Value-Sensitive Design as an Ongoing Process of Market Discovery

Abstract

Value-sensitive design conceived as an a priori process is necessarily uncompleted, because the foresight needed to accommodate competing values in true accord with consumers’ (ever-evolving) wishes is simply unavailable ab initio. True value-sensitive design is, instead, an ongoing process of market discovery which is evolutionary in nature rather than a priori. We illustrate this generality with the landline telephone.