| 1. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Balancing between the conflicting interests of different stakeholders in research
- 2017
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Ingår i: European Business Ethics Network. - Athens : Deree, American College of Greece College.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We in academia produce a lot of research in the form of papers, technologies, methods, medicines and so on. All those outcomes are of great importance for society and people. On the other hand, there are many stakeholders in the process of producing research outcomes nowadays. Researchers themselves are of course the main stakeholders because their career is dependent on research. However, when research projects are connected to various political goals or affect profits for industries, many other stakeholders like politicians and business people get involved to research activities as well. Especially industries offer a lot of research funds to academic projects, and actually today many collaborative research projects between industry and academia are in progress. Thus, research environments are very complex and morally challenging since many different and conflicting interests interfere. Many academic researchers believe that what they produce belongs to society, and that their work is there mainly to satisfy the interests and needs of society and people. But, at the same time, they need to fulfill the demands coming from research supporters who offer funds and research opportunities. In producing research of good quality, it is unavoidable and very important for researchers to make a fair choice between the quality of scientific research and the satisfaction of stakeholders’ demands. This paper explores how researchers make justice between these conflicting interests, what kind of ethical dilemmas and problems they face in their daily research activities, and how they solve the ethical problems. This study is the first step of a research project that focuses on how scientific research activities and outcomes become 'social' and 'valuable'.
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| 2. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Care Robots and Humanity : How Can We Cope with The Indeterminacy and Ambiguity of Robot-Human Relationships?
- 2023
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Ingår i: Tethics 2023. - : CEUR-WS.org. ; , s. 1-10
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ageing society, labour shortages in the care sector and increasing social security costs havebecome serious social problems in many countries. Sweden and Japan are, of course, noexception in this respect. In order to alleviate this situation, both countries have implementedvarious policies in different social areas, as well as promoting digitalisation and introducingcare robots in the healthcare sector. While older people are generally considered to be reluctantto adapt to new technologies, in both Japan and Sweden, the digital integration of older peopleis higher than in other countries. In the near future, care robots or robotic care would becomemore common in the care sector in both countries. This study examines how people in bothcountries perceive robots and autonomous artefacts and how they construct relationships withthese artefacts, based on the results of two surveys, one conducted in Japan 2020, and anotherin Sweden 2019, and elucidates the relationship between humans and robots from an ethicalperspective. The research findings show that people’s orientation toward the search for theexistential meaning and their complex emotions related to ephemerality and transience canaffect the relationship between humans and robots. Furthermore, this study is a new attempt toincorporate a 'care' perspective into technology ethics.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Do social media generate social capital?
- 2012
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Ingår i: ICT, society and human beings. - Lisbon : IADIS Press. - 9789728939762 ; , s. 133-136
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Do social media generate social capital beyond borders between the real and virtual spaces? If so, how do social media function in forming and maintaining social capital? This study is triggered by those simple questions. From the beginning of 2011, a huge number of people have seen political turmoil stimulated by use of social media and felt the inner stirrings of people’s cooperative network via social media. Thus, some people strongly stressed that social media has a great power to change authoritarian regimes from the global political issues perspective. On the other hand, we recognized how social media worked effectively from the local issues perspective, for example in the case of the massive disaster in Japan. Under the critical situation, where existing traditional media like phones, TV, radio and newspapers didn’t work, the Japanese got and exchanged information through social media and in fact some victims were rescued based on information via social media. Both cases, political changes and massive disasters, show information transaction process has been supported by thin trust, generalized reciprocity and loosely tied people’s network, regardless of geographical borders or real/virtual spaces. Therefore it seems that social media plays an important role in fostering a social network leading to social capital. This paper reconsiders characteristics of social capital and its role in improving people’s lives through social media. It also examines how social media influences social capital by giving a few examples of social media and social issues, more specifically, the political turmoil in Tunisia and big earthquake disasters in Japan.
