On Nov. 5, 2020 at 3 p.m., UCI and the creative agency a small studio will host a free virtual panel discussion on Exploring Design + Ethics. While an earlier installment of this series focused on innovation and social progress, this event will examine inclusivity.

“Ethical design is necessarily inclusive design,” says Gillian Hayes, vice provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate Division at UCI. “We simply cannot design ethical systems without being more inclusive of a variety of voices.”

As a featured speaker at the event, Hayes, who is also the Robert A. and Barbara L. Kleist Professor of Informatics in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS), will describe ways to better include everyone in design. In particular, she will challenge attendees to think critically about their own practices toward inclusive and ethical design.

“A wide variety of minoritized groups, including those with disabilities, BIPOC and LGBTQIA, have been left out of much of the technological designs we use every day,” she explains. “We see the results of those exclusions in the ways our products and services have a wide variety of unintended consequences.”

Joining Hayes in this discussion is Mona Sloane, a sociologist at New York University, and the following group of industry leaders:

• Gülay Birand, UX lead and product design manager at Facebook;
• Daniela Busse, VP of XD research and strategy at Wells Fargo;
• Neveen Moghazy, product design manager at Mailchimp;
• Brandon Hyman, senior product designer at Hulu; and
• John B. Johnson, identity architect at a small studio.
  

“We can no longer simply sell our talents to the highest bidder; we must first use our talents to solve problems and help others,” says Johnson, who is helping host the event. “Without helping others as the primary focus, I do not believe ethical design is possible.”

Johnson and his colleagues at a small studio welcome collaborating with UCI to host these Exploring Design + Ethics events. “At a small studio, our mantra is to use our gifts together through design to bring peace to people’s lives,” he says. “Community events like this give us an opportunity to operate in integrity with our mission.”

So be sure to save the date — Nov. 5, 2020 — and register today for this free event.

— Shani Murray