Computer Ethics Exam 3
Employer restrictions on nonwork social media
do not violate employee's freedom of speech (unless, in some cases, when the employer is the government)
A successful technology...
eliminates or reduces some jobs but creates others
Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA)
first addressed interception of conversations using "hardline" telephones (landlines) but was extended to prohibit interception of email and reading stored email without a court order, but makes an exception for business systems courts put heavy weight on the fact that computers, mail, and phone systems are owned by the employer who provides them for business purposes
Need for responsible judgement: Wisdom of the crowd
ratings by public of Web site - Problems of unreliable information are not new - The Web magnifies the problems - Rating systems are easy to manipulate - However, research finds that crowds do, in fact, generate good answers to certain kinds of questions (average/most common answers is often a good one) o some researchers think that a large, independent group is likely to be more accurate than a committee of experts for a wide variety of questions (e.g. estimating economic growth or how well a new product/movie will do)
Digital divide
refers to the fact that some people have access to computers and information technology while others do not
One of the sources of failure common to BOTH the Therac-25 and the Ariane 5 rocket was
reuse of software from previous versions of the systems
The National Labor Relation Board (NLRB)
sets rules and decides cases about worker-employer relations.
Loose structure
should be easy for a designer or programmer to speak to people in other depts or higher up without going through rigid channels that discourage communication
Ken Olson, president of Digital Equipment Corp. in the late 1970's, Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM in the early 1940's, and Thomas Edison all made predictions about technology that were extremely wrong. Which of the following explains why the predictions of experts are often so far off?
(All of these) -Lack of imagination about what the public would pay for -Lack of imagination about the uses people would find for technology -Lack of imagination about what the public would like
Which of the following reasons for monitoring email, voice mail, and computer files is considered legal?
(All of these) -Protect security of proprietary information and data -Prevent personal use of employer facilities if prohibited by company policy -Investigate complaints of harassment
Which of the following is NOT a Neo-Luddite criticism of computers?
(None of these) -Computers cause social inequity -Computers separate humans from nature and destroy the environment -Use of computers in schools thwarts development of social skills
Job creation and destruction Successful technology and new industries
*A successful technology eliminates or reduces some jobs but creates others* - Reduces need for telephone operators, meter readers, mid-level managers *New industries arise* - Internet - Cellular communications
Help America Vote Act
- 2002 - passed by Congress - goal: to make sweeping reforms to the nation's voting process - authorized $3.8 billion to improve voting systems, which often meant replacing paper ballots with electronic systems
Bugs in software
- Allowed beam to deploy when table not in proper position - Ignored changes and corrections operators made at console
Evaluating Computer Models
- How well do the modelers understand the underlying science or theory? - Models necessarily involve assumptions and simplifications of reality. - How closely do the model's results or predictions correspond with the results from physical experiments or real experience?
