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

电气和电子工程协会（IEEE）计算机协会和计算机协会（ACM）已经成立了一个联合指导委员会，以建立软件工程作为一种职业（SEEEPP）。委员会各工作组正开始审议电子邮件问题，并计划在1995年11月之前完成工作。这个项目为研究一个正在形成的技术专业提供了难得的机会。一个由两名伦理专家和一名计算机科学专家组成的研究小组已获批准监督可靠性和安全工作组的活动。在加入工作组的审议过程中，研究人员将研究两个强大的专业（电子工程和计算机科学）在讨论、检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进行，辅以电话采访以作进一步解释，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过程。该小组预计将编写两份报告，一份是一份研究报告，有助于了解专业以及制定和使用专业守则，另一份是一份协助联合指导委员会的报告。如果得到批准，这项工作可能会发展成一个更大的研究项目。

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.