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doi: 10.1177/089443939000800103pmid: N/A
This paper describes part of a more extensive investigation of the values operating in the development and implementation of expert systems. The data come from a group of beginning knowledge engineers who have participated in a corporate sponsored Intelligent Systems Training Program. As part of the training they were asked to complete a number of stories describing a fictional knowledge engineer encountering a non-technical complication while building an expert system. Of particular concern for this report is a single scenario in which the knowledge engineer encounters a reluctant expert who may be fearing job displacement. The stories are analyzed for insights as to how system builders conceptualize their responsibilities vis-à-vis the expert. This is done by scrutinizing how knowledge engineers define the problem, whose responsibility it is to effect a solution, what kind of solution is adopted and whether the outcome is successful. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for a number of social issues attendant upon the introduction of intelligent computing machines. Keywords: social values, expert systems, ethical issues in computing.
Schofield, Janet Ward; Evans-Rhodes, Debra; Huber, Brad R.
doi: 10.1177/089443939000800104pmid: N/A
This study assessed the impact of utilization of an artificially intelligent geometry proof tutor on classroom social processes. Both teachers' and students' behaviors changed. Teachers devoted more time to their slower students, treated students in a more collegial fashion, and increased their emphasis on effort in grading students. Students showed a marked increase in task-related effort and involvement. This change appeared to be due to an increase both in the students' enjoyment of the class and in the level of peer competition. Keywords artificial intelligence, classroom social behavior, teachers' roles, competition, grading, teacher authority, embarrassment.
doi: 10.1177/089443939000800105pmid: N/A
A gender and race/ethnicity gap exists both m computer experience and computer attitudes. The fact that computer-related activities are seen as white and male may influence and discourage women and minorities from making an academic commitment to careers for which high-technology skills are essential. Through these societal perceptions of computers as white and male, and through related instructional biases in our schools, we may be creating a technological underclass. To understand these differences and to help to try to alleviate them, this study was designed to determine how individuals' attitudes toward computing differ, what roles computers play in their lives, and what issues negatively affect their participation and attitudes. A questionnaire was administered to students at a large public urban university. We found that (i) men have more computer experience, (2) men have more favorable attitudes toward computers—women had significantly less favorable attitude scores, (3) persons of different races or ethnicities have differing computer experience—whites had the most years of experience, Hispanics had the fewest years of experience; (4) attitudes toward computing differ by race and ethnicity Several implications for instruction are drawn from the results. Keywords computers, attitudes toward computing, race/ethnicity differences, gender differences, computing experience.
doi: 10.1177/089443939000800106pmid: N/A
Spreadsheet-based software facilitates multi-criteria decision analysis by allowing (1) many columns for goals to be achieved, (2) many rows for alternatives available for achieving the goals, (3) many cells for showing the relations between goals and alternatives, (4) a capability for determining overall scores for each alternative even with multiple ways of measuring the goals, and (5) a special capability for determining what it would take to bring a second-place or other-place alternative up to first place. Those capabilities in turn help facilitate resolving dilemmas or disputes by arriving at solutions in which each side yields on some goals that are not so important to it and in which a variety of combinations can be developed that will possibly even exceed the best expectations of both sides to an ethical dilemma or dispute. Keywords: representation, ethics, decision-aiding, software, spreadsheets, alternatives, goals, relations, sensitivity analysis, criteria, policies, options, mutual benefit, and super-optimum solutions.
Banks, Martha E.; Ackerman, Rosalie J.
doi: 10.1177/089443939000800107pmid: N/A
Job distributions and salary data m the relatively new field of computers were examined for men and women in three ethnic groups. Significant differences existed in the job levels and salaries among the six ethnic-gender groups. In general, women were over-employed in low-level jobs, whereas men were over-employed in high-level jobs; those patterns did not hold up for all of the ethnic-gender groups. It was noted that median salaries were significantly different among the six ethnic-gender groups. The research design involved (a) the "interaction" between gender and ethnicity, and (b) use of expected representation in the work force, and (c) median salaries as standards, as opposed to selection of a specific ethnic-gender group as the "norm." In future studies, those approaches are recommended because they illustrate actual discriminatory patterns that are masked by "main effect" gender or ethnicity studies. Keywords. gender, ethnicity, employment, computers, black, Hispanic, women.
Ackerman, Rosalie J.; Banks, Martha E.
doi: 10.1177/089443939000800108pmid: 11659900
Special treatments are needed for the rehabilitation of brain-injured patients as well as for other medical illnesses The ethical criteria for outcome are the welfare and positive results in recovery, using multidisciplinary perspectives. Pervasive ethical issues include inappropriately and/or poorly trained rehabilitation practitioners; trends toward replacement of clinicians with computers, exclusion of neuropsychologists from treatment planning and monitoring of cognitive rehabilitation; sociopolitical biases which limit access to treatment; limited vocational goal formulation; overlooking common sources of head injury; violation of patient confidentiality; poorly developed treatment programs, including software, use of standardized psychological tests as training exercises; and unnormed computerized assessment software. This paper addresses the above problems with a focus on brain-injured patients. Solutions are recommended and can be used as a basis for ethical considerations by other disciplines. Recommended ethical approaches are illustrated, using computer-assisted neuropsychological rehabilitation. Keywords brain injured, ethics, rehabilitation, computers, gender, neuropsychological, treatment.
Martin, C. Dianne; Martin, David H.
doi: 10.1177/089443939000800109pmid: N/A
Advancements in computer technology over the past twenty years have created ethical dilemmas and raised questions, some similar to other professions and some unique to the computer field. Therefore we think there is a need to reevaluate the application of ethical principles and establish new guidelines on ethical practices for the computer science profession. Because of the questions that have been raised—and, in some instances, sensational news accounts of computer irregularities, including fraud—there is a growing perception that self-regulation may be the only means by which the computer professional associations will prevent governments from stepping in and regulating the computer profession. This paper discusses the problem from two perspectives. First, the inadequacy of ethical codes of conduct developed by computer professionals is assessed in light of recent reports of computer abuse. Second, the relationship between the professional codes of conduct and computer ethics education is examined. Strategies for incorporating professional ethical codes into the core of computer education curriculum are proposed. Keywords computers and society, codes of conduct, computer science education, ethics, ethics education.
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