WEEK: 2b

LESSON TITLE :

Science, Culture, and Ethics of IT

TOPIC PRESENTED BY:

Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson the students should be able to:
1. Connect science and technology to real-world
2. Identify and engage in a variety of cultural media, artistic and others
3. Describe the importance of ethics and professional conduct in the workplace.
About Science & Technology

What is Science?

❖ Science fundamentally is the systematic

study of the structure and behavior of the
natural and physical world through
observations and experiments.
Different facet of Science

Science is both a body of knowledge and a

process

Science is exciting

Science is useful

Science is ongoing

Science is a global human endeavor

These images all show an aspect of science, but a complete view of science is more than any instance.
Technology?

Technology (which is basically derived from the Greek word ‘technologia’) is an

art, skill or ability, which is used to create and develop products and acquire
knowledge.
Contribution of Science to Technology Contribution of Technology to Science

Technology as a source of scientific

challenges

Instrumentation and measurement

techniques
Nature of Science and Technology

Technical Knowledge - It can be defined in the simplest

term as – ‘know-how’.

Understanding of the attributes or elements - It means,

knowledge and understanding of the intelligence of
workers, quality of products, value of a firm, effectiveness
of market, etc.

College of Computing and Information Technologies

About Culture and
Technology

What is Culture?

❖ Culture is an umbrella term which

encompasses the social behavior and
norms found in human societies, as
well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts,
laws, customs, capabilities, and habits
of the individuals in these groups.
Definition from different sociologist:

Taylor: “Culture is the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, customs and habits, and any capabilities acquired by man as a
member of society”
Linton: “Culture is social heredity, which is transmitted from one generation
to another with the accumulation of individual experiences”
John Beattee: “Culture is the way of life which is transmitted from
generation to generation
Technology Shapes Culture

The technology landscape for businesses has changed beyond recognition

over the past 50 years. Here are 5 ways that technology has changed the way
that we work.

The AR & VR Customer Social

Mobility
Cloud Innovation Data Impact
About Ethics of Information Technology
Every society forms a set of rules that establishes the boundaries of generally
accepted behavior. These rules are often expressed in statements about how
people should behave, and the individual rules fit together to form the moral
code by which a society lives.

What is Ethics?

❖ Ethics is a set of beliefs about right and wrong behavior within a society.
Ethical behavior conforms to generally accepted norms—many of which are
almost universal.
The term morality refers to social conventions about right and wrong that
are so widely shared that they become the basis for an established
consensus.
A virtue is a habit that inclines people to do what is acceptable, and a vice is
a habit of unacceptable behavior.
A person who acts with integrity acts in accordance with a personal code of
principles. One approach to acting with integrity—one of the cornerstones of
ethical behavior—is to extend to all people the same respect and
consideration that you expect to receive from others.
Morals, Ethics, & Laws

Morals are one’s personal beliefs about right and wrong, while the term ethics
describes standards or codes of behavior expected of an individual by a group
(nation, organization, profession) to which an individual belongs. Law is a
system of rules that tells us what we can and cannot do. Laws are enforced by a
set of institutions (the police, courts, law-making bodies). Legal acts are acts
that conform to the law.
Ethics in IT

During the many IT breakthroughs in recent years, the importance of ethics

and human values has been underemphasized—with a range of
consequences. Here are some examples that raise public concern about
the ethical use of information technology:
Many employees have their email and Internet access monitored
while at work, as employers struggle to balance their need to manage
important company assets and work time with employees’ desire for
privacy and self direction.
Millions of people have downloaded music and movies at no
charge and in apparent violation of copyright laws at tremendous
expense to the owners of those copyrights.

Organizations contact millions of people worldwide through

unsolicited email (spam) as an extremely low-cost marketing
approach.

Students around the world have been caught downloading

material from the Web and plagiarizing content for their term
papers.
Web sites plant cookies or spyware on visitors’ hard drives to
track their online purchases and activities.