Safety-critical applications
- Identify risks and protect against them - Convincing case for safety (for ethical decision-maker, policy should be to suspend or delay system use in absence of convincing case for safety rather than proceeding in absence of a convincing case for disaster) - Avoid complacency - Explore ambiguous risks (just because something wasn't an issue before doesn't mean that's always true)
Increasing Reliability and Safety (Professional Techniques)
- Importance of good software engineering and professional responsibility - User interfaces and human factors - Redundancy and self-checking - Testing (include real world testing with real users) - Management and communication (including the ability to communicate with higher-ups about issues found) - High reliability organization (HRO) principles (preoccupation with failure and loose structure)
Accomplishments of technology
- Increased life expectancy - Elimination or reduction of many diseases (including typhoid, smallpox, dysentery, plagues, and malaria) - Increased standard of living (in the early 2000s, Americans spent less than 10% of family income on food compared to 47% in 1901 -- the introduction of new forms of wheat and crop management in India increased crop yield; US production of 17 most important crops increased but used fewer acres) - Assistive technologies for those with disabilities
Inaccurate and misinterpreted data in databases
- Large population where people may share names - Automated processing may not be able to recognize special cases - Overconfidence in the accuracy of data - Errors in data entry - Lack of accountability for errors
Specifications
- Learn the needs of the client - Understand how the client will use the system
Accidents occurred on other radiation treatment equipment without computer controls when the technicians:
- Left a patient after treatment started to attend a party - Did not properly measure the radioactive drugs - Confused micro-curies and milli-curies
Need for responsible judgement: Vulnerable viewers
- Less educated individuals - Children
Making Decisions About Technology A Few Observations
- Limit the scope of decisions about the development of new technology - Decentralize the decision-making process and make it noncoercive, to reduce the impact of mistakes, avoid manipulation by entrenched companies who fear competition, and prevent violations of liberty - Fundamental problem is not *what* decision to make about a certain technology, but rather it is to select a decision-making *process* most likely to produce what people want, to work well despite the difficulty in predicting consequences, to respect the diversity of personal opinions about what constitutes a desirable lifestyle and to be relatively free of political manipulation
Nature and human life styles
- Luddites argue that technology has made no important improvements in life - Many debates about the environment set up humans-versus-nature dichotomy, though this isn't the true conflict - Whether a computing device is "good," by a human-centered standard, depends on whether it meets our needs, how well it does so, at what cost, and how well it compares to alternatives
Nature and human life styles (ludittes) OKSANA'S
- Luddites argue that technology has made no important improvements in life. - Many debates set up a humans-versus-nature dichotomy. - Whether a computing device is "good," by a human- centered standard, depends on whether it meets our needs, how well it does so, at what cost, and how well it compares to alternatives.
Risk and Progress
- Many new technologies were not very safe when they were first developed - We develop and improve new technologies in response to accidents and disasters - We should compare the risks of using computers with the risks of other methods and the benefits to be gained
Therac-25 Radiation Overdoses
- Massive overdoses of radiation were given; the machine said no dose had been administered at all - Caused severe and painful injuries and the death of three patients - Important to study to avoid repeating errors - Manufacturer, computer programmer, and hospitals/clinics all have some responsibility
Therac-25: Observations and Perspective
- Minor design and implementation errors usually occur in complex systems; they are to be expected - The problems in the Therac-25 case were not minor and suggest irresponsibility
Weizenbaum argued against developing speech recognition technology
- Mistaken expectations of costs and benefits - Should we decline a technology because of potential abuse and ignore the benefits? - New technologies are often expensive, but costs drop as the technology advances and the demand increases
Failures and Errors in Computer Systems
- Most computer applications are so complex it is virtually impossible to produce programs with no errors - The cause of failure is often more than one factor - Computer professionals must study failures to learn how to avoid them and to understand the impacts of poor work
Redundancy and self-checking
- Multiple computers capable of same task; if one fails, another can do the job. - Software modules can check their results either against a standard or by computing the same thing in two different ways and comparing results - Voting redundancy aims to protect against consistently faulty assumptions or methods of one programming team. 3 independent teams write modules for the same purpose in 3 different programming languages. The modules run on 3 separate computers while a 4th unit examines the outputs and chooses the results obtained by at least 2 of the 3.
