social context of computing csci102 - systems itcs905 - systems mcs9102 - systems
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Social Context of Computing
CSCI102 - Systems
ITCS905 - Systems
MCS9102 - Systems
2
Social Issues
• How does cybertechnology effect:
– Socio-demographic groups
• Social class
• Race
• Gender
– Social and political institutions
• Education
• Government
– Social sectors
• Workplace
3
The Digital Divide
• Information haves and have-nots
• Perceived gap between those with and without access to information tools and the ability to use them
– Divide between nations
– Divide within nations
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The Digital Divide• Global Digital Divide
– 6% of the world population is online• 68% of these in Nth.America & Europe
– 2 billion people live without electricity• ‘net access in developing countries is subject to low
bandwidth, slow access, and prohibitive expenses
– Literacy is low in many countries• Most material on the ‘net is in English
– Former US VP, Al Gore and the GII initiative for universal access
• No real result
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The Digital Divide
• Digital Divide in the USA
– Universal Service vs. Universal Access
• Universal service concept applied to telephony, now to internet access
– Public Education and the Analog Divide
• Access is not only divided on income but on educational levels
• Monahan: Analog divide refers to inequalities that predated the digital technological revolution but continued through
6
The Digital Divide
• Digital Divide as an Ethical Issue
– People denied access to cyber tech are denied access to resources vital for their well-being?
1. Access to knowledge is limited
2. Ability to participate in politics and receive important info is restricted
3. Economic prospects severely limited
– Do we have a moral obligation to bridge the digital divide?
7
Cybertechnology and the Disabled• Tim Berners-Lee, director of W3C:
– “the power of the web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect”
• Disability as a social-construct• Perception of obligation
– Telstra and teletypewriters
– HREOC 1995 discrimination finding
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Race and Cybertechnology
• In USA
– 51% of homes have 1 computer
– 41.5% of homes have ‘net access
– 86.3% of households earning > US$75kpa have access
– 12.7% earning < $15kpa have access
– Internet usage by Racial/Ethnic Group in US
Whites Asian-Americans
African-Americans
Hispanics
46.1% 56.8% 23.5% 23.1%
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Race and Cybertechnology
• Technology, Race & Public Policy
– Studies show web-site developers see little benefit in developing content for minorities
• Since (for example) African-Americans make up a small user percentage, there is little incentive for non-African-Americans to develop material targeted for that audience
10
Race and Cybertechnology
• Rhetoric & Racism
– Exclusion built-in to public policy
• Thoughtlessness:effect of highways running through low-income and minority areas
• Blatant racism:civic design for social engineering
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Gender and Cybertechnology
• Access Issues
– In most societies, women are certainly not actively denied access to cybertechnology but still make up a small and shrinking percentage of industry professionals
• Early education socialization?
– As with racial minorities, lower number of representatives in the owners and creators = lower representation in content and access corridors
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Gender and Cybertechnology
• Gender Bias and Educational Software
– Studies showed that learning programmes designed for cybertechnology matched to a male-stereotype
• Gender Bias and Educational Software
– Most interactive software favours male-physiology
• Females better at colour differentiation
• Males better at depth perception and movement detection
• Due to physical differences in eyes
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Employment and Work
• Job Displacement & Automation
– Cybertechnology has created or displaced jobs?
• Lost in some sectors
• Created in others
• = JOB DISPLACEMENT
– Linked to automation
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Employment and Work
• Robotics & Expert Systems
– Robots capable of multiple tasks
• Low cost
• High productivity
– Expert systems
• A primitive form of AI
• Replacement for experience?
– Mobile Agents
• Commercial agents & online auctions
• Intelligent reactive planners
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Employment and Work
• Virtual Organisations & Remote Work
– Telecommuting
– Office automation
– Anywhere connectivity & PAN leads to
• Virtual organisations
• Virtual teams
• Virtual corporations
– = virtual work ? ;)
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Employment and Work
• Telecommuting may assist the disabled
– Or result in new forms of discrimination
• Restricted to hidden off-site tasks
• Removed from the work society
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Quality of Work Life
• Health and Safety Issues
– VDU radiation
– RSI
– Typists-neck
– Stress
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Quality of Work Life
• Employee Stress, Workplace Surveillance and Computer Monitoring
– The invisible supervisor
– Keystroke capture
– “PC anywhere”
– Email monitoring
– Phone logs
– Video surveillance
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Employee Autonomy and Privacy• Proposal 1: (Marx & Sherizen 1991)
An Ethics for Employee Monitoring– Job related data collection only
– Employers provide advanced notice & mechanisms for appeal
– Verification of machine-collected data prior to it being used for employee evaluation
– Employee access to the data on themselves
– Monetary redress for violation of rights or negative reporting through machine error
– “statute of limitations” on data collected
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Employee Autonomy and Privacy• Proposal 2: (Introna 2001)
An Alternative Strategy
– Employees don’t fear surveillance as such, but the choices their bosses may make based on the data collected
– Asymmetry of power, where employer holds all the power – a concern for workplace justice
– Total privacy -> employee fraud
– Total transparency -> loss of worth, trust & morale
– Need a framework that distributes privacy and transparency
• This is a complex ethical issue
21
CSCI102 Week 2(a)
• Thank you to Bob Brown who prepared the material for this lecture.
• Main Reference:
– Herman T. Tavani. Ethics & Technology: ethical issues in an Age of Information and Communication Technology. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2004.