Hackers break into databases of financial and retail institutions

to steal customer information, then use it to commit identity
theft—opening new accounts and charging purchases to
unsuspecting victims.
IT Professionals

A profession is a calling that requires specialized knowledge and often long

and intensive academic preparation. The United States Code of federal
regulations defines a “professional employee” as one who is engaged in the
performance of work:
i. “requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a
field of science or learning… ;
ii. requiring the consistent exercise of discretion
and judgment in its performance;
iii. which is predominantly intellectual and varied in
character (as distinguished from routine mental,
manual, mechanical, or physical work); and
iv. which is of such character that the output
produced, or the result accomplished by such
work cannot be standardized in relation to a
given period.”
Professional Relationships
• Between IT Workers and Employers
• Between IT Workers and Clients
• Between IT Workers and Suppliers
• Between IT Workers and Other Professionals
• Between IT Workers and IT Users
• Between IT Workers and Society
Professional Code of Ethics:
A professional code of ethics states the principles and core values that are
essential to the work of a particular occupational group. Practitioners in many
professions subscribe to a code of ethics that governs their behavior.
Laws do not provide a complete guide to ethical behavior, following a
professional code of ethics can produce many benefits for the individual, the
profession, and society as a whole.
Ethical decision making — Adherence to a professional code of ethics means
that practitioners use a common set of core values and beliefs as a guideline
for ethical decision making.

High standards of practice and ethical behavior — Adherence to a code of

ethics reminds professionals of the responsibilities and duties that they may
be tempted to compromise to meet the pressures of day-to-day business.
Trust and respect from the general public—Public trust is built on the
expectation that a professional will behave ethically.

Evaluation benchmark—A code of ethics provides an evaluation benchmark

that a professional can use as a means of self-assessment. Peers of the
professional can also use the code for recognition or censure.
Professional Organization
Four of the most prominent IT-related professional organizations

Institute of Association of SysAdmin,

Electrical and
Association for Information Audit, Network,
Electronics
Computing
Engineers
Technology Security
Machinery (ACM) Professionals (SANS)
Computer Society
(IEEE-CS) (AITP) Institute
Code of ethics for popular IT professional organizations
Certifications

Certification indicates that a professional possesses a particular set of skills,

knowledge, or abilities, in the opinion of the certifying organization.

Deciding on the best IT certification—and even whether to seek a certification—

depends on the individual’s career aspirations, existing skill level, and
accessibility to training.
Certifications

Vendor Certifications
Many IT vendors—such as Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle—offer certification
programs for those who use their products. Workers who successfully complete a
program can represent themselves as certified users of a manufacturer’s product.
Depending on the job market and the demand for skilled workers, some certifications
might substantially improve an IT worker’s salary and career prospects. Certifications
that are tied to a vendor’s product are relevant for job roles with very specific
requirements or certain aspects of broader roles.
Certifications Certifications in high demand

Industry Association Certifications

There are many available industry
certifications in a variety of IT-related
subject areas. Their value varies
greatly depending on where people
are in their career path, what other
certifications they possess, and the
nature of the IT job market.
IT Professional Malpractice

Negligence has been defined as not doing something that a reasonable person
would do or doing something that a reasonable person would not do. Duty of
care refers to the obligation to protect people against any unreasonable harm
or risk.
The courts decide whether parties owe a duty of care by applying a reasonable
person standard to evaluate how an objective, careful, and conscientious
person would have acted in the same circumstances. Likewise, defendants
who have particular expertise or competence are measured against a
reasonable professional standard.
IT Professional Malpractice

If a court finds that a defendant actually owed a duty of care, it must

determine whether the duty was breached. A breach of the duty of care is
the failure to act as a reasonable person would act.
Professionals who breach the duty of care are liable for injuries that their
negligence causes. This liability is commonly referred to as professional
malpractice.
 Common Ethical Issues for IT Users

1 Software Piracy
• Software piracy in a corporate setting can sometimes be directly traceable to IT
professionals—they might allow it to happen, or they might actively engage in it.

2 Inappropriate Use of Computing Resources

• Some employees use their computers to surf popular Web sites that have nothing
to do with their jobs, participate in chat rooms, view pornographic sites, and play
computer games.
3 Inappropriate Sharing of Information
• Every organization stores vast amounts of information that can be classified as
either private or confidential.
Supporting Ethical Practices of IT Users

Establishing Defining and Limiting

Guidelines for Use of the Appropriate Use
Company Software of IT Resources

Structuring
Information Systems Installing and
Maintaining a
to Protect Data and
Corporate Firewall
Information
References
1. https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/information-technology-and-
ethics/v-1

2. https://www.ime.usp.br/~tassio/TMP/bks/32983_053874622X.pdf

3. https://www.tutorialspoint.com/fundamentals_of_science_and_technology/role_o
f_science_and_technology_in_todays_life.htm

4. http://digicult.it/digimag/culture-technology-hand-hand/
Ethics… has been well called “the
religion of science”

- Edwin Grant Conklin

American Biologist and Zoologist