Value Sensitive Design

No operable specimen yet; the illustration is editorial. When applied to a product, still verify: whether indirect stakeholders were actually identified and reached, whether all three of the conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations were carried out rather than just one, and whether the record of how value tensions were adjudicated is traceable.

{
  "values": [
    "Systematically identifying human values",
    "Accounting for both direct and indirect stakeholders",
    "Iterating through conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations"
  ],
  "tension": "The tension between direct stakeholders' immediate demands and the diffuse, harder-to-voice values of indirect stakeholders",
  "questions": [
    "Whose values does this decision involve, and to whom do they matter most?",
    "Is there anyone who never uses this product but will still be affected by it?"
  ]
}

{
  "id": "value-sensitive-design",
  "type": "philosophy",
  "name": {
    "zh": "价值敏感设计",
    "en": "Value Sensitive Design"
  },
  "aliases": [
    "VSD",
    "价值敏感设计方法",
    "Value-Sensitive Design"
  ],
  "granularity": "experience",
  "intents": [
    "understand-users",
    "map-stakeholders"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "human values",
    "stakeholders",
    "indirect stakeholders",
    "value tension",
    "technical investigation"
  ],
  "definition": "Value Sensitive Design is a method for systematically accounting for human values throughout the design process: through an iterative, integrative tripartite methodology of conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations, it first clarifies what values are at stake in a decision and whose values they are, and identifies indirect stakeholders who never use the product but are affected by it, in addition to direct users.",
  "boundary": "Value Sensitive Design is not a synonym for inclusive design: inclusive design focuses on recognizing exclusion and differences in ability, while Value Sensitive Design addresses the broader question of how human values (such as privacy, autonomy, and fairness) are supported or undermined for both direct and indirect stakeholders; the two can complement each other but have different focal points. It is also not a one-off ethics review done at the end of a project: the conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations must be revisited throughout the design process, not tacked on as a compliance check once a solution is already final.",
  "signature": [
    "State what values are at stake and whose values they are before settling on a solution",
    "Identify both direct users of the system and indirect stakeholders who never use the product but are affected by it",
    "Move back and forth between conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations rather than completing them once and closing the case"
  ],
  "when": [
    "A technical decision affects people who never use the product, such as applicants evaluated by an algorithm or bystanders in a monitored space",
    "Multiple stakeholder groups hold different or conflicting expectations about the same value, such as privacy versus efficiency",
    "The design is still at a conceptual stage, so its technical form can still be shaped by a values analysis"
  ],
  "when_not": [
    "Treating a one-off ethics review at project close-out as the entire method of Value Sensitive Design",
    "Counting only paying or active users without asking what the technology costs indirect stakeholders",
    "Declaring a value tension resolved based on one stakeholder's preference or a single interview"
  ],
  "tradeoff": "Identifying indirect stakeholders and running conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations significantly increases analysis and coordination cost, and different stakeholders' rankings of the same value often cannot be reconciled once and for all in a single study.",
  "comparison": {
    "focus": "Whose values are affected, and how they are supported or undermined across direct and indirect stakeholders",
    "mechanism": "An iterative loop of conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations",
    "cost": "Requires ongoing tracking of indirect stakeholders; analysis costs more than plain usability testing"
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "vsd-uw-tr-theory-methods",
      "title": "Friedman, Kahn & Borning · Value Sensitive Design: Theory and Methods (UW CSE TR 02-12-01)",
      "url": "https://dada.cs.washington.edu/research/tr/2002/12/UW-CSE-02-12-01.pdf",
      "claim": "Defines Value Sensitive Design as a method for systematically accounting for human values throughout the design process, describes the integrative, iterative tripartite methodology of conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations, and divides stakeholders into direct and indirect classes, noting that indirect stakeholders are often ignored in the design process.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-15",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260915*/https://dada.cs.washington.edu/research/tr/2002/12/UW-CSE-02-12-01.pdf",
        "status": "available",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-16T05:55:34.505Z",
        "jobId": "spn2-ac17a8859aba883e0d18a0c03190dc84bd00d243",
        "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260916055613/https://dada.cs.washington.edu/research/tr/2002/12/UW-CSE-02-12-01.pdf",
