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Integrating ethical, societal and environmental issues into algorithm design courses

Odile Bellenguez, Nadia Brauner, Christine Solnon, Alexis Tsoukias

TL;DR

This paper presents a case study for integrating ethical, societal, and environmental considerations into algorithm design courses, using time-dependent shortest paths in road navigation as the focal scenario. It argues that routing algorithms are not morally neutral and demonstrates how to couple technical analysis (e.g., $c(uv,t)$ costs, state-transition graphs, FIFO constraints) with ethical reflection, stakeholder analysis, and environmental assessment. The authors provide concrete methodological and pedagogical guidance, including classroom scenarios, to help instructors foster ethical vigilance among future engineers. Overall, the work highlights how multidisciplinary teaching can prepare computer scientists to address the broad impacts of decision-support tools on individuals, communities, and ecosystems.

Abstract

This document, intended for computer science teachers, describes a case study that puts into practice a questioning of ethical, societal and environmental issues when designing or implementing a decision support system. This study is based on a very popular application, namely road navigation software that informs users of real-time traffic conditions and suggests routes between a starting point and a destination, taking these conditions into account (such as Waze). The approach proposes to intertwine technical considerations (optimal path algorithms, data needed for location, etc.) with a broader view of the ethical, environmental and societal issues raised by the tools studied. Based on the authors' experience conducting sessions with students over several years, this document discusses the context of such a study, suggests teaching resources for implementing it, describes ways to structure discussions, and shares scenarios in different teaching contexts.

Integrating ethical, societal and environmental issues into algorithm design courses

TL;DR

This paper presents a case study for integrating ethical, societal, and environmental considerations into algorithm design courses, using time-dependent shortest paths in road navigation as the focal scenario. It argues that routing algorithms are not morally neutral and demonstrates how to couple technical analysis (e.g., costs, state-transition graphs, FIFO constraints) with ethical reflection, stakeholder analysis, and environmental assessment. The authors provide concrete methodological and pedagogical guidance, including classroom scenarios, to help instructors foster ethical vigilance among future engineers. Overall, the work highlights how multidisciplinary teaching can prepare computer scientists to address the broad impacts of decision-support tools on individuals, communities, and ecosystems.

Abstract

This document, intended for computer science teachers, describes a case study that puts into practice a questioning of ethical, societal and environmental issues when designing or implementing a decision support system. This study is based on a very popular application, namely road navigation software that informs users of real-time traffic conditions and suggests routes between a starting point and a destination, taking these conditions into account (such as Waze). The approach proposes to intertwine technical considerations (optimal path algorithms, data needed for location, etc.) with a broader view of the ethical, environmental and societal issues raised by the tools studied. Based on the authors' experience conducting sessions with students over several years, this document discusses the context of such a study, suggests teaching resources for implementing it, describes ways to structure discussions, and shares scenarios in different teaching contexts.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 26 sections, 4 equations, 3 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Integrating ethical, societal and environmental challenges in technical courses
  3. Why teaching ethical, societal and environmental issues?
  4. Why include ethical questions in a technical course?
  5. The objectives and risks of such a proposal
  6. The case study: Technical Issues Related to Time-Dependent Shortest Paths
  7. Computation of Shortest Paths
  8. Possible further studies
  9. Integration of traffic conditions
  10. Exact resolution with a state-transition graph
  11. Addition of a condition on cost functions
  12. Requirements analysis: When stakeholder interests are conflicting
  13. A lot of traffic in places not intended for this use
  14. Conflict between individual interests and collective organization
  15. Countermeasures and their limitations
  16. ...and 11 more sections

Figures (3)

  • Figure 1: Example for which equations (\ref{['eq:min0t']}) and (\ref{['eq:mint']}) are not valid when starting from $s$ at time $t_0=0$. Indeed, we have $\delta_v(0)=1$. Equation (\ref{['eq:mint']}) then gives $\delta_f(0) = \delta_v(0) + c(vf,\delta_v(0)) = 1 + 10$, whereas the path $(s,u,v,f)$ allows us to arrive at $f$ at time 3.
  • Figure 2: State-transition graph corresponding to the graph of Figure \ref{['fig:contre-exemple']} when considering only the states that may be reached from the initial state $(s,0)$.
  • Figure 3: Example of a graph (Left) for which the state-transition graph (Right) has ${\cal O}(k)$ states (this graph is drawn on the right for $k=4$).