4IK507 Ethics and Profession in Information Technology

Assignments
There are two assignments specified in this document. Each assignment is described in terms of:
the procedure for how the assignment should be conducted; its objective; working mode; and
assessment criteria. The assignments are group work assignments, to be conducted in groups of 2-3
students.

Furthermore, the examination is specified in this document in terms of the procedure for how the
examination will be conducted.

ASSIGNMENT 1:
There are many important questions connected with: the ways that information technology makes it
easy and cheap to collect and store personal data; the moral and ethical risks that are associated
with the storage and use of this data; and the development of the technology that makes this
possible. In this assignment, you will be asked to reflect on some of these issues, for us as
individuals, as a society, and for IT professionals.

Begin by watching the documentary film “Peter Vlemmix - PANOPTICON documentary about
your privacy” via this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUyB0Tsj6jE. When watching it,
reflect upon the issues and questions that are raised for you as an individual, for society as a whole,
and the connections to the ethical dilemmas posed in the role of an IT professional.

Your task in this assignment is to analyze the ethical issues raised in this documentary, and the way
in which they affect us as individuals, members of society, and IT professionals.

Procedure
You as students (in your group) should watch the documentary, and together discuss the ethical
issues that are raised for individuals, for society, and for IT professionals. Base your discussions on
the issues raised in the film, and relate them to chapter 2 in the course book, “Privacy in the (Post-)
Digital Era?”

Feel free to relate the issues to your impressions and understanding of ethical standards and issues
in your home country.

The results of your discussions should be summarized in a written report, which you will present
and discuss at a seminar together with your classmates. You will also be expected to act as an
opponent group and give comments on the work of one other group of students, and generally
contribute to the overall discussions.

Objective
The overall aim of this assignment is to train the student to perform ethical reflections in their
future possible professional role as an IS Developer.

Work-Mode
The assignments should be conducted in a group of students. The groups will be established after
the first lecture.
Report
The reflective report, 3 pages, should be submitted to Moodle, in the Submission folder
Assignment 1, no later than November 20, 08:00.

Assessment
The students may be assigned one of the following two grades:
Not Passed (U), Passed (G)

The assessment will be made according to the following criteria:

a) the content of the report and how the instructions have been followed;
b) the reflections in terms of the clarity of the arguments and analysis are; and
c) the clarity of the presentation, opposition, and discussion of the results.

Expectations
The group is expected to:

• Upload the report to MyMoodle – Assignment 1 folder not later than November 20, 08:00;
• Deliver an oral presentation of the report, supported by a PowerPoint (or similar)
presentation on November 22.
• Act as an opponent group. The opponent group (together with your fellow students) is
expected to contribute with a set of questions or comments. You will be assigned an
opponent once all the reports are submitted.

ASSIGNMENT 2: The Ethical Standards of IS Developers

INTRODUCTION
This group assignment is about the identification of the moral / ethical challenges for an IS
Developer.

Procedure
You as students (in your group) should identify a company where IS Development professionals
work, and interview at least one such professional to obtain the needed empirical information. The
results of your discussions will be summarized in a written report, which you as a group will present
and discuss at a seminar together with your classmates. You will also be expected to act as an
opponent group and give comments on the work of one other group of students, and generally
contribute to the overall discussions.

This assignment is to be completed by means of presenting and discussing the following points: 1)
Moral Challenges of the IS developer, 2) Social Contract and 3) Lessons Learnt. For more details
on each question read below.

1. MORAL CHALLENGES OF THE IS DEVELOPER

1.1. Empirical Identification of the Profession of an IS Developer

a) Identify and contact an Information Systems (or software) development company

b) Explain the theme of your course and your need of help to get empirical information
c) Identify a person within the company, who in some way works or has worked with IS
development (at least some parts of it)
d) Identify that person’s professional background, in terms of:

▪ education and training profile

▪ practical professional experience
▪ the name of the specific role this person holds
▪ the typical activities that this role conducts
▪ the typical outcomes that this role generates
▪ the purpose of these outcomes
▪ the consumer / receiver of these outcomes
▪ potential stakeholders (people that may have interest in it, i.e., become affected by in
some manner) of these outcomes

1.2. Empirical Identification of Moral Challenges for IS Developer

a) Ask the IS Developer for 2 - 4 different moral / ethical dilemmas (difficulties) that they have
been exposed to during and in the context of their working experience (if they cannot provide this
from their own experience, ask if they know of some dilemmas that their colleagues have faced)
b) Ask the IS Developer to describe how each of these dilemmas emerged, what type of people /
stakeholders were involved, and which conflict / tension was present

1.3. Empirical Identification of Recommendations to the identified Moral Challenges

a. Ask the IS Developer what they would recommend doing about each of the given
moral challenges, i.e. how to deal with them. Als also for the motivation /
justification of the content of each of the recommendations.
b. Conduct an analysis of the Moral Challenges identified, with the help of the Ethical
Theories presented in the course literature (e.g. Moral relativism, Ethical
Utilitarianism, Deontological Theories)
c. Conduct an analysis of the Moral recommendations given by the IS Developer, with
the help of the Ethical Theories
d. What is your position in each of the dilemmas? And why?

2) SOCIAL CONTRACT
This point is about the identification of the type of the ethical / social contract that may exist
between an IS developer and their key stakeholders.

a. Ask the identified IS Developer what kind of ethical commitments they think that
the IS Developer profession has towards (a) its clients, (b) the future users of the
developed IS.
b. Identify one or two IS clients or users (they may be from the same company, though
not necessarily) and ask about which expectations they have about the ethical
behaviour of an IS Developer.
c. Compare these views upon the ethical social contract expressed – identify
similarities, differences and discuss these!
d. Analyze and discuss the identified ethical views with the help of the Ethical
 Theories provided by the course literature! Provide your own position on each issue
with the motivation!

3) LESSONS LEARNT
This is the last part of this assignment. Please write up to half a page per student about

a) what you have learned from this assignment

b) what was good with this assignment
c) how this assignment could be improved

Objective
The overall aim of this assignment is to train the student to perform ethical reflections in their
future possible professional role as an IS Developer.

Work-Mode
The assignments should be conducted in a group of students. The groups should be established
after the first lecture.

Report
The Research Report should be between 5-6 A4 pages, written with Times New Roman, font 12,
single spaced, one line space between headings, and be structured in the following manner:

1. Introduction (this section presents some general questions about ethics in which the
course readings NB! must be used)
2. Methods (how did you conduct the investigation)
3. Moral Challenges of IS Developer
4. Social Contract
5. Lessons Learned
Assessment
The students may be assigned one of the following two grades:
Not Passed (U), Passed (G)

The assessment will be made with regard to the following criteria:

a) the content of the report and how well the instructions have been followed.
b) the reflections in terms of how clear the arguments and analysis are; and
c) the clarity of the presentation, opposition, and discussion of the results.

Submission and Presentation

The group is expected to:
• Post the report to MyMoodle – Assignment 2 folder not later than December 4, 08:00)
• Deliver an oral presentation, supported by a PowerPoint (or equivalent) presentation, on
December 7.
• Act as an opponent group. The opponent group (together with your fellow students) is
expected to contribute with a set of questions or comments. You will be assigned an
opponent once all the reports are submitted.