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| 5. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Ethical Competence and Social Responsibility in Scientific Research using ICT Tools
- 2015
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Ingår i: Computers & Society. - : ACM Digital Library. ; , s. 345-347
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores how to improve and support researchers'ethical competence in scientic research and how to conduct research ethically, especially in research activities using Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Refining research ethics relating to ICT is unavoidable in the highly technological society of today, for example big data is used in different scientic research activities, and systems which support our daily lives are constructed based on the existing systems. In other words, technology reproduces technology itself. And almost all research activities need to use ICT through the whole research process. Moreover, researchers are required to be able to participate and react sensibly in ethical dialogues with society and citizens. Seen in that light, this study could be applicable not only to computer science and technology but also to a broad spectrum of research areas as the constructive notions of ethics, liberty and responsibility in research activity.
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| 6. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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ICT supported crisis communication and dialog
- 2013
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Ingår i: The possibilities of ethical ICT. - Kolding : University of Southern Denmark. - 9788792646729 ; , s. 37-41
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study explores how people use social media under serious social conditions, and how social media affects people’s behavior after a disaster based on the case of the March 2011 disaster in Japan. In this critical situation, where existing traditional media like phones, television, radio and newspapers did not work well, the Japanese exchanged and received information through social media. In fact some victims were rescued based on information via social media. Corresponding to people’s need, social media provided various services to support people immediately after the disaster. Therefore it seems that social media plays an important role in fostering a social network leading to horizontal communication, critical thinking, dialog; supporting social capital. This study reconsiders characteristics of social capital and its role in improving people’s lives and supporting democratic communication as well as the difficulties in people bonding together through social media.
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| 7. |
- Asai, Ryoko, et al.
(författare)
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Regulation of potentially harmful contents on minors
- 2012
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Ingår i: Equity, integrity and beauty in information law and ethics. - Kerkyra, Greece : Ionian Academy.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In democratic societies, freedom of expression is the indispensable right and duty of citizens. Although there are a few exceptions, it is generally considered that governments should not intervene and regulate this right. Both in digital and analog environments, sexual and violent descriptions are usually regulated by self-censorship of participants. However, trying to protect minors from potentially harmful contents by controlling and regulating them is very difficult. The definition of what is “potentially harmful contents on minors” varies depending on the values and on the culture of each social group. Moreover, along with the rapid spread of mobile phones and smartphones, it becomes more difficult for parents and teachers to control children’s access to harmful contents; something that might have been easier regarding the use of personal computers. Access to the Internet provides huge opportunities not only of visiting websites but also of participating in online communication such as Social Networking Service (SNS). An incredible surge of SNS evokes some issues in considering juvenile access to SNS, categorized roughly into three types. One is the very old and new problem in accessing the Internet, which is how to shield minors from harmful contents. Second is how to block inappropriate contact with a pedophile. Third is cyber bullying. SNS is a very new medium and its market and technology are evolving drastically and are constantly changing. Thus the agent of taking the lead in making and enforcing rules or self-regulation is still absent. Additionally, SNS services utilize the function of social graph actively, and third parties can provide contents and applications using open API. In response to these situations, European Commission implemented Safer Social Networking Principle for the EU, and United States released the guideline for SNS users and worked on SNS companies and users to promote voluntary efforts for using SNS properly. In Japan, mobile contents companies built the Content Evaluation and Monitoring Association (EMA) as a voluntary reviewing entity. However those measures don’t include any severe legal penalty. Those remain self-regulation relying on voluntary activities of private sectors. On the other hand, self-regulation itself is regulated by laws, social norms, market conditions and technological architectures. In this paper we discuss the conditions of regulation and self-regulation, and we explore some ideas about what would be the best way to regulate SNS.
