What are important ethical principles that should be implemented to protect users in the metaverse and other digital spaces? Jamaican social enterprise, Youth Can Do IT (YCDI), in collaboration with Jesus College (Oxford), developed some ethical guidelines for the metaverse. In this episode, we chat with members of YCDI Joel Lawson, one of the youths who participated in the ethical guidelines design process, Cherika Wilson, the Head of People Operations, and Christopher Derrell, the Chief Technology Officer, on the metaverse and the guidelines that have been proposed. Key areas our discussion covered include: some of the ethical concerns surrounding the metaverse; how Project Amplify, the collaboration between Youth Can Do IT and Jesus College (Oxford), came about; the main findings of the research; and the next steps now that the guidelines have been proposed.

 

This episode is also available on SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music!!

It was not that long ago that the metaverse was the buzzword of the day. The metaverse—a fusion of virtual reality, augmented reality, and the internet—has been envisaged as a transformative frontier, reshaping the way we interact, work, and experience the digital world. It promises to be a seamless, immersive space where digital and physical realities blur, creating opportunities for innovation, economic growth, and social connectivity. However, over the past few years, it has fallen into obscurity and has been overtaken in the public’s mind by generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Having said this, the metaverse is not dead. It is very much alive, but the pace of development has definitely slowed. However, there is now an opportunity and time to develop the necessary guardrails and policies for the metaverse, unlike what is currently happening with AI, where we are still debating the frameworks that should be established after the proverbial horse has left the stable.

Founded in 2016 in Jamaica, Youth Can Do I.T. (YCDI) is a youth empowerment organisation that is geared towards equipping and empowering youth with the right skills and tools needed to turn their dreams into reality. In 2023, YCDI, in partnership with Jesus College at the University of Oxford launched Project Amplify to collaboratively design ethical guidelines and spaces for the metaverse. The proposed guidelines were finalised earlier this year and are available to help inform policymakers, government agencies, organisations and individuals about their design processes for their own digital spaces and the metaverse.

 

Introducing our guests

Cherika Wilson

Cherika Wilson has spent most of her career working in youth development/youth-supporting roles. A passion for equitable access to education brought her to the Caribbean School of Data (CSOD) where she currently serves as the Project Manager. She oversees the implementation of CSOD’s digital and data skills training programmes, and all CSOD’s strategic partnerships. Cherika is also the Head of People Operations at Youth Can Do I.T. (YCDI), managing the organisation’s programmes and operations. Prior to returning to Jamaica, Cherika worked in the nonprofit and public sectors in New York City across several functional roles including, strategic partnerships, programme management, development, and data reporting and analysis.

A proud alumna of Campion College in Jamaica, Cherika holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master of Public Administration in Non-profit Administration from Baruch College, and a Master of Business Administration in Managerial Analytics from Mercy College.

Christopher Derrell

Christopher Derrell is an award-winning software developer who in his role, manages UX, architecture, and development to create practical and aesthetic websites. These have spanned across multiple industries including banking, hotels and engineering, from Barbados to Rome, while being recognized globally as leaders in technological innovation.

Chris has over 10 years of experience in Software Development and holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in Computer Science and Economics from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona. He is a Christian, who leads a team of web developers at Adtelligent, and also co-leads Youth Can Do IT, a social enterprise; teaching youth aged 7—25 the power of data and code, working first on their mindset to inspire content creation, not just content consumers.

Chris is a proponent of Extended Reality (Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality) and using technology as a tool for increasing productivity.

Joel Lawson is a high school student and one of the youths involved in Project Amplify and participated in the ethical guidelines design process.

 

Insights into our conversation

To most people, the metaverse is not currently high in the social consciousness, so it might seem odd to be highlighting it as we did in 2022. However, based on our experience with Generative AI, and the concerns that have been raised for guardrails to be established, and even the call for a six-month moratorium on AI development, we know what can happen when we are not prepared for a technology that has launched. Currently, we still do not have appropriate policies in place, although it is in the public domain for over two years!

With the likely timeline of fully bringing the metaverse to life some years away, as was discussed with Joel, Cherika and Chris, we now have the time to deeply explore, debate and properly establish the policies and ethics that guide our use of the metaverse, and even our own other spaces. For example, questions we could ask regarding our own websites or online platforms are: are you using animation or a voice-activated reader to help users actually review the terms and conditions of your platform? And are accessibility features, such as language translation and tools to translate audio into sign language, embedded into your platform?

Below are some of the questions posed to Joel, Cherika and Chris during our conversation.

  1. Chris, start us off. Briefly remind folk what the metaverse is, and what has been going on in the metaverse – because I am sure many of us thought it was dead.
  2. As an emerging construct, and based on the experience with AI, there are likely to be several ethical concerns surrounding the metaverse. What are some of the more troublesome issues, and what are some that are likely to be more nuanced?
  3. How did Project Amplify, the collaboration between Youth Can Do IT and Jesus College (Oxford), come about?
  4. Joel, how did you get involved in Project Amplify and Youth Can Do IT?
  5. What were the objectives of the research?
  6. Joel, why was it important for you to participate in developing ethical guidelines for the Metaverse?
  7. Cherika, what were the key findings of the research?
  8. Joel, is there any theme you believe is the most important of the five areas addressed?
  9. Having produced these ethical guidelines, what happens next?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

Also, if you or a member of your network is interested in joining us for an episode, do get in touch.

Let’s make it happen!

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Images credit:  C Derrell; C Wilson; Riki32 (Pixabay);  pikisuperstar (Freepik); Pete Linforth (Pixabay)

Music credit: The Last Word (Oui Ma Chérie), by Andy Narrell

Podcast editing support: Mayra Bonilla Lopez