Group Work (read the group policy on main project page)

 

NOTE: THIS IS A GROUP ASSIGNMENT using the group you were assigned to in class (everyone in the same group will be assigned the same score) - SEE GROUP POLICY ON our MAIN PROJECT PAGE.

 

Due: March 27, 11pm (see deliverables below)

Points 60 (5 points proposal + 55 points assignment)

Evaluation Guidelines (see rubric on Canvas)

Goal: Understanding real-world computer ethics cases and interpreting them in terms of your personal & professional codes of ethics. An important purpose of this course is to enable the students to develop analysis skills to make decisions on ethical issues that may arise related to computer systems that you develop and implement in the future. An effective way to do that is to analyze real scenarios that present ethical case studies.

Assignment:: Read and discuss a case study in which a computer professional has a difficult choice to make. Evaluate in 4 parts listed below.

 

Important: This must be a real case, one that has been tried with a verdict that is public (not privately mediated). In both your case proposal AND the final report one of the references must include a link to the full court case documents.

 

Writing Expectations: read the information on citation requirements &writing help

Reports will be graded on  both qualitative and quantitative narrative description/details, the strength of your argumentation, and writing style, spelling, and grammar.

• You must write in complete, grammatical English sentences, organized into well-composed paragraphs. No outlines are allowed.

 

 

• CASE PROPOSAL: PICK a case study that has sufficient news posted on it.  I want you to pick a case you are interested in.   There are many famous recent Tech Ethics cases like the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal.   For this case, there are many news articles, videos and even the outcome (fine to Facebook, etc.).  that can be researched. Remember I do not want two groups to choose the same case and it is first post first get. Meaning if group 3 has already posted the Facebook-Cambridge Analytical Scandal, then group 5 can not select this topic. See the Deliverables BELOW for the required content and the location of where to turn this proposal in.
  • SPECIAL NOTE: I want you to pick a court case that has a verdict so that you can fully analyze the case and the court's decision. You can discuss this with me but, I am most probably going to stick to this requirement. I know there are some interesting cases that may have just been filed (not yet tried).

     

    Post the case proposal (first make sure another group has not already selected this case) -to Canvas->Discussion Board-> "PROPOSAL Case Study w/ Personal&Professional Code Ethics". Specifically give the following information:

    • give a one-paragraph description of the case (a miniature version of part 1: case synopsis) AND a minimum of one hypertext link reference that has the entire Court Case documents (not an article about the case, but, the actual court documents) for this case
    • make the title "Group X: case title" for example "Group 3: Cambridge Analytica Facebook Case".
    • REMEMBER this must be an actual case NOT a topic. You should be able to provide a reference that details the court case, not simply newspaper articles.

 

• CASE APPROVAL: see deliverables, one person from the team must come and present the proposal to me during office hours by the date and time in the deliverables (see below)

 

• your discussion in your own words must be a minimum of 1200 words (THIS IS NOT INCLUDING THE CASE STUDY ITSELF OR THE REFERENCE SECTION OR ANY QUOTED TEXT/TABLES) -- THIS must be 100% original writing (by your group).

• MUST be in a pdf format.

• Your report must have the following 5 sections (you must use these section titles as is in your report):

 

Title = "Analysis of XXXX case" (where XX is the name of your case), followed by listing the members of your group and your group number.

PART 1) CASE SYNOPSIS (minimum 400 words)

• Identify Stakeholders - Clearly define stakeholders in the case
• Describe Case - Describe in detail the case and what the issues are as well as the results
  • state the stakeholders' reactions to the actions and decisions of the people in the case based upon their personal ethical framework. You are not graded upon their values, but upon how well you can state them to argue a position related to the scenario.
• References - You must properly CITE your references inside your text (see below part 5 for info on how to do this)
  
  

 

PART 2) PERSONAL ETHICS (minimum 300 words)

• Analyze the case with regard to YOUR personal ethics. all of the actions that were taken, and all of the alternative actions that could have been taken.
• References - You must properly CITE your references inside your text if any are used in this section(see below part 5 for info on how to do this)
  
  
  

  CLARIFICATION: your members in your group may not have the same personal code of ethics. In this case, describe each of the viewpoints and how they differ and why. In the case of differences you can say, "Two members of the group believe Y is true whereas the remaining group member thinks Z is true". THEN go on to say WHY --give references --see IMPORTANT next

  IMPORTANT - while it is easy to just say "The group believes X is true". Try to add support for your viewpoint. For example, you would say "The group believes X is true. This viewpoint is supported by the authors in [***reference***] that discuss how *******". So you are backing up your own personal ethics with cited references of papers/articles/websites/blogs that discuss similar viewpoints.