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| 8. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Responsibility and Competence in Political Ethics
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings International Political Science Association, 23rd World Congress of Political Science, 2014. - Montreal.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- At present, our society is globalized, chaotic, changing, and also highly affected by individualization. That is, it is more difficult for out society to reach goals or conclusions collectively as one nation or one society. Under the situation, society needs political leaders to gather individual values, interests and opinions, and to take a lead in making collective decisions in the proper manner. Political leaders are required to have ability of making decisions and acting in the best way for society. Their responsibility is high even for future generations. According to Weber there are two categories of ethics pertaining to politics and to political leaders. One is the "ethic of ultimate ends" and the other is the "ethic of responsibility". "Ethic of responsibility" of political leaders is considered as a critical element. It is perceived as a kind of ability to consider possible social options and their impact, and also to take responsibility of their consequences in the future. In this context, it is very well compatible to the idea of ethical competence. It binds together philosophy and modern empirical research on ethical decision making, opening up for interventions like training and education for political leaders.
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| 9. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Robots as companions in feelings and discussions
- 2017
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Ingår i: Retfærdighed – Justice, Robophilosophy. - Copenhagen. ; , s. 42-42
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Robots are used in emotional relationships. On the other hand, it is not very common to think that robots can be used as partners in a philosophical dialog. It would be challenging to find the conditions under which a robot can be one of the parts in an emotional relationship or in a Socratic dialog. Robots usable as emotional or philosophical companions need probably to function well at both dimensions, providing continuous and interchanging support for feelings and reasoning. Our aim here is not to investigate the technical possibilities for such a machine but the theoretical requirements and ethical conditions for its creation and use.
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| 10. |
- Asai, Ryoko, 1977-, et al.
(författare)
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Social movement and social media
- 2012
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Ingår i: Critique, democracy and philosophy in 21st century information society. ; , s. 76-77
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- How do social media affect the process of building a democratic society? Information and communication technology (ICT) made it possible for people to communicate beyond national borders and other obstacles. Social media in particular play an important role in creating a place where people communicate with each other, for example Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and so on. In other words, under these circumstances, social media function as the third place in addition to home and workplaces, which contributes not only to unite people in commu- nities but also to the resolution of various problems and crises. Therefore, the third place nurtures relationships and mutual trust under internet access conditions, and it is open for free discussions, and becomes a ground for democracy.In face-to-face communication, participants’ behavior is affected by social context cues, and users let their behavior adjust to particular communication manners. However, in online communicati- on, it is more difficult for participants to understand static and dynamic cues surrounding other participants compared to face-to-face communication. Because, in many cases, whereas social media makes it possible for users to communicate with others easily regardless of physical dis- tance, national boundaries and time difference, it limits the number of characters and the amount of data that they can post and use. However, participation in online communication, especially in social media, is seen as the key element in the recent trend toward democratization. In fact, millions of users send and receive a huge amount of information via social media in order to cultivate a relationship with others and strengthen mutual exchange beyond borders. Generally it is recognized that social media advance participation through exchanging information with minimal social context cues.However, communication through social media has some problems. Firstly, exchanged informa- tion via social media minimizes social context cues under severe restricted or censored internet access conditions; because simplified messages can be more understandable and impressive for other users in communicating. Therefore information tends to be extreme, and it could evoke a risk of group polarization. Secondly, in social media, information receivers gather fragmented information in borderless cyberspace, for any purpose. Following this they try to transform infor- mation into something they can understand, something closer to their own experience, or they try to perceive the feelings and experience of the senders of information. Through this process, users develop a sense of solidarity and share expectations and norms, which bring them together as one community. Therefore, social norms have a considerable influence on users in particular communities and advance self-stereotyping among them as solidarity and social identity are en- hanced. This situation carries the social risk of exclusion of others. Some people call Middle-east political change “Facebook revolution” or “twitter revolution” on the internet. Is this naming really pertinent? Indeed, social media has played an important role as “hub for information” and as the third place in political change. Still, social media has to contribute to the development of skills for dialog in order to achieve a really democratic society.
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