Mentorship in computer ethics. ETHICOMP as a “community mentor” for doctoral and early career researchers
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-10-2014-0052 |
| Published date | 10 August 2015 |
| Date | 10 August 2015 |
| Pages | 326-345 |
| Author | Catherine Flick |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance |
Mentorship in computer ethics
ETHICOMP as a “community mentor” for
doctoral and early career researchers
Catherine Flick
Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University,
Leicester, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to introduce the concept of ETHICOMP as “community mentor” – the role
that the ETHICOMP conference plays outside the standard conference fare, in which it nurtures and
supports up-and-coming researchers in the eld of computer ethics.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses an auto-ethnographic methodology to
reexively explore the author’s career from PhD student to early career researcher spanning the years
2005-2013, and how the ETHICOMP community has played a signicant role as a mentor in her life. The
literature on mentorship is discussed, particularly focussing on the importance of mentorship for
women in philosophy-related academic careers, and criteria for successful mentorship are measured
against the ETHICOMP “community mentorship”. Additionally, some key philosophical concepts are
introduced and reected upon.
Findings – The paper produces recommendations for other philosophical communities wishing to
grow their mentorship capabilities through communities around conferences.
Originality/value – This paper sheds new light on the concepts of mentorship and the practical
application of mentorship within an academic community. It also provides an account of the value of the
ETHICOMP conference series that is beyond the usual academic output.
Keywords Gender, Community, Diversity, Empathy, Conferences, Mentorship
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
It was only a year into my Computer Science degree at the University of Sydney that I
started my rst part-time job in the industry, back in the very late 1990s. I was a Linux
Systems Administrator for a large recording company, and for a measly amount of pay,
I was expected to do most help-desk tasks (not at all involving Linux) and manage a
small Linux server that hosted the company’s Intranet site. Within that Intranet was a
large amount of very important information, including sensitive nancial records and
personal information of various stars the company had signed to them. Here I was, a
lowly university student, in charge of some potentially very valuable or damaging
information. It was this realisation that led me to an interest in computer ethics, which I
pursued through studying a major in History and Philosophy of Science.
The author wishes to thank the reviewers of the original paper that was submitted to ETHICOMP
Paris for their insightful suggestions that helped develop this paper, as well as the reviewers at
later stages of the paper. The author also wishes to thank the participants in the discussion that
was had after her talk in Paris, and the help from her CCSR colleagues, as these helped form the
philosophical content of this paper. Finally, the author wishes to thank the ETHICOMP
community and the mentors that she has had over the years.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
JICES
13,3/4
326
Received 15 October 2014
Revised 13 January 2015
Accepted 3 March 2015
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.13 No. 3/4, 2015
pp.326-345
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-10-2014-0052
I had no idea that was what I was doing for a long time. I called myself a sociologist
and a philosopher for the more advanced stages of my university days, until I won an
award to study at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) at
Charles Sturt University in the area of Computer Ethics, under the auspices of Professor
John Weckert. Within the rst couple of weeks of starting my degree programme, I was
whisked away to my very rst ETHICOMP, taking the place of an ill CAPPE member.
I had no paper to present, I had no idea what I was doing for my PhD and I knew nobody
there. It was ETHICOMP (2005), in Linköping, Sweden.
ETHICOMP is more than just another conference. Its community is sometimes called
a “family”, and in many ways, it really is. One of the most striking things about the
conference, unlike other conferences I have been to, is that the top thinkers and
researchers who come to ETHICOMP are extremely supportive of terried new PhD
students. For me, in Linköping, it was not until well after the fact that I found that my
very interesting dinner partners were all senior gures in the eld – people who went on
to inspire me greatly in my own studies and aspirations.
In this paper, I introduce the concept of ETHICOMP as “community mentor” – the
role that the ETHICOMP conference plays outside the standard conference fare in which
it nurtures and supports up-and-coming researchers in the eld of Computer Ethics. It is
not any one or two particular members of the ETHICOMP community that play a
particular mentor role, but the community itself – through its inclusivity, the knowledge
that the conference is a “safe space” to test ideas, and other, less formal aspects of the
conference that make it welcoming and supportive.
Here I explore the nature of this “community mentor” role by investigating the
literature surrounding mentorship, particularly in philosophy, including some
denitions of mentorship, the requirements of successful mentorship, particularly at an
early career stage, and the particular nature of mentorship in the academy. I then use my
own progression from new PhD student to Lecturer at the Centre for Computing
and Social Responsibility (CCSR) as the basis for a reective auto-ethnographic
investigation (Ellis et al., 2011) into the effect that ETHICOMP has had on at least one
member of the community. This will take the form of following the timelines of the
ETHICOMP conference series and my participation in the conferences, and my career
progression from 2005 to 2013, reecting on the community’s mentorship in the process.
Naturally, this will be a particularly anecdotal perspective, and will not be rigorous, but
by investigating the issues from a personal perspective, I hope to capture and describe
the unique role that ETHICOMP plays in the computer ethics community and, in doing
so, join in the celebration of the past 20 years of the conference series. Furthermore, I aim
to provide organisers of conferences in similar areas of philosophy and applied
philosophy with an account of how conferences can be supportive, positive experiences
for students and early career researchers through facilitating mentorship, and to outline
some recommendations in line with this.
2. The nature of mentorship
In this section, I will explore the mentorship relationship and some of the literature that
denes and illustrates it. I do not attempt to be exhaustive in this discussion, but to give
some theoretical background to the discussion that will make up the majority of this
paper. It is important to not only establish the concepts that will be discussed, but to
allow for some critique of existing ideas and denitions of successful mentorship.
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Mentorship in
computer
ethics
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