Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including ... more Full bibliographic details must be given when referring to, or quoting from full items including the author's name, the title of the work, publication details where relevant (place, publisher, date), pagination, and for theses or dissertations the awarding institution, the degree type awarded, and the date of the award.
Proceedings of the symposium on Computers and the quality of life - CQL '96, 1996
This article describes the work of Project ImpaetCS, which was initiated to define the core conte... more This article describes the work of Project ImpaetCS, which was initiated to define the core content and pedagogical objectives for integrating social impact and ethics into the computer science curriculum. Over a three year period the project will address three major problems that hamper the implementation of across-the-board curricular change: the lack of a well-specified definition of what the core content and learning objectives should include, the lack of a strategy for adapting and adopting existing materials that address the core topics into the existing CS curriculum, and the lack of awareness and expertise on the part of most CS faculty regarding the need and methodology for presenting such material in their courses. This report provides the conceptual framework and describes the learning objectives, called knowledge units, for defining a new content area in the computer science curriculum. It also discusses strategies and innovative pedagogical techniques for implementing the knowledge units into the curriculum
THINKING PROFESSIONALLYThe continual evolution of interest in computing ethics
ACM Inroads, 2018
M arch 2018 marked the first reported pedestrian death from a self-driving car [10]. The possibil... more M arch 2018 marked the first reported pedestrian death from a self-driving car [10]. The possibility of such events caused by significant technological advances has stimulated interest in ethical issues. Many people think of these situations as brand-new problems requiring unique solutions. The truth is we have been here before, many times. Each technological change has created ethical challenges—should we use remote-controlled technology to take lives? Should we allow computers to decide our medical treatment? Do we want unethical people to have access to computer power? The difficulty and complexity of each new technical advance’s ethical problems distract each generation from the fact that these problems are just different species of a common problem, namely the problem of ethically managing the interaction of technology with humanity. The rising interest in ethics is positive, but the belief that these issues are brand new or unique to a specific sector is potentially harmful.
The field of ethics is concerned with the study of the concepts of right and wrong behavior, and ... more The field of ethics is concerned with the study of the concepts of right and wrong behavior, and generally involves three broad subject areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Metaethics investigates where our ethical principles come from, and what they mean; normative ethics refer to our study and determination of moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct; while applied ethics involves the examination of specific controversial issues such as abortion, animal rights, and environmental concerns. In this panel, we will identify and discuss ethics issues as they apply to a number of emergent challenges in the design and development of intelligence analysis systems, as well as during day-today operations of law enforcement and military officers. In many discussions on ethics, there is a tendency for the discussions to remain at a high level and surround the main principles of ethics, e.g., respect for autonomy, non-maleficence or do no harm, beneficence, and justice (Beauchamp & Childress, 2013). In this panel, we present some concrete problems that emerged through our research in projects such as the FP7 VALCRI, as we seek to respect the rights of European citizens to liberty and security. These problems include the mosaic effect, protection of personal data, potential misuse and abuse during information exploitation and analysis activities encountered during intelligence and investigative analysis. How should we design to ensure computational and analytic transparency in the decision making processes? How do we design systems and processes that are visible and open to inspection by colleagues and overseers? These are some issues that will be addressed by this Panel.
Many problems in software development can be traced to a narrow understanding of professional res... more Many problems in software development can be traced to a narrow understanding of professional responsibility. The author examines ways in which software developers have tried to avoid accepting responsibility for their work. After cataloguing various types of responsibility avoidance, the author introduces an expanded concept of positive responsibility. It is argued that the adoption of this sense of positive responsibility will reduce many problems in software development.
It is generally foolish to predict the future but in this case the odds are with me. This article... more It is generally foolish to predict the future but in this case the odds are with me. This article was written in July 2006 but it will be early December 2006 before it is in print. In the USA a 'mid-term election' was completed in November (three months after this article was written) and I presume most of the recounts from that election should be over by now.
Limiting the focus of risk analysis to quantifiable factors and using a narrow understanding of t... more Limiting the focus of risk analysis to quantifiable factors and using a narrow understanding of the scope of a software project are major contributors to significant software failures. A Software Development Impact Statement (SoDIS) process is presented which extends the concept of software risk in three ways;-it moves beyond the limited approach of schedule, budget, and function,-it adds qualitative elements, and-it recognizes project stakeholders beyond those considered in typical risk analysis. As the types of risks increase, the range of stakeholders that need to be considered also expands. Using this expanded view of risk analysis reduced or eliminated the impacts of many previously undetected risks of software development. The SoDIS process and its software associate development tasks with relevant stakeholders through the application of structured questions. This process was incorporated effectively into the software development life cycle and applied to software development projects in different domains on several continents. The successes of the SoDIS process provide strong evidence that a significant side-effect of narrowing project objectives is a root cause of IT project failures.
This article introduces the SoDIS process to identify ethical and social risks from software deve... more This article introduces the SoDIS process to identify ethical and social risks from software development in the context of designing software for the New Zealand Maori culture. In reviewing the SoDIS analysis for this project, the tensions between two cultures are explored with emphasis on the (in)compatibility between a Maori worldview and the values embedded in the SoDIS process. The article concludes with some reflections upon the key principles informing the professional development of software and ways in which cultural values are embedded in supposedly neutral technologies, and reviews the lessons learned about avoiding colonization while working on a bicultural project.
This book describes the common architecture required of all Alpha implementations as well as the ... more This book describes the common architecture required of all Alpha implementations as well as the special instructions required to support the OSF/1 and OpenVMS operating systems.
A friend once posed the question “How good is good enough? [1] in an article addressing professio... more A friend once posed the question “How good is good enough? [1] in an article addressing professional computer ethics issues. I have frequently argued for various answers to this question by emphasizing the responsibility of software practitioners to those who are impacted by what we do. “How good is good enough?”; the answer to this abstract question becomes concrete when it is asked in specific contexts. The answer actually has two aspects; doing a quality job to make something work and limiting the possible failures of the product. One facet is commonly emphasized in our classes and the other is frequently understated or ignored. Let me illustrate the problem with two examples. On January 15 2009, 1 minute after takeoff from New York City, a US Airways Airbus 320 Jetliner lost power in both of its engines and within 2 minutes the pilot “landed” the plane on the Hudson River. All aboard were rescued. The story is an impressive description of the excellent execution of safety management plans, pilot skills, and the good will of people responding to the emergency [2]. On October 7 2008, an airplane accident was reported in which a faulty onboard computer suddenly sent a large passenger jet into a steep dive. The pilot regained control in a few seconds, but meanwhile 51 passengers and crew were significantly injured, including “broken bones and spinal injuries.” [3] According to that report:
Open source software is making a large impact on many aspects of society including the business c... more Open source software is making a large impact on many aspects of society including the business community, the computing industry, the entertainment industry and higher education. The computer science education community has been quiet about issues of open source versus closed source and the role of open source code in the advancement of information technology. A survey of recent issues
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