First, I outline the productive influences of sociotechnical imaginaries on design practice and understandings of ethics tied to it. I analyse existing case studies of well intentioned design projects from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). I highlight three important dimensions in which such present sociotechnical imaginaries preconfigure how technicians might engage with value work. I also provide a case study of such identification of present sociotechnical imaginaries in the context of AI and sustainability. Drawing from this case study, I present a framework and vocabulary, based on the philosophical concept of the device paradigm by Borgman, that helps to understand the seductive dynamics of such imaginaries and how it affects and shapes the relation between morality and technology for technicians. I argue that if underlying present sociotechnical imaginaries are not identified and clearly addressed, any following work on adhering to values or guidelines will be interpreted in favor of such existing imaginaries.

Second, I present a method for engaging and challenging existing sociotechnical imaginaries with practitioners and researchers of sensor networks. This method uses speculative roleplay, and centers value tensions through the lens of care ethics as a situated approach to responding to socially challenging situations, in which people encounter vulnerabilities and the contextual limitations of technology. This method presents a productive approach to challenging imaginaries by foregrounding situatedness, performativity, multiple voices and actors and interdependence of needs.

Third, I engage in ethnographic work with a team of practitioners over a longer time span to investigate the emotional aspects of integrating ethics toolkits into existing technical workflows. I apply the concept of moral stress, based on prior research in moral psychology, management studies and nursing studies, to the increasingly moralised work tasks of developers, and trace the impact of this experience through the everyday work experience of technical practice. This chapter also ties back into pinpointing where practitioners encounter sociotechnical imaginaries at play and the stress it causes to shift mindsets around them.

My main argument is that in order for any ethical interventions to be successful, we need to start with the envisionings of technology and its impact on social and political life, and can’t stop with interventions to shift those, but need to also account for the affective fall out of such engagements experienced by the practitioners within the broader field of their practice.