The Capability Approach and A Critique of the Design of Digital Spaces

This paper aims to advance two claims about the "public spaces" of the internet (that is, forums of public interaction online, like social media, news media, message boards and forums, and so on). First, we argue that a broadly utilitarian framework guides the technology industry’s approach to the design of digital spaces, and therefore limits the design and evaluation of these spaces to revealed preference satisfaction. As such, this framework lacks the conceptual resources to diagnose or to understand the shortcomings of today’s digital public spaces, or to coherently respond to these shortcomings. We consider a rights-based framework as an alternative philosophical framework for the design of digital spaces, but find it unsatisfactory. Second, we argue that the capability approach, as an objectivist and pluralist value theory, offers a more constructive understanding of individual flourishing in digital spaces. While this paper primarily seeks to argue why we should apply the capability approach to digital spaces, we conclude by suggesting how to apply the capability approach to digital spaces –– a promising area for further research.