The Dutch Research School of Philosophy (OZSW) and Eindhoven University of Technology invite PhD students in philosophy to register for the course Digital Well-Being: How to Live Well with Online Technologies to take place in September 19-23, 2022.
Organizing university
Date(s)
Location
University of Amsterdam (Science Park Campus)
Type of activity
Primary target group
If places available, also open to
Application/registration deadline
The deadline for registration is September 5, 2022.
About the topic
Digital well-being (DWB) is a contested term. In everyday use, the term relates to the impact of online technologies on human flourishing. This 5-session course will examine the key ethical issues pertaining to DWB, aiming to adjudicate between competing normative conceptions of what it is to flourish in the digital age. This course aims to introduce participants to the key ethical issues relating to DWB, showing how these issues relate to the ethical and societal impacts of digital technologies on the good life. Participants will be introduced to the latest ethical approaches to cultivating DWB (character-based and design-based approaches), as well as exploring the limitations of these theories. This will lead to an extended discussion on the ethics of repurposing persuasive technologies for DWB. The final session will examine future ethical challenges for DWB in the context of immersive technologies (VR/AR) and the metaverse.
Program
Daily Schedule:
11:00 Opening lecture: Part I
11:45 Break
12:00 Opening lecture: Part II
12:30 Plenary discussion
13:30 Lunch
14:30 Guest lecture
15:30 Plenary discussion
16:00 Break
17:00 Concluding remarks & discussion
SESSION 1: What is Digital Well-Being?
- Understanding the Impact of Digital Technologies on Well-Being
- Typology of Human Flourishing
- Ethics, morality, & well-being
- Prudential value & digital technologies
- Threats to DWB
- Nudging & persuasive technologies
- Online life (Floridi)
- Methodology
SESSION 2: Key Challenges for Digital Well-Being
- Threats to Values/Capabilities
- Moral Fog (Cocking & van den Hoven)
- Technosocial Opacity (Vallor)
- Undermining Autonomy: Nudging and Persuasive Technologies
- The Digital Disconnection and the Digital Divide
- The Attention Economy
SESSION 3: Strategies for Cultivating Digital Well-Being
- Character-Based Approaches I (Users)
- Virtues / Capabilities of Users
- Problems with Character-Based Approaches I
- Character-Based Approaches II (Designers)
- Virtues / Capabilities of Designers
- Problems with Character-Based Approaches II
- Regulatory Approaches
- Gaming Regulation in China 2019, 2021
- Problems with Regulatory Approaches (Paternalism, Perfectionism)
- Repurposing Persuasive Technologies?
SESSION 4: Repurposing Persuasive Technologies for DWB
- Persuasive Technologies Redux
- J. Fogg’s (original) Persuasive Technology Lab
- J. Fogg’s (new) Behaviour Design Lab
- Design-Based Approaches to DWB
- Value Sensitive Design
- Case study I: Google
- Case study II: Center for Humane Technology
- Learning from Self-Care Apps for (D)WB
- Reconsidering techniques of persuasion
- Reconsidering ethical ideals of self-care apps
SESSION 5: The Future of Digital Well-Being
- East-Asian Approaches to DWB
- Confucianism
- Buddhism
- Immersive Technologies
- AR
- VR & XR
- The Metaverse
- Communication
- Education
- Work
- Play
- Entertainment
Lecturers
- Course leader: Matthew J. Dennis (TU/e).
- Each day an invited guest will contribute on topics relating their specialism.
- There will also be a panel presentation in which students will discuss the challenges of designing for DWB with the founders of two Benelux-based DWB companies, as well as a leading researcher on capacity sensitive design.
Key note speakers
TBD
Abstract submission
Abstracts will have to be submitted by the registration deadline (5th Sept 2022).
Submit the abstracts directly by email: m.j.dennis@tue.nl
Required preparations
SESSION 1: What is Digital Well-Being?
Required Reading
Burr, C. & Floridi, L. (eds.) (2020). Ethics of Digital Well-Being: A Multidisciplinary Approach. Springer.
Fletcher, G. (2016). The Philosophy of Well-being: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
SESSION 2: Key Challenges for Digital Well-Being
Required Reading
Cocking, D. & Van den Hoven, J. (2019). Evil Online. Wiley-Blackwell. Introduction & Ch.1.
Williams, J. (2018). Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy. Cambridge University Press. Introduction & Ch.1.
SESSION 3: Strategies for Cultivating Digital Well-Being
Required Reading
Jacobs, N., Dennis, M. J., Fröding, B. (under review), ‘Designing with the Technomoral Virtues: A Virtue-Based Approach to Ectogenesis.’
Vallor, S. (2016). Technology and the Virtues: A Philosophical Guide to a Future Worth Wanting. Oxford University Press. Introduction & Ch.1.
SESSION 4: Repurposing Persuasive Technologies for DWB
Required Reading
Fogg, B. J. (2003). Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. New York: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers. Introduction & Ch.1.
Lanzig, M. (2018). ‘“Strongly Recommended”: Revisiting Decisional Privacy to Judge Hypernudging in Self-Tracking Technologies.’ Philosophy and Technology. Springer Nature.
SESSION 5: The Future of Digital Well-Being
Required Reading
Arora, P. The Billion Next Users: Digital Life Beyond the West. Harvard University Press. Introduction & Ch.1.
Kim, R. (2020). Confucianism and the Philosophy of Well-Being. New York: Routledge.
Ivanhoe, P. J. (2017). Oneness: East Asian Conceptions of Virtue, Happiness, and How We Are All Connected. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Introduction & Ch.1.
Last updated on June 10, 2022.
Certificate / credit points
For this course participants can earn a certificate after successful completion. Please note, however, that the OZSW is not accredited to reward students with credits/ECTS directly. The study load is mentioned on the certificate, which can usually be exchanged for ‘real’ credits (ECTS) at your home university. For more info please see https://www.ozsw.nl/request-certificate/. The study load for this activity is: 6 ECTS
Costs
- free for OZSW members and/or members of another research school in Humanities (LOGOS)
- 300 euros for non-OZSW members
How to apply / register
PhD students can register through this link.
The deadline for registration is September 5, 2022.
Important: Postdocs, 1st / 2nd year ReMa students are welcome to join, but OZSW PhD students get priority. If you are interested and want to be on the waiting list you can send an email to secretariaat@ozsw.nl. Waiting list applicants will be notified no later than 10th September.
If registration has been closed because the maximum amount of participants has been reached, you can submit your name to the waiting list by sending an email to secretariaat@ozsw.nl. Please also indicate whether you are a ReMa student or PhD candidate and whether you are a member of the OZSW or not.
Cancellation and registration policy
Organizers
Matthew J. Dennis
Contact info: m.j.dennis@tue.nl