Ethics in Tech Prep
Overview
It seems that there are constantly news stories about the latest tech fiasco that led to negative consequences, either purposefully or accidentally. It’s tempting as programmers to focus on just the code and not think about the bigger picture of what you are making, but it’s a temptation that must be resisted. Today we’ll focus on learning about some specific ethical frameworks and how you can apply them to situations in technology.
Basic Learning Objectives
Before class, you should be able to:
- Give a high-level overview of how the computing industry thinks and reasons about ethics.
- Identify the ethical standards typically applied in the analysis of technology.
- Begin to develop your own ethical framework regarding technology.
- Explain the high-level situation of the case study
Advanced Learning Objectives
After class, you should be able to:
- Be able to explain foundational ideas of ethics frameworks
- Analyze a technology case study using a specified ethical framework
- Continue to develop your own ethical framework regarding technology
- Identify how to navigate challenging ethical situations in software development
Readings
To achieve the basic learning objectives, you should read the following:
- The ACM Code of Ethics. ACM is one of the professional organizations for computer scientists.
- Anil Dash’s 12 Things Everyone Should Understand About Tech
- Millions of black people affected by racial bias in health-care algorithms - This is the case study that we’ll discuss in class, you should have access if you are on Carleton’s internet or connected to the VPN. Feel free to read more details in the research article as well if you are interested.
Checks
Submit answers to the following through Moodle:
- What is the purpose of the ACM Code of Ethics?
- Give an example (different from the ones in the reading) that illustrates how tech is not neutral (Dash’s first point).
- Which stakeholders’ needs were prioritized by Optum’s initial cost-based algorithm do you think? Reflect, with a few sentences, on the scenario that you think led to that initial flawed algorithm being used.