RRI Tools

The VIRT-EU project brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers, designers and policy professionals in order to create practical tools to help technology developers think and talk about ethics in new and hopefully more productive ways. Rather than providing yet-another-checklist, the VIRT-EU toolkit offers a way for technology developers to gain the necessary language, structure and authority to convene and engage in conversations about ethics. 

The VIRT-EU project approaches ethics not only as a way of reflecting on technology but also as a way of building it. Their practical approach to ethics in action is based on a melding of three different ethical frameworks: virtue ethics, care ethics and capabilities approach. Their materials and resources can help you understand how these approaches can be useful in the development of connected technologies. Learn more on their ethical approach page

For a brief and simple introduction to different ethical frameworks useful for thinking about the Internet of Things download the Ethics Primer

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The VIRT-EU TOOLKIT offers practical help in developing ethically informed technology

• The Ethical Stack is a series of tools to support creators of new connected technology to reflect on their product’s ethical and social impacts.
• PESIA is a questionnaire that helps developers and designers assess their privacy, ethical, and social impacts.
• Interactive workshops. Our workshop materials are designed to convene difficult conversations about ethics in technology development

The Ethical Tools Index

The VIRT_UE project has studied over 80 different ethical tools that have been made by many other groups, projects and organizations. These range from card games and canvases to guidelines and codes of conduct. You may also find some of these useful, take a look!

Open-access publications and research

• VIRT-EU submitted a series of deliverables and materials to communicate the scientific progress and milestones of the project to the European Commission. You can find the full list here
• They have created a repository of their materials, research resources, datasets as well as several code repositories for their online tools available on Github. Access the repository here
• As an EU project, the project is committed to providing their research output open access. Download their publications on the VIRT-EU’s open-access library.