Changing Skills and Skill Levels
- New products and services based on computer technology create jobs in design, marketing, manufacture, sales, customer service, repair, and maintenance - New jobs created from computers are different from the jobs eliminated - New jobs such as computer engineer and system analyst require a college degree, whereas jobs such as bank teller, customer service representative and clerk do not - Companies are more willing to hire people w/o specific skills when they can train new people quickly and use automated support systems -Normally, as demand for new skills increases, people acquire them. But some jobs go unfilled due to lack of qualified applicants (e.g. engineering and other high-tech fields)
Trends in Computer Access
- New technologies only available to the wealthy - The time it takes for new technology to make its way into common use is decreasing - Cost is not the only factor; ease of use plays a role - Entrepreneurs provide low cost options for people who cannot otherwise afford something - Government funds technology in schools - As technology becomes more prevalent, the issues shift from the haves and have-nots to level of service
System Failures: Legacy systems
- Out-of-date systems still in use - Often have specific interfaces, conversion software and other adaptions to make them interact with modern systems - Reliable but inflexible - Expensive to replace - Little or no documentation
A Global Workforce
- Outsourcing - Offshoring - Inshoring o Almost 5% of US workers are employed by foreign companies
Abdicating responsibility
- People willing to let computers do their thinking - Reliance on computer systems over human judgment may become institutionalized/the default (if a business or govt organization puts their reliance on the computer system and the system has an error, then they don't know what to do) - Fear of having to defend your own judgment if something goes wrong
Electronic identification badges that serve as door keys
- Provide increased security - Allow monitoring of employee movement - Allow use of printers and other machines
Therac-25: Software and Design problems
- Re-used software from older systems, unaware of bugs in previous software - Weaknesses in design of operator interface (allowed people to enter values higher than they thought they would be) - Inadequate test plan - Bugs in software o allowed beam to deploy when table not in proper position o ignored changes and corrections operators made at console
Benefits of Telecommuting
- Reduces overhead for employers (don't need to pay for electricity, water, an office for you) - Reduces need for large offices - Employees are more productive, satisfied, and loyal - Reduces traffic congestion, pollution, gasoline use, and stress - Reduces expenses for commuting and money spent on work clothes - Allows work to continue after blizzards, hurricanes, etc. - Flexibility to spend more time with family (Dr. Works' personal anecdote)
Monitoring employer systems
- Roughly half of major companies in U.S. sometimes monitor the email or voice mail of their employees on company systems. - Most companies monitor infrequently, some routinely intercept all email. - Many major companies use software tools that provide reports on employee Web use. - Employees spend time on nonwork activities on the Web - Some companies block specific sites (e.g. adult content, sports sites, job search sites, social-network sites) - Purposes of monitoring employee communications include training, measuring or increasing productivity, checking compliance with rules for communication, and detecting behavior that threatens the employer in some way. - Concerns over security threats such as viruses and other malicious software - Concerns about inappropriate activities by employees (e.g., harassment, unprofessional comment)
Job creation and destruction Are we earning less?
- Since 1970s, wages decreased but fringe benefits increased (fringe benefits are benefits beyond a salary, like a company car, an expense account, or health insurance) - People work fewer hours since Industrial Revolution - Decrease in take-home pay may be due to other factors (e.g. increased taxes) - Purchasing power increases as prices fall
Job Creation and destruction (Oksana's)
- Since the 1970s, wages decreased but fringe benefits increased - People work fewer hours since the Industrial Revolution - Decrease in take-home pay may be due to other factors (e.g. increased taxes) - Purchasing power increases as prices fall
System Failures: Abandoned systems
- Some flaws in systems are so extreme that the systems are discarded after wasting millions, or even billions, of dollars in the development - Software expert Robert Charette estimates that 5-15% of IT projects are abandoned before or soon after delivery as hopelessly inadequate
System Failures: Airports in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur
- Systems that failed were designed to manage everything from moving 20,000 pieces of luggage per hour to coordinating and scheduling crews to assigning flight gates - Failures were blamed on people typing incorrect info - Comprehensive systems failed because designers did not adequately consider potential for user input error - Any system with a large number of users and a lot of user input must be designed and tested to handle input mistakes
System Failures: Voting Systems
- Technical failures - Programmers or hackers rigging software to produce inaccurate results. - Vulnerability to viruses _Examples_: losing votes bc machine's memory was full, programming error generating extra votes or causing candidates to receive votes cast for someone else
What goes wrong?
