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Ethics in First Year Information Systems

Explore the key areas of ethical consideration in first-year information systems courses, including honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, and altruism. Understand the importance of ethical principles in the IS profession and how they add value to your work.

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Ethics in First Year Information Systems

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  1. Ethics in First Year Information Systems Robert Davison

  2. First Year IS Courses • Sem A: FB2500 – Introduction to IS I • Sem B: FB2501 – Introduction to IS II • Sem B: IS2236 – Programming in VB

  3. Layout • Five Key Areas of Ethical Consideration • Honesty/Integrity • Responsibility/Accountability • Fairness/Impartiality • Respect • Altruism

  4. Honesty/Integrity • What can be achieved by a system • How well a system meets user needs • What users should be asking for (but didn’t) • Originality of source code • Be very careful with web sources • Don’t resell what cost you nothing • Professional Behaviour • E.g. Hacking, Computer Abuse,…

  5. Responsibility/Accountability • Taking responsibility for one’s work • The inevitability of bugs is not an excuse for poor quality systems (in fact bugs should not be inevitable at all) • Setting up proper lines of evidence so as to be able to identify who did what • Distinguishing individual from group work • Acceptance of professional liability for a system

  6. Fairness/Impartiality • Treatment of all customers equally • Irrespective of their status, importance as customers, political power, financial clout,… • Broad involvement of users in requirements analysis and design – before and during systems development • Treatment of suppliers impartially • E.g. in the tendering process

  7. Respect • Respect for customer requirements • Even if you don’t agree with them • Respect for the values of the profession • Even if the customer doesn’t agree with them • Respect for yourself • Don’t take on work that you are not qualified to do • Respect for Intellectual Property • Whether digital or not

  8. Altruism • All systems should be designed so as to benefit someone • Indeed, there may be a need for working without considering one’s own immediate benefits • Many student projects are for charities – which have no budget, yet have a huge need

  9. Conclusions • Ethical principles are critical to the IS professional • Becoming familiar with ethical principles as a student makes it easier to internalise them – and then deploy them in working life • Ethical principles add value

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