Ethics In Information Systems: Student Performance In Evaluating Ethical Dilemmas

The explosion in information technology in the last 20 years, and in particular, data communications networks, has had a major impact on ethical thinking and ethical issues. This has been manifested in the recent accounting and business scandals, as it is becoming apparent that the ethical dimensions of information systems-related business decisions cannot be safely ignored. It is important for business educators to introduce students to relevant ethical situations that they may face in the business world. This paper discusses the Information Systems ethical environment and students performance on business ethics cases in a telecommunications course. The results of this evaluation show that more exposure to ethical situations is needed, as students are not prepared to make sound ethical judgements

Professionalism in the Information and Communication Technology Industry

Professionalism is arguably more important in some occupations than in others. It is vital in some because of the life and death decisions that must be made, for example in medicine. In others the rapidly changing nature of the occupation makes efficient regulation difficult and so the professional behaviour of the practitioners is central to the good functioning of that occupation. The core idea behind this book is that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is changing so quickly that professional behaviour of its practitioners is vital because regulation will always lag behind

The role and value of ethical frameworks in software development

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Software development is notorious for failure, typically defined as over budget, late delivery and/or poor quality of new information systems (IS) on project completion. The consequences of such failure can be enormous, particularly financially. As such, there is consensus by practitioners and academics alike that this practice is unacceptable. Yet with a variety of accepted development methods and tools available for use by software developers and project managers, there is still no significant reduction in the size or frequency of failure reported. In an attempt to understand the conflicts which arise in the development environment in which developers and project managers must operate, the research area is the role and value of ethics in the development of managed software projects. A definition of ethics in this context was provided by the IEEE/ACM Code of Ethics. Research was additionally conducted to understand how other professions and business areas define and enforce ethics in their respective working environments. These were (UK) Law, Finance, Retail and, law practice in the European Union. Interpretive research was then conducted to enable software development practices to be understood from the view of developers and project managers in industry. Unethical practices were then identified in a large IT company based in west London via a single, six month in-depth case study, with the data collected analysed via a series of repertory grids. Analysis and triangulation of the data collected via interviews, document analysis and observations led to an improved understanding of the causes of the unethical practices found. Conclusions and recommendations are then provided relating to implications for (a) the company participating in the research, (b) the application of the IEEE/ACM Code in industry (c) theory for ethicists

Hackers: a case-study of the social shaping of computing

The study is an examination of hacking, placing the act in the context of theories of technological change. The account of hacking is used to substantiate those theories that emphasise the societal shaping of technology over the notion of technological determinism. The evolution of hacking is traced, showing how it reflects changing trends in the nature of information: the most vivid of these is the conceptualisation of information known as 'cyberspace'. Instead of simply cataloguing the impact of technical changes within computing, and the effects they have had upon information, the study shows how technical change takes place in a process of negotiation and conflict between groups.The two main groups analysed are those of the Computer Underground (CU) and the Computer Security Industry (CSI). The experiences and views of both groups are recounted in what constitute internalist and externalist accounts of hacking and its significance. The internalist account is the evidence provided by hackers themselves. It addresses such issues as what motivates the act of hacking; whether there is an identifiable hacking culture; and why it is almost an exclusively male activity. The externalist account contains the perceptions of hacking held by those outside the activity.The state of computing's security measures and its vulnerability to hacking is described, and evidence is provided of the extent to which hacking gives rise to technical knowledge that could be of potential use in the fixing of security weaknesses. The division within the CSI between those broadly cooperative with hackers and those largely hostile to them is examined, and the reasons why hacking knowledge is not generally utilised are explored. Hackers are prevented from gaining legitimacy within computing in a process referred to as 'closure'. Examples include hackers being stigmatised through the use of analogies that compare their computing activities to conventional crimes such as burglary and tresspass.Stigmatisation is carried out by the CSI who use it in a process of professional boundary formation to distinguish themselves from hackers. It is also used by other authority figures such as Members of Parliament whose involvement in the process of closure takes the form of the anti-hacking legislation they have passed, an analysis of which concludes this study