- The jobs computer systems do are inherently difficult (they contain complex communication networks and interconnected subsystems) - Simple typo in a computer program can cause a dramatic difference in behavior - Job can be done poorly at any of the many stages from system design and implementation to system management and use - Design and development problems - Management and use problems - Misrepresentation, hiding problems and inadequate response to reported problems - Insufficient market or legal incentives to do a better job
User interfaces and human factors
- The user needs feedback to understand what the system is doing at any time. - The system should behave as an experienced user expects. - A workload that is too low can be dangerous
Reasons to monitor employee communications
- To protect security of proprietary information and data - To prevent or investigate employee's possible criminal activities - To check for violations of company policy against sending offensive or pornographic messages - To investigate complaints of harassment - To comply with legal requirements in heavily regulated industries (e.g. HIPPA in the medical field) - To prevent personal use of employer's facilities (if prohibited by company policy) - For training and measuring or increasing productivity - To locate employees - To find information when an employee isn't available - To ensure employees are working the hours they are paid to work
GPS tracks an employee's location
- Used in some hospitals to track nurse locations for emergency purposes, also shows where they are at lunch or when they use the bathroom - Used to track long-haul trucks to reduce theft and optimize delivery schedules, also detects driving speeds and duration of rest breaks Employees often complain of loss of privacy
Reuse of software: France's Ariane 5 rocket and "No Fly" lists
- Veered off course and was destroyed as a safety precaution (a $500 million mistake) - Rocket used software that worked correctly in earlier model, but the newer rocket was faster, which threw off the velocity calculations - It is essential to reexamine the specifications and design of the software, consider implications and risks for the new environment, and retest the software for the new use.
Why models may not be accurate
- We might not have complete knowledge of the system we are modeling. - The data describing current conditions or characteristics may be incomplete or inaccurate. - Computing power may be inadequate for the complexity of the model. - It is difficult, if not impossible, to numerically quantify variables that represent human values and choices.
System Failure: Galaxy IV Satellite
- When a Galaxy IV satellite computer failed, many systems we take forgranted stopped working (pager service stopped for ~85% of users in US, including hospitals and police dept, airlines that got weather information from the satellite had to delay flights, gas stations couldn't verify credit cards) - Some services quickly switched to other satellites or backup systems but took days to restore others
Telecommuting (aka mobile work, remote work, telework)
- Working at home using a computer electronically linked to one's place of employment instead of commuting to an employer's office - Mobile office using a laptop, working out of your car or at customer locations - Fulltime and part-time telecommuting
Need for responsible judgement: Wikipedia
- Written by volunteers, some posts are biased and not accurate - Although anyone can write, most people do not - Those that do typically are educated and experts - People worry that lack of editorial control means no accountability, no way for ordinary person to judge the value of the information and no quality standards
Preoccupation with failure
- acknowledgment of the high-risk, error-prone nature of an organization's activities and the determination to achieve consistently safe operations - always assuming something can go wrong - not just planning, designing and programming for all problems the team can foresee but always being aware that they might miss something - being alert to cues that might indicate an error - fully analyzing near-failures, looking for systemic reasons for an error failure rather than narrowly focusing on the detail that went wrong
Personal social media
- basing disciplinary action on personal, nonwork social media is more controversial because it extends employer control beyond the workplace - content in social media is often widely distributed; thus impact is stronger than that of a private conversation
Luddite
- burned factories and mills in England in 1811-1812 in an effort to stop the new technologies and social changes that were eliminating their jobs. Many were weavers who worked at home on small machines. They were called Luddites. - now refers to someone who is against the introduction of new equipment, working methods, etc i.e. a person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology/technological progress
Bill Joy
- co-founder of Sun Microsystems who warned of the dangers of advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and robotics in his essay, "Why the Future Doesn't Need Us," including possibly the extinction of the human race - argued these technologies are more dangerous (than, say, nuclear weapons) because they can self-replicate and won't require rare and expensive raw materials and huge factories or labs
Which of the following occupations can sometimes cause Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI)?
