Making space for values: communication & values levers in a virtual team

Abstract

The infrastructure underlying the Internet continues to evolve, with ramifications for not only the technical protocols that govern network functions, but also implications for social, economic, and legal issues. This paper uses ethnography to examine how and why ethical and social issues arise during the design of Named Data Networking, a new approach to Internet architecture. By focusing on communications modes among a distributed team of network architects, it investigates how particular modes may enable or constrain values levers: practices which encourage discussion of values during design. While face-to-face retreats encourage interdisciplinary work and subsequent discussion of moral values, mediated modes of communication tend to constrain values levers. These limitations may be overcome by encouraging communications techniques such as scenarios and demos, which can be used in both face-to-face and mediated settings.