"I'm doing great! I've just left the Engine Room, an organisation I co-founded and ran for eight years. I'm now in this sort of Cambrian explosion of projects and concepts and ideas, exploring all kinds of new opportunities. From the outset, working with civil society organisations to adopt technology in their work, it was clear that technology presented significant opportunities for social impact."
"But it was also evident that it could harm vulnerable people already likely victimised in some structural way. How would you define agile ethics? I was concerned with the hype-driven uptake of some new technologies, and how deaf the conversations in that space were to risk. Most conversations around proper use of technology within social movements operated at quite a low bar - as long as you weren't flagrantly violating the law, or getting 'hacked', everything was fine."
"So, about five years ago we, at the Engine Room, set up the Responsible Data Forum. The goal was to elevate that conversation, where it wasn't just about digital security or compliance officers approving your organisation's actions. Instead, it was about ensuring your use of technology reinforced your social mission rather than undermined it. We developed a diverse, multi-disciplinary, peer-to-peer network where practitioners - often working on development and humanitarian issues - could discuss problems and best-practice."
Alix Dunn left the Engine Room after co-founding and running it for eight years and now explores diverse new projects and ideas. Working with civil society to adopt technology revealed significant opportunities for social impact alongside risks that could harm structurally vulnerable people. Concerns about hype-driven technology uptake and inadequate attention to risk motivated efforts to raise ethical standards beyond mere legal compliance or digital security. The Responsible Data Forum was established to ensure technology use reinforces social missions by fostering a diverse, multidisciplinary, peer-to-peer network of practitioners to share problems and best practice. Agile ethics emphasizes proactive, mission-aligned decision-making in technology development.
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