(All of these) -musician -computer programmer -sign-language interpreter for the deaf
Peter Denning
- computer scientist - although technology doesn't drive humans to adopt new practices, it shapes space of possibilities in which they can act -people are drawn to technologies that expand the space of their actions and relationships - people adopt technologies that give them more choices (more actions and relationships, not more choices of consumer products)
Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS)
- computers in some airplanes prevent certain pilot actions - US and European pilots now trained to follow TCAS instructions, even if they conflict with air traffic controller's instructions
Offshoring
- def: the practice of moving business processes or services to another country, especially overseas, to reduce costs - offshoring skilled work (knowledge work) has increased drastically, raising concerns about loss of high-paying jobs among middle class - in some fields, a reason for offshoring is that there aren't enough trained professionals in the US
Examples of computer modelling
- designing safer cars - weather forecasting - building better bridges - running a business (can help predict future profits) - training pilots to fly a plane
Separating -- or merging -- work and personal communications
- employers often prohibit employees from using their work email, computers, and other devices for personal use o content in personal messages sent from employer's address could embarrass employer or subject it to legal problems o want to avoid the embarrassment of employees job-hunting or visiting sites containing porn or racist material o in govt agencies, email is part of the official record (subject to public disclosure) so some public officials use personal email to keep communications off the record (which they aren't supposed to do) - what about employees using personal email accounts, social media, laptops, smartphones, and other devices for work? o overhead of managing and maintaining systems to work with variety of brands and operating systems o security of company information and operations
High Reliability Organizations (HROs)
- entities or businesses with systems in place that are exceptionally consistent in accomplishing their goals and avoiding potentially catastrophic errors - organizations that operate in difficult environments, often with complex technology, where failure can have extreme consequences (air traffic control, nuclear power plants)
IV&V
- independent company or team (not the programmers or the customers) tests and validates the software - helpful because: 1. developers and designers think they thought of and solved potential problems; they test for problems they already considered 2. consciously or subconsciously, the people who created the system may be reluctant to find flaws in it
Need for responsible judgement: narrowing the information stream
- more than 60% of US adults get news from social media, which raises questions of political bias and influence
Beta testing
- near-final stage of testing - selected set of customers use a complete, presumptuously well-tested system in their "real world" - can detect device limitations and bugs that designers, programmers and testers missed - can uncover confusing aspects of user interface and problems that occur when interacting with other systems
User interfaces should:
- provide clear instructions and error messages - be consistent - include appropriate checking of input to reduce major system failures caused by typos or other errors a person will likely make
Uses of computer models
- test a system w/o having to build in real-life (which can be expensive and take a long time) - predict what might happen to a system in the future - train people w/o putting them at risk (e.g. flight simulation) - investigate a system in detail (model can be zoomed in/out or rotated, can stop/rewind time)
Moore's Law
- the computing power of new microprocessors doubles roughly every 18 to 24 months - true for nearly 50 years - now the electronics on chips are so small that problems in quality manufacturing and problems related to the laws of physics slowed the process - doubling computing power now takes b/n 2.5 to 3 years
Learning About Job Applicants
- web and social media provide new means of information collection on job applicants, so some job-seekers try to clean up their online persona Employers: - search online newsgroups and social networks - hire data-collection agencies - use a variety of screening methods to efficiently reduce a large pool of applicants to a reasonable number - about 70% of employers use social media to screen job candidates - about 43% use social media to check on current employees
Digital Divide
- worldwide gap giving advantage to those with access to technology - refers to the fact that some groups of people regularly use the various forms of modern information technology while others don't and can't - in 1990, PCs cost 10% of average US household income and only 22% of US households owned a computer - access in rural and remote regions lagged access in cities - black and hispanic households were about half as likely as general population to own computer - poor children had little access to computers in school and at home - only 10% of internet users in early 1990s were women - people over 65 rarely used computers - by 2015, 92% of adults in US owned a mobile phone and 67% had a smartphone
A Global Workforce Ethics of Hiring Foreign Workers
- you can hire programmers in another country at a lower salary than programmers in your country, but should you? - are you taking advantage of foreign programmers, exploiting them by paying them less than US programmers? - some believe it's unfair to US and foreign programmers that foreign programmers get the jobs by charging less - others argue that paying higher rate for US programmers is wasteful, charity, or over-payment
Need for responsible judgement: expert information or 'wisdom of the crowd'?