PART 3) PROFESSIONAL ETHICS (minimum 300 words)

• Using the ACM professional code of ethics analyze the case stating the specific principles/rules from the professional organization's ethics rules/code that apply to the case issues, evidence and outcomes and what the right course of action are based upon that code.
• References - You must properly CITE your references inside your text (see below part 5 for info on how to do this)
  
  

  IMPORTANT: make sure when you are discussing an organization's ethics code to quote/cite certain points/sections of the code. For example, you might say, "In Item 3.2 of the ACM code of ethics [***reference ***] ACM discuss how *******. This can be applied in the case where *****". Now you do not need to use my exact verbiage but, what I am trying to show you is that I want you to be specific and quote certain sections of the professional code of ethics as they apply to the issues you are discussing in your case.

 

PART 4)COMPARE
Finally, you are to compare and contrast the conclusions made in parts 2 and 3 . (minimum 200 words)

• Compare how your personal response(Part 2)is different from the ACM's code of ethics evaluation (Part 3)or how it is the same. If there are differences give reasons WHY your opinion is different and why you believe it is superior. IF the personal and professional ethics are the same, then give an analysis of what you think is the most serious of the infractions.

PART 5) REFERENCES
properly document your references read information on citation requirements &writing help

• You are required to have a minimum of 5 references of which one should be a online link to the actual FULL court documents, another should be a link to the ACM code of ethics. The remaining 3+ references should be used in the report for example to support your opinions in part 2 and to further explain the case in part 1 and to even to support discussion in part 4.
  
  

Please check out the following 1) CSUEB Online Writing Lab and Resources  http://scaa.csueastbay.edu/online-tutoring/online-writing-lab/   2)  CSUEB Student Handouts for (go to English section) and read on Citations examples http://scaa.csueastbay.edu/resources/for-students-handouts/     3) I REQUIRE IEEE citation format. I EXPECT that you cite your references throughout your writing to support your ideas. EXPECT: Using IEEE citation formation you use numbers to indicate references and they appear in order of their citation in your writing like the following:   In [1] a discussion of computers as identities is given with regard to their personal ethics.  ***   AND you list your references at the end like the following REFERENCES: 1.   L. Grewe and J. Shahshahani, "Why Computers are Ethical",  ACM Spectrum, March, 2023.

 

 

 

 

• PROPOSE CASE:: By Feb 14@11pm (this is the latest --you should try to do it earlier so you get the case you want) post the case proposal (first make sure another group has not already selected this case) -to Canvas->Discussion Board-> "PROPOSAL Case Study w/ Personal&Professional Code Ethics". Specifically give the following information:
  • give a one-paragraph description of the case (a miniature version of part 1: case synopsis) AND a minimum of one hypertext link reference that has the entire Court Case documents (not an article about the case, but, the actual court documents) for this case
  • make the title "Group X: case title" for example "Group 3: Cambridge Analytica Facebook Case".
  • REMEMBER this must be an actual case NOT a topic. You should be able to provide a reference that details the court case, not simply newspaper articles.
    
    
    
• SEEK CASE APPROVAL: BY Feb. 23 (end of office hours) someone from your group must come to office hours to seek approval of the case to confirm it is related to technology ethics and has not been taken by another group's previous posting (you should make sure of this before you chose your topic). If your group fails to do this and you choose a case that is not related to tech ethics or a case taken by another group, you will have serious points deducted from your project grade.
  
  
  
• REPORT: Due March 27, 11pm
  • Minimum of original 1200 words (NOT including any quotes or non-original writing or references)
  • Create PDF with the 5 sections above labeled :    Part1: Case Synopsis, Part 2: Personal Ethics, Part 3: Professional Ethics, Part 4: Comparison, Part 5: References
  • Upload as a reply to your proposed case submission in Canvas->Assignments-> "SUBMISSION Case Study w/ Personal & Professional Code Ethics Evaluation"