Good Computing: A Pedagogically Focused Theory of Professional Computer Ethics

这个学者奖由美国国家科学基金会计划在科学，技术社会支持研究，审查伦理和价值观问题的计算。 在过去的30年里，计算机伦理学方面的工作取得了很大的成果。 然而，我们仍然对计算机专业人员如何在日常生活中保持道德知之甚少。 这项研究调查的技能和策略，计算机专业人员使用导航正常和不寻常的压力，相互冲突的需求，以及多种可能性和他们的职业生涯的困难。 这项调查遵循以其道德承诺而闻名的计算机科学家的生活故事，并建立在以前的工作的基础上，记录了英国和斯堪的纳维亚计算中道德典范的生活故事。 道德模范是那些成功地将道德关怀融入到计算实践中的人。这项工作将有助于多方面的图片如何在计算的道德典范结构他们的生活，做出选择，并实施计划。初步结果表明，计算领域至少有两种类型的典范：设计软件以帮助用户的专家（例如，残疾人）和试图改变社会的改革者（例如，通过改变有关隐私的法律和法规）。本项目的研究将使用先进的统计技术来梳理技术和社会技能之间的关系，在成功或失败的项目所描述的样本在采访中。还将收集一部分样本的详细传记数据，以调查他们如何在有时有益，有时阻碍的社会环境中绘制自己的道德职业生涯。拟议的统计和定性调查将植根于在各种环境条件下计算的道德行为模型。 该项目的成果之一将是在教育方面开辟新的方向，促进计算机专业人员的道德承诺以及技能和知识的发展。

This Scholar's Award by the NSF program in Science, Technology & Society supports research that examines ethics and values issues in computing. Work in computing ethics over the last 30 years has borne much fruit. Yet we still know very little about how computer professionals manage to be ethical in their everyday lives. This research investigates the skills and strategies computer professionals use to navigate normal and unusual stresses, conflicting demands, and multiple possibilities and difficulties of their careers. This inquiry follows the life stories of computer scientists who are known for their ethical commitment, and builds on previous work that documents the life stories of moral exemplars in computing in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. Moral exemplars are people who are successfully integrating ethical concern into their practice of computing. This work will contribute to a multifaceted picture of how moral exemplars in computing structure their lives, make choices, and implement plans. Initial results suggest that there are at least two types of exemplars in computing: craftspersons who design software to help users (e.g., persons with disabilities) and reformers who attempt to change society (e.g., by changing laws and regulations on privacy). The research in this project will use advanced statistical techniques to tease apart the relationships between technical and social skill in the success or failure of the projects described by the exemplars in interviews. Detailed biographical data will also be collected on a subset of the exemplars to investigate how they have charted their moral careers in the midst of sometimes helpful and sometimes hindering social environments. The proposed statistical and qualitative investigation will be rooted in a model of ethical action in computing across a variety of environmental circumstances. One outcome of the project will be a new direction in education that will promote ethical commitment as well as development of skills and knowledge for computer professionals.