-Daunting amount of information on the web, much of this information isn't correct - search engines are replacing librarians, but websites are ranked by popularity, not by expert evaluation - wisdom of the crowd - ratings by public of websites o if millions participate, the results will be useful
In government agencies, email is part of the official record and not subject to public disclosure (with some exceptions).
False
Legacy systems are typically reliable and flexible.
False
Overall, telecommuting reduces productivity, but decreases overhead for employers.
False
Providing new technology to poor countries is a matter of having enough money to buy equipment.
False
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) prohibits employers from intercepting and reading employees' stored email on company systems.
False
The term "Luddite" is a description for people who support technological progress
False
Which of the following is NOT a purpose of monitoring employee communications?
Initiate complaints of harassment
The practice of companies in other countries employing people in the U.S. is known as:
Inshoring
Reasons Robert Charette cites IT projects are abandoned before or soon after delivery:
Lack of clear, well-thought-out goals and specifications Poor management and poor communication among designers, programmers, customers, and other project stakeholders Institutional or political pressures that encourage unrealistically low bids, unrealistically low budget requests, and underestimates of time requirements User of very new technology, with unknown reliability and problems, perhaps for which software developers have insufficient experiences and expertise Refusal to recognize or admit that a project is in trouble
Job creation and destruction Effect of lower prices
Lower prices increase demand and create jobs - Music industry changed from serving the wealthy to serving the masses, employing more than just musicians
The practice of hiring companies or employees in other countries is known as:
Offshoring
Criminal and civil penalties
Provide incentives to produce good systems, but shouldn't inhibit innovation
Fears
The introduction of computers in the workplace generated many fears: - Mass unemployment due to increased efficiency - Need for increased skill and training widens earning gap New trends still generating fears: - Offshoring of jobs will lead to mass unemployment - Employers use of technology to monitor their employees
What is the purpose of technology? (Ludittes)
To Luddites, it is to eliminate jobs to reduce cost of production suggests massive unemployment, profits for capitalists, and a poorer life for most workers.
U.S. and European pilots are now trained to follow Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) instructions even if they conflict with instructions from an air traffic controller.
True
Therac-25
a computer-controlled radiation treatment machine
One Laptop per Child
a nonprofit organization that supplies an inexpensive laptop computers designed for elementary school children in developing countries
Computer model
computer program that attempts to simulate a real-life system (i.e. a 'virtual' version of something in the real-world)
Example of something difficult to model
climate change, because of its complexity
The Global Divide and the Next Billion Users
- Approximately two billion people worldwide have access to the Web, a fivefold increase over roughly a decade. Approximately five billion do not use the Internet. - Non-profit organizations and huge computer companies are spreading computer access to people in developing countries. (ex: one laptop per child) - Bringing new technology to poor countries is not just a matter of money to buy equipment; PCs and laptops must work in extreme environments. - Some people actively working to shrink the digital divide emphasize the need to provide access in ways appropriate to the local culture.
System Failures: Denver Airport
- Baggage system failed due to *real-world problems* (scanners that were to track cart locations got dirty or knocked out of alignment and couldn't detect carts, faulty cart latches caused luggage to fall into tracks between stops), *problems in other systems* (electrical system couldn't handle power surges associated with baggage system) and *software errors* (routed carts to waiting pens when they were actually needed) Main causes: - Time allowed for development was insufficient - Denver made significant changes in specifications after the project began
Failures and Errors in Computer Systems (Problems for Individuals)
- Billing errors - Inaccurate and misinterpreted data in databases o Large population where people may share names o Automated processing may not be able to recognize special cases o Overconfidence in the accuracy of data o Errors in data entry o Lack of accountability for errors
Are We Too Dependent on Computers?
- Computers are tools - They are not the only dependence o ex: when the electricity goes out, we find other means
Criticisms of Computing Technologies (Neo-Luditte)
- Computers cause massive unemployment and de-skilling of jobs. - Computers "manufacture needs"; we use them because they are there, not because they satisfy real needs. - Computers cause social inequity - Computers cause social disintegration; they are dehumanizing. They weaken communities and lead to isolation of people from each other. - Computers separate humans from nature and destroy the environment. - Computers benefit big business and big government the most. - Use of computers in schools thwarts development of social skills, human values, and intellectual skills in children. - Computers do little or nothing to solve real problems.