The role of HCI in the construction of disability

As a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use, and with the study of major phenomena surrounding them, human computer interaction (HCI) is involved in the phenomenon of disability. For an interaction between humans and computers to take place, there should be an interface mediating between both parties. The design of such an interface may inadvertently impose access barriers to some people. HCI literature addresses the relationship between the theory and practice of HCI and disability from different angles, some of which are diametrically opposed. This thesis explores three modern conceptions, or models, of disability — the individualistic medical, the biopsychosocial and the social models —, investigates which model predominates in the HCI literature, and analyzes why choosing a particular model may determine and constrain the classes of problems that can be identified during a solution discovery process. Departing from HCI’s traditional discourse, which interprets the phenomenon of disability as a problem in the human body, the author, leading a team of engineers and psychologists, carried out a project in a school for children with cerebral palsy. The project was aimed to improve different areas of child development, using non conventional user interfaces — i.e. user interfaces that use other input/output devices than the keyboard, mouse or screen. After two years working directly within the field of operations”, the author had the opportunity to contrast the theory underpinning HCI’s methods with real practice and to expand his understandings about the relationships between HCI and disability. The research process involved an action research approach, which allowed the author and the team of experimenters to formulate new hypotheses as they learned more about the context, to review the process and, ultimately and most importantly,to readapt their actions to better serve the end beneficiaries. The experiences and learnings gathered throughout the process have been included in this thesis as a case study, for the purpose of helping HCI researchers embarking on projects relatable to the one described. Finally, the author urges the HCI community to update its discourse and to connect it with the vast literature related to modern conceptions of the phenomenon of disability

The role and value of ethical frameworks in software development

Software development is notorious for failure, typically defined as over budget, late delivery and/or poor quality of new information systems (IS) on project completion. The consequences of such failure can be enormous, particularly financially. As such, there is consensus by practitioners and academics alike that this practice is unacceptable. Yet with a variety of accepted development methods and tools available for use by software developers and project managers, there is still no significant reduction in the size or frequency of failure reported. In an attempt to understand the conflicts which arise in the development environment in which developers and project managers must operate, the research area is the role and value of ethics in the development of managed software projects. A definition of ethics in this context was provided by the IEEE/ACM Code of Ethics. Research was additionally conducted to understand how other professions and business areas define and enforce ethics in their respective working environments. These were (UK) Law, Finance, Retail and, law practice in the European Union. Interpretive research was then conducted to enable software development practices to be understood from the view of developers and project managers in industry. Unethical practices were then identified in a large IT company based in west London via a single, six month in-depth case study, with the data collected analysed via a series of repertory grids. Analysis and triangulation of the data collected via interviews, document analysis and observations led to an improved understanding of the causes of the unethical practices found. Conclusions and recommendations are then provided relating to implications for (a) the company participating in the research, (b) the application of the IEEE/ACM Code in industry (c) theory for ethicists.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

DEVELOPMENT OF A QUALITY MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT TOOL TO EVALUATE SOFTWARE USING SOFTWARE QUALITY MANAGEMENT BEST PRACTICES

Organizations are constantly in search of competitive advantages in today’s complex global marketplace through improvement of quality, better affordability, and quicker delivery of products and services. This is significantly true for software as a product and service. With other things being equal, the quality of software will impact consumers, organizations, and nations. The quality and efficiency of the process utilized to create and deploy software can result in cost and schedule overruns, cancelled projects, loss of revenue, loss of market share, and loss of consumer confidence. Hence, it behooves us to constantly explore quality management strategies to deliver high quality software quickly at an affordable price. This research identifies software quality management best practices derived from scholarly literature using bibliometric techniques in conjunction with literature review, synthesizes these best practices into an assessment tool for industrial practitioners, refines the assessment tool based on academic expert review, further refines the assessment tool based on a pilot test with industry experts, and undertakes industry expert validation. Key elements of this software quality assessment tool include issues dealing with people, organizational environment, process, and technology best practices. Additionally, weights were assigned to issues of people, organizational environment, process, and technology best practices based on their relative importance, to calculate an overall weighted score for organizations to evaluate where they stand with respect to their peers in pursuing the business of producing quality software. This research study indicates that people best practices carry 40% of overall weight, organizational best v practices carry 30% of overall weight, process best practices carry 15% of overall weight, and technology best practices carry 15% of overall weight. The assessment tool that is developed will be valuable to organizations that seek to take advantage of rapid innovations in pursuing higher software quality. These organizations can use the assessment tool for implementing best practices based on the latest cutting edge management strategies that can lead to improved software quality and other competitive advantages in the global marketplace. This research contributed to the current academic literature in software quality by presenting a quality assessment tool based on software quality management best practices, contributed to the body of knowledge on software quality management, and expanded the knowledgebase on quality management practices. This research also contributed to current professional practice by incorporating software quality management best practices into a quality management assessment tool to evaluate software

Why don´t you express youself so that I can understand?

