Contested Technologies and Design for Values: The Case of Shale Gas.

Area of Science:

• Energy policy
• Societal impact of technology
• Public engagement in science

Background:

• New energy technologies often face public resistance due to perceived inadequate inclusion of public values.
• The value sensitive design (VSD) approach is a framework for incorporating values into technological design.
• Existing VSD applications primarily focus on technology design, with less emphasis on institutional and participation design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the applicability of the value sensitive design (VSD) approach for new energy technologies.
• To expand VSD's scope to include the design of surrounding institutions and stakeholder participation.
• To investigate how public debate can inform the identification of relevant values in technological development.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of public debate arguments concerning shale gas exploration and exploitation in the Netherlands.
• Identification of underlying substantive and procedural values expressed by stakeholders.
• Application of VSD principles to institutional and participation design.

Main Results:

• Both proponents and opponents of shale gas shared common underlying values.
• Contestation arose from differing operationalizations of these shared values among stakeholders (intra-value conflicts).
• The public debate served as a rich source for identifying relevant values.

Conclusions:

• Value sensitive design (VSD) processes should incorporate the multi-interpretability of values.
• Addressing intra-value conflicts, rather than inter-value conflicts, is crucial for managing public resistance to new energy technologies.
• Effective stakeholder participation design is essential for successful energy technology implementation.