethics you came up with.
Klaus
Sent from my iPhone
> On Feb 4, 2020, at 7:36 AM, Gabriele Ferri <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I'm looking for best-practices, examples and references pertaining ethical
> guidelines to follow when soliciting "real-world assignments" from private
> companies to give to design students.
>
> A bit of background: I co-coordinate a M.Sc. program in design
> www.masterdigitaldesign.com at the Amsterdam university of applied
> sciences. Our curriculum is multidisciplinary, and spans roughly from
> screen-based UX to smart objects. What's pertinent here is that, as part of
> the studio practice that we require in our curriculum, student teams must
> work on three "client projects" from external entities, e.g., small and big
> industries, public bodies, NGOs... Many of these "clients" (I'm using the
> quotes here on purpose) pay a monetary contribution to the program, which
> is invested in facilities and equipment for the students. The quotes around
> "client" are there because it's understood that students have a right to
> fail in this assignment, and it's understood that the brief should be
> exploratory in its nature (e.g., we don't accept busywork that a company
> would give to juniors & interns).
>
> This is a model that we're quite satisfied with..............until a very
> controversial potential client pitched a brief that sparked a long
> discussion.
> I will not name the potential client, it's a very big and very rich
> multinational, whose main product is quite controversial currently.
> This client would have been disposed to pay a sum that was not small at all
> for our budget (but tiny, for them), to have a student team working on a
> concept product that is alternative to their controversial main product.
>
> This brief was refused after a long discussion.
>
> Part of the heat in the debate is that arguments like "I don't trust this
> corporation" or "I don't feel comfortable having students work in XYZ
> problem space" are, in some form, subjective ethical judgments.
>
> Learning from all this, we decided to draft a Code of Ethics of sorts, to
> have a basis and a benchmark for similar future discussions.
>
> I can imagine that many design programs out there who cooperate closely
> with industries face similar issues. How do you address them?
>
> I can understand that some answer might be confidential, please feel free
> also to write me in private (WATCH OUT: many email client send responses to
> the whole mailing list by default if you click "reply" here)
>
> thanks
> G:
>
> Gabriele Ferri, Ph.D.
> Tenured lecturer & researcher // M.Sc. Digital Design // Play & Civic Media
> Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
> www.gabrieleferri.com
>
>
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