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Ethical frontiers of ICT and older users: cultural, pragmatic and ethical issues

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Abstract

The reality of an ageing Europe has called attention to the importance of e-inclusion for a growing population of senior citizens. For some, this may mean closing the digital divide by providing access and support to technologies that increase citizen participation; for others, e-inclusion means access to assistive technologies to facilitate and extend their living independently. These initiatives address a social need and provide economic opportunities for European industry. While undoubtedly desirable, and supported by European Union initiatives, several cultural assumptions or issues related to the initiatives could benefit from fuller examination, as could their practical and ethical implications. This paper begins to consider these theoretical and practical concerns. The first part of the paper examines cultural issues and assumptions relevant to adopting e-technologies, and the ethical principles applied to them. These include (1) the persistence of ageism, even in e-inclusion; (2) different approaches to, and implications of independent living; and (3) the values associated with different ethical principles, given their implications for accountability to older users. The paper then discusses practical issues and ethical concerns that have been raised by the use of smart home and monitoring technologies with older persons. Understanding these assumptions and their implications will allow for more informed choices in promoting ethical application of e-solutions for older persons.

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Notes

  1. €1bn in digital technologies for Europeans to age well. Brussels, 14 June 2007. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?item_id=3457.

  2. Cited in Wright (2008, p. 18).

  3. European Commission, Ageing well in the Information Society, Action Plan on Information and Communication Technologies and Ageing, An i2010 Initiative, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, COM(2007) 332 final, Brussels, 14 June 2007. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52007DC0332:EN:NOT.

  4. See Mordini et al. (2009) for an elaboration about justice issues.

  5. As discussed at the Socio-Anthropological Workshop on ICT and Ageing, SENIOR, Brussels, 2 June 2008.

  6. For an excellent discussion of the theoretical issues involved in differentiating the old from the young, and among different groups of older persons, and their implications for different uses of ICT, see Mordini et al. (2009).

  7. The same homogenizing thinking, that underlies agelessness, in attempting to defy ageism by rejecting negative images associated with ageing may also have stimulated the promotion of “design-for-all” or “universal design” principles in some cases, especially for purposes of marketing. See Dienel et al. (2004: 224–238) for further discussion.

  8. See, for example, Ethics of e-Inclusion of older people. Discussion paper for the workshop on Ethics and e-Inclusion. SENIOR Project, Bled, 12 May 2008.

  9. WHO (2002: 11).

  10. Mordini et al. (2009) also recognized a hint of this within EU policies of e-inclusion.

  11. For information about the TRIL Centre, see http://www.trilcentre.org/.

  12. Cited in Aging Options: An article about Independent Living. TRIL News. 25 February 2008. http://www.trilcentre.org/news/ageing_options:_an_article_about_independent_living.397.573.news.html.

  13. Ethics of e-Inclusion of older people. Discussion paper for the workshop on Ethics and e-Inclusion, p. 13. SENIOR Project, Bled, 12 May, 2008 and in Mordini et al. (2009).

  14. The need to avoid “single instrumental thinking” and to embrace a broad approach to protecting human rights was also addressed in the Bled workshop paper, p. 26. Fn 46.

  15. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/charter/pdf/text_en.pdf.

  16. Abused could include, e.g., using older persons as instruments to test new technologies. See caveat in Mordini et al. (2009).

  17. Quoted in Bernard (2001: 58).

  18. As a product of the Enlightenment, Kant reserved the attribution of pricelessness only for those people he deemed rational.

  19. For further discussion on how this occurred, see McLean (2007: 43–44).

  20. According to the Smart Homes Association. Soprano (2007: 7).

  21. van Berlo (2005), cited in Steg et al. (2006).

  22. This is an acronym used by designers at the TRIL Centre, Dublin.

  23. There are strategies, however, that might minimize losses. See Morris (2005: 31–33) and Morris et al. (2003: 232).

  24. Andy Cochrane, TRIL project, personal communication, May 2008.

  25. Cahill, Suzanne (2008). Conference paper, The Subjective Experience of New Patients and their Primary Caregivers attending a first appointment at a Memory Clinic. Presented at 18th Alzheimer Europe Conference, Oslo, Norway, 23 May 2008.

  26. Bailey, TRIL project, personal communication, October 2007.

  27. Quoted in Pols (2010).

  28. Communication on Radio-frequency identification (RFID) in Europe: steps towards a policy framework. COM (2007) 96, Brussels, 15 March 2007. http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/policy/rfid/doc/rfid_en.pdf, cited in Ethics of e-Inclusion of older people, Senior Discussion Paper No. 2008/01, April 2008.

  29. Julian Hughes, personal communication, 21 April 2008.

  30. See SENIOR’s recommendation to “promulgate the use of good practice case studies.” Wright (2009: 77).

  31. These directives, though by no means a perfect solution, could be similar to those designed for disclosing a disease. See Keeting et al. (2005).

  32. See also Mordini et al. (2009) on limited guarantees of informed consent.

  33. See MacMillan (2006) for interview with Dishman. See also Dishman (2004).

  34. Nohr, Oyvind. Conference paper, “The competent seniors: Ageing and the use of digital media—conflict or happiness.” Presented at the Socio-Anthropological Workshop on ICT and Ageing, Brussels, 2 June 2008.

  35. I thank Eamon O’Shea, National University of Ireland, Galway, for helping to conceptualize these questions.

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Acknowledgments

I thank Emilio Mordini for inviting me to present an earlier version of this paper at Socio-Anthropological Workshop on ICT and Ageing, June 2–3, 208, Brussels, for the SENIOR (Social, Ethical, and Privacy Needs in ICT for Older People) Project. I appreciate the opportunity to have conducted ethnographic research with the TRIL (Technology Research for Independent Living) Centre in Ireland. I thank Eamon O’Shea, Irish Centre for Social Geronotology, National University of Ireland for his collegiality and support in helping me complete a working paper from which this developed. Finally, my gratitude to Central Michigan University for allowing me the time to avail myself of these opportunities.

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  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, Central Michigan University, 123A Anspach Hall, Mount Pleasant, MI, 48859, USA

    Athena McLean

  2. 4738 Arapaho Trail, Okemos, MI, 48864, USA

    Athena McLean

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Much of the research for this paper was conducted while the author was an ethnographic researcher for the Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland, Galway, IE, and the TRIL Centre, Dublin. An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the Socio-Anthropological Workshop on ICT and Ageing, June 2–3, 2008, in Burssels, for the SENIOR project. SENIOR is an acronym for SOCIAL, ETHICAL AND PRIVACY NEEDS IN ICT FOR OLDER PEOPLE: A DIALOGUE ROADMAP.

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McLean, A. Ethical frontiers of ICT and older users: cultural, pragmatic and ethical issues. Ethics Inf Technol 13, 313–326 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-011-9276-4

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