        "timestamp": "20260916055613"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "vsdesign-org-vsd",
      "title": "vsdesign.org · What is Value Sensitive Design?",
      "url": "https://vsdesign.org/vsd/",
      "claim": "Summarizes Value Sensitive Design as originating from Batya Friedman and colleagues' work in the 1990s, describes the integrative tripartite methodology of conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations, and mentions tools such as stakeholder cards for identifying direct, indirect, and excluded stakeholders.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-15",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260915*/https://vsdesign.org/vsd/",
        "status": "available",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-16T05:55:35.002Z",
        "jobId": "spn2-4e70b8f3b2bedc482dae8238717447a0f6b44abb",
        "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260916055559/https://vsdesign.org/vsd/",
        "timestamp": "20260916055559"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "vsdesign-org-publications",
      "title": "vsdesign.org · Publications",
      "url": "https://vsdesign.org/publications/",
      "claim": "Lists Friedman & Hendry's 'Value Sensitive Design: Shaping Technology with Moral Imagination' (MIT Press, 2019) as the authoritative account of the methodology, along with Friedman's earlier foundational 1996 and 2004 publications.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-15",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260915*/https://vsdesign.org/publications/",
        "status": "pending",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-16T05:56:14.604Z",
        "error": "status-request-failed",
        "jobId": "spn2-8686e301e539e92ffd93ee14e70d5ec532c54150"
      }
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "human-centered-design",
      "kind": "related",
      "condition": "When deciding what to analyze for values and stakeholders",
      "reason": "Human-centered design focuses on direct observation of and iterative evaluation with users; Value Sensitive Design's scope is broader, also covering indirect stakeholders who never use the product and the values they hold.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "privacy-by-design",
      "kind": "realized_by",
      "condition": "When a conceptual investigation identifies privacy as a key value at stake in the decision",
      "reason": "Privacy realized through protective defaults is a common way Value Sensitive Design turns an identified value into a concrete technical investigation.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "trust-calibration",
      "kind": "informs",
      "condition": "When deciding which capability boundaries different stakeholders need to perceive",
      "reason": "Knowing whose values are affected and who bears the consequences of a misjudgment provides the basis for deciding which stakeholders should see which confidence signals.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "when": "Before choosing a technical solution or feature",
      "instruction": "First state which human values this decision involves and whose values they are, before discussing solutions.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "when": "When listing the people a system affects",
      "instruction": "Must include indirect stakeholders who never directly use the system but are affected by it, not only paying or active users.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "when": "When one stakeholder group has already stated a clear preference",
      "instruction": "Do not declare a value tension resolved based on that one party's preference alone; keep checking the impact on other stakeholders.",
      "strength": "recommend",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "philosophy": {
    "values": [
      "Systematically identifying human values",
      "Accounting for both direct and indirect stakeholders",
      "Iterating through conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations"
    ],
    "tension": "The tension between direct stakeholders' immediate demands and the diffuse, harder-to-voice values of indirect stakeholders",
    "questions": [
      "Whose values does this decision involve, and to whom do they matter most?",
      "Is there anyone who never uses this product but will still be affected by it?"
    ]
  },
  "demo": null,
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "editorialStatus": "drafted",
  "requirements": [],
  "demoCapabilities": [],
  "implementationNote": "No operable specimen yet; the illustration is editorial. When applied to a product, still verify: whether indirect stakeholders were actually identified and reached, whether all three of the conceptual, empirical, and technical investigations were carried out rather than just one, and whether the record of how value tensions were adjudicated is traceable.",
  "image": {
    "src": "/images/value-sensitive-design.webp",
    "alt": "A central object surrounded by several differently shaped figures at varying distances, some reaching in to touch it and others farther away yet still connected by faint lines, symbolizing direct and indirect stakeholders linked to one shared decision."
  },
  "searchTerms": [
    "人类价值",
    "利益相关方",
    "间接受影响者",
    "价值张力",
    "技术调查"
  ]
}