Small Grant for Exploratory Research: What Balance Between Technical Standards, Professional Standards, and Professional Education?

电气和电子工程学会（IEEE）计算机协会和计算机械协会（ACM）成立了一个联合指导委员会，以建立软件工程作为一个专业（SEEEPP）。 委员会各工作组正在开始审议电子邮件问题，并定于1995年11月之前完成其工作。 这个项目提供了一个难得的机会来研究一个正在形成的技术专业。 一个由两名道德专家和一名计算机科学专家组成的研究小组获准监测可靠性和安全性工作组的活动。 在参加工作组审议的同时，研究人员将研究两个强大的专业（电气工程和计算机科学）在讨论、审查和解决有关新专业的技术、教育和道德标准的问题时所带来的因素。 该项目将通过监测工作组的电子邮件，辅之以电话访谈以作进一步解释，并参加电话会议或面对面会议。 研究小组将每月开会分析这一进程。 该小组预期将编写两份报告，一份是研究文件，有助于了解专业以及专业守则的制定和使用，另一份是协助联合指导委员会的报告。 如果有必要，一个更大的研究项目的建议可能会从这项工作中发展出来。

The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE) Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) have formed a Joint Steering Committee for the Establishment of Software Engineering as a Profession (SEEEPP). The Committee's Working Groups are beginning deliberations on electronic mail, and are scheduled to complete their work before November 1995. This project presents a rare opportunity to study a technical profession coming into being. A research group of two ethics specialists and a computer science specialist have approval to monitor the activity of the Working Group on Reliability and Safety. While joining in the Working Group's deliberations, the researchers will study the factors that two powerful professions (electrical engineering and computer science) bring to bear in discussing, examining and resolving questions concerning technical, educational, and ethical standards for the new profession. The project will proceed by monitoring the e-mail of the Working Group, complemented with telephone interviews for further explanation and with participation in teleconferences or face-to-face meetings. The research team will meet monthly to analyze the process. The team expects to prepare two reports, one a research paper contributing to the understanding of professions and the development and uses of professional codes, and the other, a report assisting the Joint Steering Committee. If warranted, a proposal for a larger research project may develop out of this work.