Problems and side effects of offshoring
- Consumers complain about customer service representatives, because accents are difficult to understand - Employees in U.S. companies need new job skills (e.g., managing, working with foreign colleagues) - Increased demand for high-skill workers in other countries forces salaries up (e.g. several US companies competing for software engineers in India drives Indian salaries up and makes offshoring more expensive for the US)
Law and cases for employer systems
- Courts have ruled against monitoring done to snoop on personal and union activities or to track down whistle blowers. - Court decisions sometimes depend on whether an employee had a reasonable "expectation of privacy." - Many employers have privacy policies regarding email and voicemail - role of NLRB
Law, Regulation, and Markets
- Criminal and civil penalties - Regulation for safety-critical applications - Professional licensing (arguments for and against) - Taking responsibility
Views of Economics, Nature, and Human Needs
- Difference in perspective between Luddites and non-Luddites - to Luddites, the purpose of technology is to eliminate jobs to reduce the cost of production - to non-Luddites (people who are for technology), the purpose of technology is to reduce efforts needed to produce goods and services - while both statements say nearly the same thing, the first suggests massive unemployment, profits for capitalists, and a poorer life for most workers. The second suggests improvements in wealth and standard of living
The Difficulty of Prediction
- Each new technology finds new and unexpected uses - The history of technology is full of wildly wrong predictions - Weizenbaum (German-American computer scientist who was concerned about the negative effects of computers, particularly with military use of computers) argued against developing speech recognition technology
Employee monitoring is not new
- Employers have always monitored their employees - Degree of detail and frequency of monitoring has varied depending upon kind of work, economic factors, and available technology. (Time-clocks and logs.) - Early monitoring was mostly 'blue-collar' (factory) and 'pink-collar' (telephone and clerical) jobs - Bosses patrolled the aisles watching workers - Output counts at the end of the day
Problems of Telecommuting
- Employers see resentment from those who have to work at the office - For some telecommuting employees, corporation loyalty weakens (since they don't feel as attached to their coworkers) - Odd work hours (may need to interact with people overseas in a different time zone) - Cost for office space has shifted to the employee - Security risks when work and personal activities reside on the same computer
Testing
- Even small changes need thorough testing - Independent verification and validation (IV&V) - Beta testing - Although well-designed testing is important, many cost-conscious managers see it as a dispensable luxury
System Failure: Amtrak
- Failure of reservation and ticketing system during Thanksgiving weekend caused delays since agents didn't have printed schedules or fare lists
But technology has introduced new ways to monitor employees
- GPS tracking (of salesman/repairman vehicles) - software for computer monitoring that shows files accessed, email, web history -- anything you do on your work computer - security cameras (including hidden ones) - swipe cards, which not only allows access to certain places but also logs where you've been (also used for printers so they can see who is using the most paper)
Therac-25: Why So Many Incidents?
- Hospitals had never seen such massive overdoses before, were unsure of the cause - Manufacturer said the machine could not have caused the overdoses and no other incidents had been reported (which was untrue) - The manufacturer made changes to the turntable and claimed they had improved safety after the second accident. The changes did not correct any of the causes identified later - Recommendations were made for further changes to enhance safety; the manufacturer did not implement them. - The FDA declared the machine defective after the fifth accident. - The sixth accident occurred while the FDA was negotiating with the manufacturer on what changes were needed.
Reasons for System Failures
-Lack of clear, well-thought-out goals and specifications - Poor management and poor communication among customers, designers, programmers, etc. - Institutional and political pressures that encourage unrealistically low bids, low budget requests, and underestimates of time requirements - Use of very new technology, with unknown reliability and problems - Refusal to recognize or admit a project is in trouble
One Laptop per Child
> non-profit organization that attempts to close the digital divide by supplying inexpensive laptop computers designed for elementary school children in developing countries - laptop works in extreme heat or cold, extreme humidity and dusty or rainy environments - power requirements are low > success of the program depends on presence of supporting social and technical infrastructures, such as electricity and technical support
According to Nancy Leveson, most accidents are not the result of *A* but rather of *B*
A: unknown scientific principles B: a failure to apply well-known standard engineering practices
Unemployment
has more to do with an economy's ability to adapt to change.
