©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Today Finish Ethics Next Week Research Topics in HCI CS 321 Human-Computer Interaction

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Ethics is … The study of moral standards and how they affect conduct moral standards are … A system of principles governing the appropriate conduct of an individual Ethics asks us to live “mindfully”

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Case of the Killer Robot Article: A Conversation with Dr. Harry Yoder Dr. Yoder: “Randy Samuels and Cindy Yardley were both just out of school. … One has to wonder whether they received any instruction on ethics” What have you learned about ethics in the CS Department? What responsibility does the CS Department have in teaching ethics?

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Case of the Killer Robot Article: A Conversation with Dr. Harry Yoder Dr. Yoder: “Related to this is the question of whether either of them had much prior experience with group work.” What have you learned about working in a group in the CS Department? What should the CS Department do to prepare you for working in a group?

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Case of the Killer Robot Article: A Conversation with Dr. Harry Yoder Dr. Yoder: “There are no standard practices for the development and testing of software.” Should the CS Profession develop a Standard of Practice?

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Case of the Killer Robot Article: A Conversation with Dr. Harry Yoder Dr. Yoder: “Samuels did not have requisite domain knowledge.” What is “domain knowledge”? Should having domain knowledge be a condition of employment?

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Case of the Killer Robot Article: Ethics and Computing: The ACM Code of Ethics What is the ACM?ACM What is the ACM Code of Ethics? General Moral Imperatives 1.Contribute to society and human well-being 2.Avoid harm to others 3.Be honest and trustworthy 4.Be fain and take action not to discriminate 5.Honor property rights including copywrites and patents 6.Give proper credit for intellectual property 7.Respect the privacy of others 8.Honor confidentiality

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Case of the Killer Robot Article: Ethics and Computing: The ACM Code of Ethics More Specific Professional Responsibilities 1. Strive to achieve the highest quality, effectiveness, and dignity in both the process and products of professional work 2.Acquire and maintain professional competence 3.Know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work 4.Accept and provide appropriate professional review 5.Give comprehensive and thorough evaluations for computer systems and their impacts, including analysis of possible risks 6.Honor contracts agreements, and assigned responsibilities 7.Improve public understanding of computing and its consequences 8.Access computing and communication resources only when authorized to do so

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Case of the Killer Robot Article: Ethics and Computing: The ACM Code of Ethics Organizational Leadership Imperatives 1. Articulate social responsibilities of members of an organizational unit and encourage full acceptance of those responsibilities 2.Manage personnel and resources to design and build information systems that enhance the quality of working life 3.Acknowledge and support proper and authorized uses on an organization;s computing and communications resources 4.Ensure that users and those who will be affected by a system have their needs clearly articulated during the assessment and design of requirements, Later the system must be validated to meet requirements. 5.Articulate and support policies that protect the dignity of users and others affected by a computing system 6.Create opportunities for members of the organization to learn the principles and limitations of computer systems

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. What ethical issues might you face? Are you the kind of team member you would want on your own team? Accept criticism (egoless programming) Be aware of the difference between constructive and destructive criticism Meet your team obligations  Be a contributing member  Meet deadlines  Provide help to others Communicate Be honest

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. What ethical issues might you face? Are you the kind of team leader that you would want to lead your team? How do you motivate your team to be productive? Do you recognize your own lack of expertise? What is your leadership style?  Democratic - Laissez-Faire  Authoritarian  Autocratic

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. What ethical issues might you face? What ethical responsibilities do you have to the public? Thorough design Robust implementation Honesty in advertising Thorough risk analysis Thorough testing Proper training

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Therac – 25 Linear accelerator to deliver x-rays and electron beams for the treatment of cancer Released in 1985 Third generation machine (Therac-6, Therac-20)

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Therac-25 : What happened? Normal radiation treatments: 6,000 rads over a 3 week period, under certain conditions Therac-25 was delivering 60,000 rads during one session. Accidents 3 June 1985 – patient in Marietta GA received overdose 26 July 1985 – patient in Hamilton ONT severely burned. Died November 1985 December 1985 – patient in Yakima WA receives overdose 21 March 1986 – Tyler TX accident, patient died later 11 March 1986 – second T accident, patient died 1 month later 17 January 1987 – Second Yakima WA accident

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Therac-25: What went wrong? Paradigm Shift Therac-25 replaced expensive hardware safety interlocks with software controls Real-time software Design Race condition caused focusing element to be incorrectly set No indication of actual hardware settings Error messages appeared the same regardless of how important Error messages were difficult to understand All errors messages could be manually overridden

©2001 Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville All rights reserved. Therac-25: What went wrong? Lack of experience and overconfidence in software controls No user involvement in design or testing Insufficient testing Poor error messages Lack of visibility of hardware settings Lack of constraints Affordance of overrides Poor documentation