Purpose: Create an overall understanding of computers/software and cognitive science. We also want to investigate discrepancies in 4 particular software systems (The discrepancies are between human/computer and NOT between the computer systems). We also want to investigate if eventual discrepancies, or successes, in the programs might have a connection to the human cognition. Meaning; are these systems built in a way that suits the evolutionary cognitive mind? (I.e.: how the human brain/mind works). Finally, with the help of the four systems as practical examples, we wish to indicate the potential for further financial gain when designing software systems as a whole, using a cognitive approach. Methodology: Due to the difficulty in extracting some of the confidential information, we had to write the thesis as an explorative adapted study, relying heavily on interviews, workshops and an explorative case study. The case being the Liverpool Museum project, researching children’s answers of a museum filed trip. We also chose to make two surveys of our own. These will be either added as appendixes, and/or described in the text. Theory: Main: Cognitive Science, focusing on the work by Dave Snowden. Supporting/explaining; Computational complexity, Web scraping, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.), Black Swan and Knowledge Management. Empirical foundation: Primary data consist of interviews, workshops and a survey of LinkedIn.com and Monster.com. Secondary data consists of scientific articles and information from the Internet and an investigation of two confidential search engines. Findings and Conclusions: The investigation of the four search systems illustrates that there is a software design aspect linked to cognitive science. More research is necessary before any clear conclusions can be made, but this thesis implied that a least a part of the investigated discrepancy is caused by neglect of the human cognition when developing software. This also indicates that there is a potential for efficiency impact in financial terms, if considering this in future software development

e-Skills: The International dimension and the Impact of Globalisation - Final Report 2014

In today’s increasingly knowledge-based economies, new information and communication technologies are a key engine for growth fuelled by the innovative ideas of highly - skilled workers. However, obtaining adequate quantities of employees with the necessary e-skills is a challenge. This is a growing international problem with many countries having an insufficient numbers of workers with the right e-Skills. For example: Australia: “Even though there’s 10,000 jobs a year created in IT, there are only 4500 students studying IT at university, and not all of them graduate” (Talevski and Osman, 2013). Brazil: “Brazil’s ICT sector requires about 78,000 [new] people by 2014. But, according to Brasscom, there are only 33,000 youths studying ICT related courses in the country” (Ammachchi, 2012). Canada: “It is widely acknowledged that it is becoming inc reasingly difficult to recruit for a variety of critical ICT occupations –from entry level to seasoned” (Ticoll and Nordicity, 2012). Europe: It is estimated that there will be an e-skills gap within Europe of up to 900,000 (main forecast scenario) ICT pr actitioners by 2020” (Empirica, 2014). Japan: It is reported that 80% of IT and user companies report an e-skills shortage (IPA, IT HR White Paper, 2013) United States: “Unlike the fiscal cliff where we are still peering over the edge, we careened over the “IT Skills Cliff” some years ago as our economy digitalized, mobilized and further “technologized”, and our IT skilled labour supply failed to keep up” (Miano, 2013)

Evaluation of Information Systems Curriculum in Portugal and Russia: IPB and KubSAU

The importance of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) to organizations and the need for skilled professionals in the field is one of the most important challenges to universities. With the technological and organizational changes, IS education has been under continued adaptation, and higher education institutions have several difficulties in keeping the bachelor degrees curriculum updated. Several international organizations (ACM, AIS, BCS, IFIP, etc.) proposed for the last 40 years several curriculum guidelines, which are important to redesign the curriculum for survival in the current economic environment. The main purpose of this work is to compare Portuguese and Russian bachelor degrees with several standard curriculum on Information Systems proposed by recognized international organizations. The results obtained show the differences that exist between international curriculum guidelines and the bachelor degrees, and give us a perspective of the adequacy of the Portuguese and Russian curricula to the current requirements