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arxiv: 1907.06809 · v1 · pith:WKMAWQZ3new · submitted 2019-07-16 · 💻 cs.CY · cs.HC· cs.SI

Ethical Underpinnings in the Design and Management of ICT Projects

Aaditeshwar Seth This is my paper

Pith reviewed 2026-05-24 21:04 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification 💻 cs.CY cs.HCcs.SI
keywords ethicsICT projectspower equalitydeployment managementproject teamsethical frameworksinformation technologypower relationships
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The pith

Ethics must shape the deployment and management of ICT projects, not just their design.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper shows that ethical frameworks for ICT projects fail if they address only design. A consistent ethical system must instead shape the project's objectives, its technical design, and how it is deployed and managed over time. Power-based equality is presented as a central value that stops projects from increasing power imbalances among involved actors. A modeling method is offered to reveal how a project affects power relationships in its ecosystem. Project teams must also be socialized to these values, since team structure and ideologies can undermine consistent application.

Core claim

The paper claims that ICT projects require an ethical underpinning that unifies their objectives, design, and deployment management, with power-based equality as a key principle to avoid reinforcing inequalities in power relationships, and that this requires attention to how project teams uphold these values amid factors like political ideologies or dispersed teams.

What carries the argument

The integrated framework that treats objectives, design, and deployment management as shaped by a common ethical system, together with a method to model the project's influence on power relationships between actors.

If this is right

  • If the framework is applied, projects will better avoid undesirable outcomes by maintaining ethical consistency across all phases.
  • Modeling power relationships will make legible how projects affect actors in the ecosystem.
  • Power-based equality as a guiding value will reduce reinforcement of power inequalities.
  • Socialization within project teams will strengthen adherence to ethical values despite challenges like dispersed teams.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

  • Large-scale platforms managed by small teams could use this model to assess their impact on user power dynamics.
  • Empirical testing on past ICT projects could validate whether the proposed modeling method accurately predicts power shifts.
  • Similar ethical integration might be needed in other technology domains like AI or data systems.

Load-bearing premise

Power-based equality must be treated as a core ethical value, without which projects will reinforce power inequalities.

What would settle it

Finding an ICT project where ethical design was used without ongoing ethical management and no power inequalities were reinforced would falsify the need for the full framework.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 1907.06809 by Aaditeshwar Seth.

Figure 1
Figure 1. Figure 1: Underlying ethical conceptualization framework for ICT proj [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p003_1.png] view at source ↗
Figure 6
Figure 6. Figure 6: Shown here are three pathways through which the power of a participatory media platform is presumed to increase. Different pathways lead to different types of power as a resource. First, to the left is shown that the larger the audience the media platform has the more influence it would have. Second, towards the middle is shown that demonstrating a well-functioning editorial function will add to the credib… view at source ↗
read the original abstract

With a view towards understanding why undesirable outcomes often arise in ICT projects, we draw attention to three aspects in this essay. First, we present several examples to show that incorporating an ethical framework in the design of an ICT system is not sufficient in itself, and that ethics need to guide the deployment and ongoing management of the projects as well. We present a framework that brings together the objectives, design, and deployment management of ICT projects as being shaped by a common underlying ethical system. Second, we argue that power-based equality should be incorporated as a key underlying ethical value in ICT projects, to ensure that the project does not reinforce inequalities in power relationships between the actors directly or indirectly associated with the project. We present a method to model ICT projects to make legible its influence on the power relationships between various actors in the ecosystem. Third, we discuss that the ethical values underlying any ICT project ultimately need to be upheld by the project teams, where certain factors like political ideologies or dispersed teams may affect the rigour with which these ethical values are followed. These three aspects of having an ethical underpinning to the design and management of ICT projects, the need for having a power-based equality principle for ICT projects, and the importance of socialization of the project teams, needs increasing attention in today's age of ICT platforms where millions and billions of users interact on the same platform but which are managed by only a few people.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Referee Report

2 major / 2 minor

Summary. The paper argues that ethical frameworks in ICT projects must extend beyond design to include deployment and ongoing management. It presents a framework that integrates project objectives, design, and management under a common ethical system. The authors advocate for power-based equality as a key ethical value and describe a method to model the project's influence on power relationships among actors. They also highlight the importance of project team socialization to uphold ethical values, considering factors such as political ideologies and dispersed teams.

Significance. Should the arguments and framework be adopted, this work could meaningfully advance discussions on ethical ICT development by emphasizing continuous ethical oversight and power equity in large-scale platforms serving millions of users. The focus on team-level implementation provides a practical angle to theoretical ethics.

major comments (2)
  1. [Section on modeling method (second aspect)] The manuscript claims to present a method to model ICT projects to make legible its influence on power relationships, but the description remains at a high level without specific techniques, formalisms, or illustrative applications. This is load-bearing for the second central claim regarding the incorporation of power-based equality.
  2. [Discussion of examples (first aspect)] Several examples are referenced to demonstrate that ethical frameworks in design alone are insufficient, yet without detailed presentation or analysis of these examples in the text, the motivation for the proposed framework lacks concrete grounding.
minor comments (2)
  1. The final sentence of the abstract contains a subject-verb agreement error ('needs' should be 'need').
  2. Ensure that the framework and modeling method are described with sufficient operational detail to allow readers to apply or critique them.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

2 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for their constructive comments and recommendation. We address each major comment below and outline planned revisions to improve the manuscript.

read point-by-point responses

  1. Referee: [Section on modeling method (second aspect)] The manuscript claims to present a method to model ICT projects to make legible its influence on power relationships, but the description remains at a high level without specific techniques, formalisms, or illustrative applications. This is load-bearing for the second central claim regarding the incorporation of power-based equality.

    Authors: The modeling approach is presented as a conceptual framework for rendering power relationships legible within the ethical system of an ICT project, consistent with the essay format and focus on underlying principles rather than a technical methodology. Specific formalisms fall outside the paper's scope. To better support the claim, we will add an illustrative application of the modeling approach to a concrete ICT project in the revised manuscript. revision: yes

  2. Referee: [Discussion of examples (first aspect)] Several examples are referenced to demonstrate that ethical frameworks in design alone are insufficient, yet without detailed presentation or analysis of these examples in the text, the motivation for the proposed framework lacks concrete grounding.

    Authors: We agree that expanded analysis of the referenced examples would strengthen the motivation. In revision we will provide additional detail and brief analysis for the key examples to better ground the argument that ethical oversight must extend beyond design. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No significant circularity

full rationale

The paper is a normative philosophical essay that directly states prescriptive claims about ethical frameworks, power-based equality, and team socialization in ICT projects. It contains no equations, derivations, fitted parameters, or predictive reductions. All arguments are presented as independent recommendations without reduction to self-citations, prior fits, or definitional equivalences. The central framework is introduced as a synthesis of objectives, design, and management shaped by ethics, but this is an expository structure rather than a circular derivation.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 0 axioms · 0 invented entities

This is a normative essay without mathematical axioms, free parameters, or invented entities. The claims rest on philosophical assumptions about the role of ethics and power in technology development.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5780 in / 1062 out tokens · 27565 ms · 2026-05-24T21:04:24.590391+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

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