FORUM UNIVERSAL INTERACTIONS
the design of technologies intended to be
used by them.
When thinking about ethical issues
and ethical control, it is important
to explore these issues by learning
from past research in other academic
domains including bioethics, medicine,
and psychology. These communities
have already addressed some of these
issues in non-technology-mediated
situations and have more recently
explored these same topics around
technology developments. For example,
in bioethics, medicine, and psychology,
academics and practitioners have
grappled with identifying an ideal age at
which young people should have control
over their own data, how to transition
access to personal information as
children become adults, and what the
implications are of controlling and
sharing information about children as
they age.
Across all the issues listed above,
there is a need to consider cultural
differences. Notions of individual
versus collective responsibility,
privacy, parenting styles, and feelings
of vulnerability and trust may vary
significantly across cultures. Therefore,
any decisions, designs, or solutions
should take into account cultural
differences, provide options, and be
transparent.
An obvious limitation of discussions
around ethical best practices for
children’s interactive technologies is
that it is often difficult to predict future
be countered by anxiety or a lack of
control and agency that children may
feel if they know their every move
is being tracked. Even with clear
recommendations, the larger challenge
is to persuade companies who obtain
large amounts of data about children to
take preventive measures to avoid its
misuse. If communities and companies
wait until something terrible happens,
then it is likely that policymakers, who
may not be as close to these issues as
our community is, will step in with
overly constrictive regulation, which in
turn may reduce possible benefits and
stifle innovation. And last, even with
proactive guidelines and/or regulations,
it is unclear how data misuse can be
detected and how regulations would be
enforced and by whom. One important
matter that was raised around the issues
of big data and regulation is that children
must be educated to understand how
data is collected, used, and stored, and
how it might affect them over time.
Children’s voices should be heard in the
development of policies that affect them,
echoing our community’s longstanding
commitment to children participating in
Children’s voices
should be heard in the
development of policies
that affect them.
For further information
or to submit your
manuscript,
visit tsas.acm.org
ACM Transactions
on Spatial Algorithms
and Systems
ACM TSAS is a new
scholarly journal that
publishes high-quality
papers on all aspects of
spatial algorithms and
systems and closely
related disciplines. It
has a multi-disciplinary
perspective spanning
a large number of
areas where spatial
data is manipulated or
visualized.
The journal is
committed to the
timely dissemination
of research results
in the area of spatial
algorithms and systems.
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