A feature of high reliability organizations is rigid structure.
False
Job creation and destruction Are we earning less? Michael Cox and Richard Alm's Study
To avoid problem of inflation when comparing earnings over time, they looked at direct measures of consumption and leisure - Between 1970 and mid-late 1990s, attendance at operas and symphonies doubled - Average size of new homes increased by > 1/3 - More people attended pro sporting events - Spending on toys quadrupled - From 1970 to 2010, avg # TVs and cars per household increased and % new homes with AC rose from 49 to 88 Main point: we can't base how we're doing on income alone
What is the purpose of technology? (non-Ludittes, people who are for technology)
To non-Luddites, it is to reduce effort needed to produce goods and services. suggests improvements in wealth and standard of living.
In the 1980's, the AFL-CIO advocated a government ban on all computer at-home work.
True
Redundancy and self-checking are often present in safety-critical systems.
True
Roughly half of major companies in the U.S. sometimes monitor the email or voice mail of their employees on company systems.
True
Simplifications and assumptions are always made when designing a computer model.
True
Some people active in movements to shrink the digital divide emphasize the need to provide access in ways appropriate to the local culture.
True
Sweatshop labor is involved in their manufacture is a Luddite criticism of technology
True
Telecommuting is most commonly known as working for an employer at a computer-equipped space in the employee's home.
True
Job creation and destruction Unemployment
Unemployment rates fluctuate - Growth of computers has been steady, while unemployment has fluctuated widely - Unemployment has more to do with an economy's ability to adapt to change
Music industry changes
from serving the wealthy to serving the masses, employing more than just musicians
Neo-Luddites
oppose many forms of modern technology
Outsourcing
phenomenon where a company pays another company for services instead of performing those tasks itself
Technological singularity
point at which artificial intelligence advances so far that we cannot comprehend what lies on the other side
Technological Singularity
point at which artificial intelligence or some combined human-machine intelligence advances so far that we cannot comprehend what lies on the other side - we cannot be prepared for the aftermath, but we must be prepared for more gradual developments - select a decision-making process most likely to produce what people want, to work well despite the difficulty in predicting consequences, to respect the diversity of personal opinions about what constitutes a desirable lifestyle and to be relatively free of political manipulation
Most of the delay in the opening of the Denver International Airport was because of problems with
the baggage handling system
Software now makes decisions that used to require
trained humans (ex: computer programs analyze loan applications and decide which to approve)
Cyberloafing
using the internet at work for personal use (YouTube, music) Key question: Are employees be paid for time they aren't working, or does some personal online activity improve employee moral and efficiency?
Inshoring
when another company employs thousands of people in the U.S. (e.g. offshoring for a German company means inshoring for U.S.) (Almost 5% of U.S. workers are employed by foreign companies)
What goes wrong: Management and use problems
• Data-entry errors • Lack of risk management • Inadequate training of users • Errors in interpreting results or output • Failure to keep information in databases up to date • Overconfidence in software by users • Insufficient planning for failures; no backup systems or procedures • Misrepresentation; hiding problems during use; inadequate response to reported problems
What goes wrong: Design and development problems
• Poor communication with clients resulting in unclear or incorrect requirements • Inadequate attention to potential safety risks • Interaction with physical devices that do not work as expected • Incompatibility of software and hardware, or of application software and the operating system • Not planning and designing for unexpected inputs or circumstances • Confusing user interfaces • Insufficient testing • Reuse of software from another system without adequate checking • Insufficient market or legal incentives to do a better job • Overconfidence in software • Carelessness • Hiding problems during development; inadequate response to reported problems
