Editorial
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-11-2019-098 |
| Pages | 373-374 |
| Published date | 11 November 2019 |
| Date | 11 November 2019 |
| Author | Simon Rogerson |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology |
Editorial
Computing by everyone for everyone
Computing is no longer the sole domain of professionals, educated and trained through
traditional routes to service public and private sector organisations under paid contracts.
Computing has been democratised with the advent of economically accessible hardware, a
multitude of software tools and the internet. Computing is by everyone for everyone. The
youngest app developerat AppleWorldwide Developers Conference inJune 2019 was Ayush
Kumar, a 10-year-oldboy who started coding when he was 4.
Much effort has been expended in the creation and dissemination of excellent codes of
ethics by many professional bodies allied to computing. The adoption of, adherence to and
effectiveness of such codes in practicalcomputing have to be questioned with the continued
occurrence of so many system failures and also illegal activitiesthat occur leading to public
outcry. Even though the codes of ethics exist, why is it that significant unethical activity
within computing remains? IT development is a global activity about which IDC
periodically produces surveys. The IDC survey of 2018 found that there were, worldwide,
18,000,000 professional software developers and 4,300,000 additional hobbyists. The
combined membership of leading professionalbodies, ACM, ACS, BCS and IFIP (assuming
no joint memberships which in practicewill not be the case), represents only 3.09 per cent of
that global total. This suggests that, on the basis of statistics, professional bodies allied to
computing and their adoptedcodes of ethics have little influence on practical computing. Of
course, this argument does not takeinto account the nature and importance of the systems
developed and who is developing them. Nevertheless, from these statistics, it is clearthat a
large global population needs to engage in a new form of dialogue regarding the ethics of
practical computing.This might include, for example, accessible exemplars of good and bad
practice, interactive case analyses of failed systems and a universal charter for computing,
which would be the foundation of computingeducation from the start of a child’s education
through to becoming a computing practitioner. Codes of ethics are important, as they
provide the detail on which sound computing strategies can be planned and implemented.
However, to suggest, thesealone can be used to resolve unethical computing practice is folly.
A new approach which engages all members of society is needed. Why? Because society is
now computing dependent and anyone can develop computing systems which might be
used by thousands, if not millions, of people. Impacts, whether positive or negative, spread
rapidly and are very difficultto reverse.
IT application, research, innovation, availability and use are affected by three types of
drivers. There are top-down drivers which are typically impositions by bodies of authority
which dictate where resources should be placed to achieve some overall goal. Bottom-up
drivers emanate typically from grassroots collective action resulting in a widespread
change. Middle-out drivers involve all those within, for example an organisation, who are
empowered to initiate change, support it, propose new ideas and innovate. These drivers
affect attitudes and societal norms. Indeed, the amalgam of top-down, middle-out and
bottom-up drivers leads to a complex situation where the attitude and behaviour of
individuals and collectives involved in IT are highly influential in the delivery of socially
acceptable IT. Therefore, with each passing day, information ethics becomes more
important, as it is that whichsteers in an ethical direction for all those involved in IT.
Millennials and post millennials, who now represent around halfof the global workforce,
are key bottom-up drivers because they, as citizens, have grown up with technology and
Editorial
373
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.17 No. 4, 2019
pp. 373-374
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-11-2019-098
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