Case Studies

 Some expensive ICT devices, such as iPods and iPads, have been shown to have developmental and educational benefits when used in the right environment and with the right software.... Read More

This case study reports on ethical issues at various development stages of a game-based virtual training system for automotive manufacturers in a multidisciplinary and multinational research consortium.  A report that anticipated potential ethical issues, created within three months of the research project commencement, was reviewed and compared to the actual ethical issues that arose as the research project progressed.  The review and comparison revealed that, similar to a design process, ethical issues should be addressed iteratively to match the dynamic nature of collaboration ... Read More

The MinkApp project – a cooperation between the University of Aberdeen’s digital hub dot.rural (initiator) and the Scottish Mink Initiative (SMI) (project partner) – has developed a digital platform enabling SMI’s volunteers to directly upload records of signs and sightings of mink to SMI’s main database. While successful already in various ways, the development and implementation of this platform has raised at least two ethical questions (i.e. questions that revolve around responsible practice) that are tightly interwoven with the small and dispersed nature of the project partner.... Read More

In this paper, we present the ethical issues that emerged while designing, developing and testing HeartLink. HeartLink is a system designed for providing remote crowd-support during challenging and sustained physical activities such as long-distance running. Information about the activity (e.g. speed, distance completed) and the athletes’ bio-data (e.g. heart rate) are shared amongst participants and on-line viewers on social networks through smartphones. On-line viewers can also ‘cheer’ the participants by pressing a specifically designed button.... Read More