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Availability, Limitations, Ethics and Societal Impact Statement

Availability

  • Data will remain private and will only be shared with mentees, mentors, mentor program staff, and the eMentoring system in order to protect user privacy.
  • Data is collected using the Mural API. (Accessible)
  • Mentee’s Mural boards are set to restricted access.
  • Data collected via the Mural API is stored on the mentoring program's internal servers.

Portability

  • Individual data has a distinct ID with metadata descriptions that include user names and date/time stamps. (Findable)
  • Exported Mural data are linked with provenance information. (Reusable)
  • Mural data can be exported in JSON, PDF, and CSV formats or transformed to HTML. (Interoperable)

Limitations

  • We rely on primary data that is user-generated.
  • Potential risks of misuse of data such as linking the wrong keywords to irrelevant mentorship topics.
  • Misinterpretation of mentee’s responses by the NLP tool.
    • The current API relies on ChatGPT and it's limitations.
  • Users may input inappropriate or hard-to-read information.
  • Users who are minors may not have complete control over their private information.
    • Parents may have a right to request or control how their child's information is used.
  • If the mentee places a sticky note in-between category frames, the CSV export would not be able to identify its area (topic).
  • The current API cannot record call session history.

Ethics

Our statements of ethics are based on Ethics of Open Data.

3 Types of Ethical Questions

  1. Virtue ethics: What action best exemplifies a high moral character?
  2. Consequential (or Teleological) ethics: What action best achieves desired consequences?
  3. Non-Consequential (or Deontological) ethics: What action best adheres to established rules?

Virtue

  • The safety and wellbeing of mentees are our primary concern.
  • Mentee data will have restricted access to protect their privacy.
  • Mentees are informed about and have control over the use of their personal data.
  • Inclusivity and diversity are prioritized in data collection and use.

Consequential

  • The main purpose of collecting mentee data and responses is to support the mentoring relationship.
  • The sharing of data will mutually benefit mentee and mentors with more efficient mentoring sessions.
  • Third parties are restricted from accessing mentee and mentor communication data to minimize harm and increase trust.

Deontological

  • Working with minors who are 13+ years old: Exempt from Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA)
  • Requirements to collect data for reporting to state agencies such as the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), grant funding agencies, and partner schools.
  • Some information may be subject to Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) laws in partnering with educational institutions.

Societal Impact

Positive Impact

  • Increase the engagement in mentoring relationships by reducing the burden of finding resources.
  • Diversity of prompts, responses, and mentoring processes for different age groups to provide more personalized recommendations.

Negative Impact

  • Misinterpretation of collected information based on stereotypes about mentees based on demographics.
    • Ex: Age, race, gender, etc.
  • Risk for perpetuating stereotypes if personal data is combined with outside data that is biased to make recommendations.
    • Ex: Using Mural board information to recommend a career using datasets that perpetuate stereotypes in careers.