In the rapidly evolving landscape of smart cities and digitalisation, cybersecurity becomes more and more important. As technology becomes more embedded in our daily lives, IoT devices are increasingly integrated in urban services as well as in our daily routines. IRIS project is not only pursuing robust cybersecurity solution for infrastructures – such as urban transport and smart grids – but it is also addressing societal concerns and potential reactions.
A shift in IT development
While user-centred design approaches have played a key role in capturing user preferences and behaviours, their application to emerging technologies with broad societal implications may not be the best solution to work towards socially acceptable innovation. A narrow focus on solving technical problems and user interaction with devices can inadvertently sideline broader societal considerations and miss real human interests at societal level. In this sense, European policies and research funding increasingly hinge towards human-centredness for ethics and sustainability.
Beyond the individual user: the socio-technical approach
CyberEthics Lab. (CEL) introduces in IRIS project a socio-technical systems approach, encapsulated by its Social Acceptance of Technology (SAT) methodology. The aim is going beyond user requirements and recognize since early stages of the design process that some technological innovations imply a process of change in both the structure of a socio-technical system and the relationship among the actors inside that system.
Innovations such as IRIS cybersecurity solution are key for secure smart city services. In such a context, the social implications of IRIS cannot be fully understood if one refers to the interaction of individual users and the platform as a stand-alone entity. It is crucial to focus on technology as an integral part of the smart city socio-technical system. This lens highlights the complex interplay between social and technical elements and how they shape each other.
CyberEthics Lab. contribution to the IRIS consortium enables this broadened focus. CEL brings in the project an approach to social acceptance of technology that considers the wider impacts on societal groups, beyond individual end-users.
The complexity of social acceptance
Social acceptance is a concept with origins in psychology research (in the Sixties). The concept migrated from studying the relations between peers in school settings, the to study social reception of energy infrastructure innovation, treatment change in medical science, users reaction in devices development. While the definition of social acceptance may vary across disciplines and technologies, its essence remains consistent – understanding and predicting human responses to innovation. For innovation to thrive, it requires a design process that is attuned to the needs of humans, across society.
The IRIS Project: Bridging technology and society
It is assumed that smart cities reinforce the need for robust cybersecurity. Also cybersecurity may be held as a condition for trust in smart city innovation: a solid cybersecurity solution may positively influence trust, thus accelerating the adoption of useful solutions to make everyday life more convenient for its users.
While IRIS demonstrates its cybersecurity solution targeting scenarios of urban transport and smart grids, CEL supports the consortium in addressing societal concerns and assessing potential social reactions to guide technology development in a responsible manner.
The strategy aims at foreseeing
- Social impacts
- Response or attitude of intended users and stakeholders
The first is done by involving smart city stakeholders, to address potential reactions to IRIS.
The second, is done by assessing the perceptions of cybersecurity institutions and experts such as CERTs and CSIRTS representatives and CISOs.
This holistic approach, while challenging, is critical to promoting awareness as well as achieving integration and acceptance of technological advances.
SAT Evaluation: Balancing Quantification with Nuance
The SAT evaluation methodology, as integrated within IRIS, strikes a balance. It combines non-linear acceptance factors with context-specific insights to understand users and stakeholders’ reactions. The evaluation can be synthetized in a score which is the outcome of survey with users and stakeholders, but the added value of CyberEthics Lab. research lies in the qualitative analyses that puts survey answers in relation with the overall context and to the content analysis of discussion groups. This does not only helps in assessing the IRIS pilot use cases, but also, helps design enhancements to align with societal norms and values.
Engaging Stakeholders: A Collaborative Effort to contextualise values
The IRIS project seeks for meaningful engagement with a diverse array of stakeholders. Beyond cybersecurity professionals, it encompasses infrastructure owners, service providers, local government bodies, urban services users, and more. The focus here is not just on exploitation or mere market acceptance of a product.
This broadened perspective reinforces that ensuring safety, security, system performance, infrastructure integrity and citizen privacy requires the concerted focus of multiple social actors on the integration and development of cybersecurity technologies. The design process must be opened to communicate with bearers of different points of view and interests. Thus, key values such as security, safety, privacy and accountability must be understood in relation to different positions, needs, groups. This helps to contextualise the values relevant to different smart city stakeholders, upon whom social acceptance depends. Beyond making values less abstract, such an approach also helps in countering the positivity bias in innovation research and reiterates a fundamental principle: technological innovations must solve real-world problems and benefit society at large.
Conclusion
Through interdisciplinary collaboration, the IRIS project stands as a positive example and catalyst for the evolving ethos of technology development. By prioritising social acceptance and engagement, CEL brings in the emphasis on the importance of aligning innovation with societal needs and values. As our society navigates the complexities of disruptive technological advances, projects such as IRIS provide a grounded approach to responsible innovation, especially in areas such as cybersecurity where public awareness is still nascent.
This blog article was originally published in https://www.iris-h2020.eu/blog/
