Meetings
Every last Wednesday of the month, 17.00
The OSF
Ethical Guidelines for Open Web Search
The Open Search Foundation Ethics Group currently brings together researchers and practitioners from six countries and a range of disciplines, mainly digital humanities, ethics, sociology, science and technology studies (STS) and computer science.
In online meetings and workshops, we are developing the foundations for an ethical framework for open web search and an open web index. This includes identifying and defining values relevant to web search and combining them into a catalogue of values, identifying and analysing stakeholders, identifying risks, and developing approaches to mitigate these risks.
An ethical framework serves as a basis for the development of specific guidelines for different search engine stakeholders. One example is the value-based guidelines and (self-)assessment for users of the Open Web Index (OWI). This online test assesses the ‘ethical readiness’ of developers and organisations wishing to use the OWI, while at the same time raising users’ ethical awareness by providing important information on ethical issues to consider when using the OWI.
- Location
Online via BBB
- Who?
People from practice and research
- Disciplines
E.g. Digital Ethics, Ethics of AI, Philosophy / Sociology of Technology, Digital Humanities, Technology Impact Assessment, Technology Sustainability, STS, Corporate Digital Responsibility …
Results
A publication of the results on www.ethicsinsearch.org is in preparation.
- Ethical framework
… for open internet search and the Open Web Index (OWI) with a catalogue of values, a study of stakeholder groups, a risk assessment and mitigation strategies
- Value-oriented guidelines
… for persons and organisations who want to build upon the Open Web Index (OWI)
- Ethical self-assessment
… designed for persons and organisations who want to build applications upon the Open Web Index (OWI). The assessment evaluates the ‘ethical readiness‘, combined with education on ethical aspects. Applicants are asked a series of ethical questions regarding their intentions and usage of the OWI.
- Planned: Anthology
… on ethical and societal aspects of Open Web Search that will examine the topic from different perspectives, including a collection of articles and interviews.
Members
Noor Afshan Fathima
CERN, Schwitzerland
Dr. Anton C. Frank
Technical University Munich (TUM), Germany
Dr. Rosie Graham
University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Dr. Alexander Nussbaumer
Technical University Graz, Austria
Christine Plote
Open Search Foundation, Germany
Dr. Nikolaus Poechhacker
University of Graz and University of Vienna, Austria
Dr Renée Ridgway
Aarhus University/SHAPE centre, Dänemark
Pernille Tranberg
Technische Universität München, Deutschland
Nele Winterberg
Open Search Foundation, Germany
Dr. Daniela Zetti
Lübeck University, Germany
Dr. Saskia Dörr
WiseWay, Bonn, Germany
Contact
ethics@opensearchfoundation.org
A project of the Open Search Foundation e.V.
People first:
A values compass for internet search
Fair, transparent, diverse. This is what the future of internet search should be. That is why the Open Search Foundation is committed to creating a values-based, open web index and has launched the Expert Group and the #ethicsinsearch project.
The project #ethicsinsearch of the Open Search Foundation is funded by the Stiftung Mercator.
