Balanced Choices

Technology is not neutral; it shapes culture and society and profoundly affects our daily lives. Technology determines what we experience, with whom and how we form relationships, what we feel responsible for, how we think about things, make choices and work together. Therefore, it is important to critically examine what technology does to us and how it is designed.

Waag Futurelab uses the so-called Public Stack to make sense of the social and cultural significance of technology. The Public Stack assumes that behind the visible functionality of technology is a complex interplay of ideas, decisions, infrastructures and agreements that users often do not see directly. This “onion” of technological layers ranges from physical components such as hardware, through virtual elements such as data and algorithms, to the foundation: the conceptual, ethical and evaluative aspects, the revenue model and governance.

Through the Public Stack, technology can be critically examined and its underlying values exposed. When market values (the Private Stack) take center stage, it often results in technology that collects user data to make a profit. In contrast, when the foundation is public values (the Public Stack), technology functions differently. For more than 25 years, Waag Futurelab has been committed to open and honest technology that puts public values at its core.

Although the Public Stack at Waag is often used to analyze technology, it has not previously been integrated with the design principles that are part of the Key Enabling Methodologies (KEMs). This research aims to change that. The main goal of the project is to contribute to the further refinement and application of the KEMs with the development of a Public Stack design strategy.

€244,798 will be used as PPP program grant.