Applications Development: a Value-Laden Process

A long-drawn out debate in the field of technology is whether it is value-neutral or value-laden. While some have argued that this debate has been resolved given the increasingly accepted view that technology is socially constructed, this is still not reflected in mainstream research which still assumes that technology is neutral. What is clear is that both views tend to be linked to studies that primarily focus on explicit forms of technology such as technological designs and their usage. These studies, though significant, may be limited in terms of an underemphasis on the process by which these technologies emerge, a process that requires decision-making activities made by different stakeholders and thus involves value judgments. In order to understand the extent of value-neutrality or value-ladenness of technologies, therefore, it is important to examine not only the final outcomes but also the process involved in technological development (including the artifacts created and used). In this study, we explored how values may be embedded in a specific IT application, and in cases of conflict of values, how they are prioritized. We did this in the context of applications development through an examination of the stages ranging from requirements analysis to coding to testing and deployment.