Exam Focus

• chapters 1-4 in Johnson (and the summaries on the website)
• articles in Part I and II of Baird that were presented by students
• additional articles published in pdf files on the website (primarily relating to professional ethics) which were also summarized in presentations
• the material on analyzing ethical decisions distributed with our first homework exercise

Exam Emphasis

1. You should be VERY FAMILIAR with the short version of the Software Engineering Code and somewhat familiar with the explanations given in the long form.
2. You should be able to discuss in some detail ANY of the following topics:
• justification for and character of a profession.
• If computing is not a profession now, what remains and when will it likely become one?
• What justifies considering Cyberethics a new field of ethics?
• What are the rights and duties of a citizen of cyberspace (and how are they different from those of citizens in physical space)?
• What are the responsibilities of computer professionals regarding the design and implementation of computer applications?
• What are computer policy vacuums and how can they be filled?
• How do moral issues arise in Cyberspace and how does the computer professional's role in resolving them differ from the roles of other "Netizens."

Exam Format

Each day we have focused on a different aspect of Computer Ethics (supported by an instructor or student presentation, or both). Expect short answer (two or more per page) questions directed at the issue and conclusions found relating to any day's topic (offered in either the readings or the summaries). You should review the website for each day and summarize the points addressed there by day.

Objective (TF or Multiple choice) questions will deal with vocabulary introduced (terms that appear in Johnson).

One full page essay worth about 25% of the exam.

 

Topics covered up to midterm:

1.     Jan 13 

1.1.  Critical Thinking  <template>

1.2.  Scenario: Legal Records 

1.3.  Privacy Law in the Workplace  <supplement>

2.     Jan 15 

2.1.  How Do You Do Computer Ethics  <Johnson 1>

3.     January 22 

1.1.  James Moor--Policy  <Jennifer>

1.2.  Surveys on Ethical Attitudes  <Jennifer>

1.3.  Traditional Ethics  <consequentialism>

January 27 

1.4.  David Gleason--Subsumption  <Greg>

1.5.  Utilitarianism 

2. January 29 

2.1.  Artz: Narrative vs Logical Reasoning  <Cory>

2.2.  Van Den Hoven: Computer Ethics  <Cory>

2.3.  Rules and Rights 

3. February 3 

3.1.  Laudon: Computer Ethics  <Jeremy>

3.2.  Micro & Macro Ethics 

1. February 5 

1.1.  Using The New Acm Code Of Ethics In Decision Making  <Tomeka>

1.2.  A Scandinavian View On Acm's Code Of Ethics  <Tomeka>

1.3.  Why Professional Ethics 

2. February 10 

2.1.  Surveys on Ethical Attitudes  <Jennifer>

2.2.  Computing Profession? 

3. February 12 

3.1.  IEEE/ACM Software Engineering Code  <Jill, handout>

3.2.  Martin's Analysis of Code  <Jill>

3.3.  Professional Relationships 

4. February 17 

4.1.  Systems Designer Ethics  <Jeremy (persuasive)>

4.2.  Codes and Conduct 

4.     February 24 

2.1. Ethical Issues on the Internet 

5.     February 26 

3.1. Anonymity on the Internet  <Mike: AAAS on Anonymity (b8)>

6.     March 3 

4.1. Psychology of Virtual Reality <Franklin: Turkle (b9>