Good computing: a pedagogically focused model of virtue in the practice of computing (part 2)

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present a four component model of ethical behavior that integrates literature in moral psychology, computing ethics, and virtue ethics as informed by research on moral exemplars in computing. This is part 2 of a two part contribution, part 1 having appeared in Vol. 6 No. 3. Design/methodology/approach -This psychologically based and philosophically informed model argues that moral action is grounded in relatively stable personality characteristics, guided by integration of morality into the self-system, shaped by the context of the surrounding moral ecology, and facilitated by morally relevant skills and knowledge. Findings -The model seeks to explain the daily successful (and unsuccessful) performance of moral action by computing professionals and to provide groundwork for a pedagogy that emphasizes ethically effective performance.Practical implications -The model has significant implications for how ethical action to computer professionals and other design professionals might be taught. It also makes recommendations about what need to be measured to construct a complete picture of sustained ethical action in a profession. Originality/value -Most accepted models of ethical behavior are unidimensional, emphasizing either principled reasoning or a simplistic model of integrity/character. This model brings together a variety of disparate literatures in the light of its emphasis on sustained moral action in the profession. It thereby provides researchers and educators with a picture of what is needed to construct a complete understanding of moral action in the profession.

Engineering Ethics in Puerto Rico: Issues and Narratives

“…The Colegio oversees who practices engineering in Puerto Rico, coordinates the development of the standards that shape engineering practice, and supports these standards of engineering practice by penalizing those whose performance falls below acceptable levels or even taking them to criminal justice courts. 1 Because the CIAPR has developed and continually refines a code of engineering ethics, it also plays a role in stipulating ethical problems and prescribing how to respond to them.…”

“…Neither is engineering practice. Any description requires identifying different contexts or moral ecologies [1]. This paper will discuss four.…”

What Does Knowledge Have to do with Ethics?

“…But Pincoffs' (1971) early essay casts doubt on this approach to ethics and insists that being ethical is more than responding appropriately to isolated decision problems. Likewise, our recent research on moral exemplars in computing (Huff, Barnard, & Frey, 2008a, 2008b) provides a picture of ethical careers that are not primarily composed of a series of ethical decisions, but instead are constructed over time in response to life goals, organizational and social constraints, and idiosyncratic attachment to particular ethical goals (e.g. help the customer or the handicapped, reform privacy laws or software design standards) (Huff & Rogerson, 2005).…”

“…Moral action is embedded in a social surround that can either support or thwart it. We call this social surround a moral ecology (Huff, Barnard, & Frey, 2008b), or more accurately, a system of interlinked moral ecologies. Countries, cultures, industries, companies, divisions, workgroups, mentorship networks, and professional organizations all have morally relevant expectations and pressures that constrain and sometimes support moral action.…”

“…But compiling a useful, generalizable list has proven more difficult than it sounds. Many have recently contributed to the discussion concerning moral skill sets, and their respective lists of skills differ from one another both in structure and content, despite many common themes (see Huff, Barnard, and Frey 2008b for several lists). Blasi (2005, p. 70) notes that lists of skills tend to be "invariably long … easily extended, and are largely unsystematic."…”