Track:

Tech Ethics in Action

Location: St James, 4th flr.

Day of week: Wednesday

The systems we build impact directly on people’s lives, sorting winners from losers. As software engineers we are not paid to think about the ethical impact of the work we do. In this track we will explore real-world examples of systems that have had profound negative impacts, and explore the lessons we can learn from this.

Track Host:
Gareth Rushgrove
Product Manager @Docker

Gareth Rushgrove is a product manager at Docker. He works remotely
from Cambridge, UK, helping to build interesting tools for people to
better manage infrastructure and applications. Previously he worked
for the UK Government Digital Service focused on infrastructure,
operations and information security. When not working he can be found
writing the Devops Weekly newsletter or hacking on software in
new-fangled programming languages.

Track Host:
Anne Currie
Chief Strategist @containersoluti (Container Solutions)

Anne Currie has been in the tech industry for over 20 years working on everything from Microsoft Back Office Servers in the 90's to international online lingerie in the 00's to cutting edge devops and the impact of orchestrated containers in the 10's. Anne has co-founded tech startups in the productivity, retail and devops spaces. She currently works in London for Container Solutions.

10:35am - 11:25am

by Theo Schlossnagle
Founder and CEO @Circonus, Editorial board of ACM's ‘Queue’

The concept of professional ethics is not new to the world, but it is fairly new to computing because computing itself is so new. Ethics and its requirement as a part of professionalism started with monks and quickly embraced the three occupations of importance: religious service, law, and medicine. Today most professional trades have a code of ethics that is uncontested. Computing does not. How did we get here, why must we change, and how?

11:50am - 12:40pm

by Alexander Steinhart
Psychologist, Technologist @ThoughtWorks

This talk explores the digital revolution from a psychological perspective, with scientific research on human needs and biases in mind, it takes a look at the thin line between taking advantage of an understanding of psychology and exploiting it and at emerging, alternative design and technology streams that are driven by the intent to enable human autonomy and flourishing.

1:40pm - 2:30pm

by Yanqing Cheng
Software Development Manager @metaswitch

The ethical and technological landscape we live in is moving faster than ever before, and our ethical intuitions are woefully ill-equipped to cope with the changes.  As tech innovators, we are part of the force driving this acceleration, but as residents of the world, we are also the ones facing the consequences.  What is the right balance of risk and reward when it comes to innovation?  How do we proceed when the ethical impact of our creations is uncertain?  Can we ensure that new...

2:55pm - 3:45pm

by Theo Schlossnagle
Founder and CEO @Circonus, Editorial board of ACM's ‘Queue’

by Alexander Steinhart
Psychologist, Technologist @ThoughtWorks

by Yanqing Cheng
Software Development Manager @metaswitch

by Tim Kadlec
Performance consultant and trainer

by Jenny Mulholland
Woman in tech @softwireuk

by Anne Currie
Chief Strategist @containersoluti (Container Solutions)

by Gareth Rushgrove
Product Manager @Docker

by Kavita Kapoor


More details coming soon 

4:10pm - 5:00pm

by Tim Kadlec
Performance consultant and trainer

We work and live in a bubble. Our limited perspective of what it means to use technology influences the way we build, the tools we use, and the tasks we prioritize. In the process, we risk losing the most powerful thing about the internet: its ubiquity. It's critically important that we broaden our perspective and not lose sight of the fundamentals that make or break the web for people around the globe, and down the street.

Tracks