# Value Sensitive Design: Applications, Adaptations, and Critiques Janet Davis and Lisa P. Nathan **Keywords:** Values, Human-computer interaction, Ethics, Stakeholders, Methodology **Abstract:** Value sensitive design (VSD) represents a pioneering endeavor to proactively consider human values throughout the process of technology design. The work is grounded by the belief that the products that we engage with strongly influence our lived experience and, in turn, our abilities to meet our aspirations. We, the J. Davis (*) Computer Science, Grinnell College, Grinnell, IA, USA e-mail: [email protected] L.P. Nathan University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada e-mail: [email protected] # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015 J. van den Hoven et al. (eds.), Handbook of Ethics, Values, and Technological Design, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-6970-0_3 11 12 J. Davis and L.P. Nathan authors of this piece, are members of the first cohort of scholars to receive doctoral training from the founders of VSD at the University of Washington. We do not claim to represent an officially authorized account of VSD from the University of Washington’s VSD lab. Rather, we present our informed opinions of what is compelling, provocative, and problematic about recent manifestations of VSD. We draw from contemporary case studies to argue for a condensed version of the VSD constellation of features. We also propose a set of heuristics crafted from the writings of the VSD lab, appropriations and critiques of VSD, and related scholarly work. We present these heuristics for those who wish to draw upon, refine, and improve values-oriented approaches in their endeavors and may or may **Authors:** [[Adaptations, and Critiques]]