Professional ethics in the information age
| Published date | 13 November 2017 |
| Pages | 348-356 |
| Date | 13 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-11-2016-0045 |
| Author | Oliver Kisalay Burmeister |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology |
Professional ethics in the
information age
Oliver Kisalay Burmeister
School of Computing and Mathematics, Charles Sturt University,
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –Professional ethics is exploredwith three main foci: a critique of codes of conduct and the value
of creating a global code for informationand communication technology (ICT); a critique of ICT professional
certification;and the debate over whether ICT is really a profession.
Design/methodology/approach –This is a conceptual reflection on the current state of the ICT
industryinternationally, informed by the literature.
Findings –Comparedto a mature profession,such as health, ICT is a young profession. This is evidenced in
the disparityof domains of practice,the lack of agreement on universal values governing the industry and the
ongoingdifficulties in creating international certification.
Originality/value –Until now, there hasbeen little recognition of the corporatisation of ICTprofessionals
and the effect that has on their abilityto engage in appropriate professional ethics. More researchis needed to
explore appropriateways in which ethical behaviour can be encouragedin the corporate workplace, including
how professionaldevelopment can be strengthenedthrough building learning organisations.
Keywords Globalisation, Healthcare, Human values, Codes of ethics
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
This paper explores three aspectsof professional ethics. First, a critique of codes of conduct
and the value of creating a global codefor information and communication technology (ICT).
Second, a critique of ICT professional certification, and finally, it explores the debate over
whether ICT is really a profession or simply artisan activity. It achieves this by first
exploring the concept of professionalethics as it relates to ICT, including the related issues
of professional development and how professionalism might be defined. Next, it addresses
those foci by exploring the domainsof ICT, and how they relate to issues of certification and
other forms of professional accreditation. Finally, those foci are answered, based on the
discussion to that point.
Professionalism and ethics
This exploration of professional ethics in the information age begins by reflecting on the
association between professionalism and ethics. A good starting point is to consider more
generally what it means to be professional,using a virtue ethics interpretation. An example
of this is found in a review of the ACM/IEEECode for Software Engineers (Volkman, 2013).
To be a professional is to define one’s self in terms of somethingone professes; professions
are defined in terms of shared values and projects. In light of that, ethical conduct is not
some further duty or extra burden on the professional. For the professional, ethics is not
something added to the job that might conflict with your interests, not somethingyou do in
addition to doing your job or as a constraint on what youwould like to do instead. For the
professional, ethics is just what it means to do your job well on your own terms, the terms
JICES
15,4
348
Received30 November 2016
Revised6 February 2017
Accepted7 February 2017
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.15 No. 4, 2017
pp. 348-356
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-11-2016-0045
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