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Don Gotterbarn, Computing Professionalism: Do Good and Avoid Evil, January 23, 2014

Don Gotterbarn
Software Engineering Ethics Research Institute
ACM Committee on Professional Ethics

Computing Professionalism: Do Good and Avoid Evil…and Why It Is Complicated to Do that in Computing

1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Forcina 408
Pizza will be provided.

Abstract:
Most computing professionals want to avoid evil and to do the right thing. But that isn’t always easy. Sometimes doing the right thing exacts a difficult price from the individual professional. Other times, it is difficult to know exactly what the right thing is.
In this presentation, we will try to help with both problems. Difficulties with these two problems contribute to failed systems, derailed projects, and significant negative impacts on society. We will introduce ways to migrate these risks based on current research in computing, ethics, and psychology.
We will put this into a larger perspective by discussing the international efforts to professionalize computing. These efforts are a mixed blessing, but they point to the importance of professional ethics in computing.
About the speaker:
Don Gotterbarn chairs the ACM Committee on Professional Ethics, and was instrumental in the development of IEEE/ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.
Students who have taken CSC 199 should be familiar with his work.

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