Engage and Act

  • Learn about the RRI principles: Engage and Act
  • Think of the impact engaging and acting under an RRI approach have on your project

REVISITING RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (RRI)

Let’s remember the AREA framework, which is a practical guide to help you apply Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) principles. It stands for:

Anticipate potential outcomes. What could happen?

Reflect on our goals and methods. Why are we doing this?

Engage with different people and communities. Who should be involved?

Act on what we learn. What should we do?

 

In a past lesson we reviewed the principles Anticipate and Reflect.

 

Now we’ll dive into the next two principles: Engage and Act. These will help you make sure your app truly benefits your community.

ENGAGE: WORKING TOGETHER AND LISTENING TO OTHERS

You’ve come up with an amazing idea, but is it what the community actually needs?

And how will different people be affected by your app?

It’s important to involve all stakeholders.

Stakeholders are people who might be affected by your app, or who have an interest in it. This could be the people who will use your app, the community members it aims to help, local leaders, or even people who might be indirectly impacted. 

There are many ways to engage stakeholders: You can listen actively to people’s needs and concerns and ask open-ended questions. For example, instead of “Do you like this?”, ask “What problems do you face when you try to…?”

By bringing everyone into the conversation from the start, you can build something that truly works for your community. It’s like hosting a big, inclusive brainstorming session. 

You're not just creating an app

You’re creating a solution with (and not only for) the people who need it most.

ACT: TAKING AN ETHICAL APPROACH

After you’ve Anticipated problems, Reflected on your goals, and Engaged with your community, the next step is to Act to make your app better. This means you actively ask yourselves, “What are we going to do right now to make our app more responsible?

LET'S SEE AN EXAMPLE

1. Imagine
Imagine your team is creating a social media app where teenagers can have interactions related to swapping clothes and sharing tips and organizing in-person events.
2. You Anticipated and Reflected
Your app will make swapping feel more like a fun game and people will be motivated by seeing what others are doing. You also anticipate some problems. What if people start to compete in a negative way, shaming those who don't swap "perfectly"? So you Reflect on your own goals and values for this project. You want to make a positive change in your community, and you decided to prioritize celebrating everyone's efforts, not criticize them.
3. Now you would need to: Engage
You visit a second-hand shop or center and talk to the people who work there to get expert advice, and ask your school principal if you can run a survey for students to find out what would make them excited to use the app. Imagine that, during these conversations, you learn that teenagers are often confused about what can and can't be recycled. You also find out that some people feel embarrassed if they're not doing it "right." This feedback helps you understand what your app really needs.
4. It’s time to Act!
Based on what you Anticipated, Reflected and Engaged, your Team could decide to Act by: Address the "shaming" concern by designing a feature where users can only "react" with positive emojis, and a system to flag and remove any negative or judgmental comments. Addressing the "false information" by creating a partnership with your local second-hand center. All tips posted on your app have to be approved by them first.

STOP AND DISCUSS

In this scenario, can you think of any other actions to improve the app, based on the stakeholders’ feedback?

girls discussing

ACTIVITY: ENGAGE AND ACT

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Apply the Engage and Act principles to your own project

Use these questions to guide your thinking and help you build an app that truly makes a difference. Before you start, it’s a good idea to take a look at the Anticipate and Reflect ideas you came up with before!
Download worksheet

REFLECTION

Be proactive, make ethical choices in how you build your app, and be accountable for the choices you make.

Keep in mind that when you build your app, you’re not just creating code; you’re creating something that can change people’s lives. Your actions should be guided by a goal to do good and help solve important problems in the world.

Can you think of a time when your team had to 'Act' to fix a problem after it happened instead of preventing it? Which is better and why?
Now you know the 4 principles of RRI, What responsibilities do you think you have as an innovator?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

If you want to dive deeper into RRI, check out the materials created by University of Nottingham in collaboration with the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems Hub.

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