Frameworking for a Community-led Feminist Ethics

TL;DR

The paper identifies a gap in HCI ethics, which has focused on machine ethics and codes rather than on people and power dynamics. It proposes a relational, processual ethics framework for feminist digital civics, grounded in an adaptive model that integrates situated knowledges, intersectionality, and care ethics. The contributions include a multidimensional framework, a schnittmuster toolkit, participatory methods, and counterstorytelling to operationalize ethics in community-led design. This approach aims to shift ethics from static guidelines to flexible, justice-oriented practice with tangible benefits for communities and the broader HCI field.

Abstract

This paper introduces a relational perspective on ethics within the context of Feminist Digital Civics and community-led design. Ethics work in HCI has primarily focused on prescriptive machine ethics and bioethics principles rather than people. In response, we advocate for a community-led, processual approach to ethics, acknowledging power dynamics and local contexts. We thus propose a multidimensional adaptive model for ethics in HCI design, integrating an intersectional feminist ethical lens. This framework embraces feminist epistemologies, methods, and methodologies, fostering a reflexive practice. By weaving together situated knowledges, standpoint theory, intersectionality, participatory methods, and care ethics, our approach offers a holistic foundation for ethics in HCI, aiming to advance community-led practices and enrich the discourse surrounding ethics within this field.