Good Computing: A Pedagogically Focused Theory of Professional Computer Ethics

这项由NSF科学、技术和社会计划颁发的学者奖支持研究计算机中的伦理和价值观问题。在过去的30年里，计算伦理方面的工作取得了很大的成果。然而，对于计算机专业人员如何在日常生活中做到道德，我们仍然知之甚少。这项研究调查了计算机专业人员在应对正常和不寻常的压力、相互冲突的需求以及职业生涯中的多种可能性和困难时所使用的技能和策略。这项调查追踪了以道德承诺而闻名的计算机科学家的生平故事，并建立在以前工作的基础上，这些工作记录了英国和斯堪的纳维亚计算领域的道德榜样的生平故事。道德榜样是那些成功地将伦理关怀融入到他们的计算实践中的人。这项工作将有助于从多方面了解计算中的道德榜样如何组织他们的生活、做出选择和实施计划。初步结果表明，计算机领域至少有两类范例：设计软件以帮助用户的工匠(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法规)。这个项目的研究将使用先进的统计技术来梳理技术和社交技能之间的关系，以决定采访中样本所描述的项目的成败。还将收集样本的一个子集的详细传记数据，以调查他们是如何在有时有益、有时阻碍的社会环境中描绘自己的道德生涯的。拟议的统计和定性调查将植根于各种环境情况下计算方面的道德行动模式。该项目的一个成果将是一个新的教育方向，它将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.