1. You must do better: The Need for Professionalism in Computing Blay Whitby Lecturer in Computer Science and AI School of Science and Technology University of Sussex blayw@sussex.ac.uk

2. A Story Jack Binns 22.01.1909 The Republic (1650)

3. A Story Jack Binns 22.01.1909 The Republic (1650) Thomas Andrews 14.04.1912

4. A Story Jack Binns 22.01.1909 The Republic (1650) Thomas Andrews 14.04.1912 The Titanic (1503)

5. Any lessons for us? Technological arrogance can be dangerous. Usually, only the technologically competent can understand the limitations of a technology. ‘Hyping’ your technology may look commercially important in the short-term. However…

6. Any lessons for us? The law may be a poor guide to good practice - particularly in new technologies and applications. It is important to point out the limitations of a technology as well as its advantages.

7. How does computing measure up? Project failures Usability Reliability None of these is sufficient alone but taken together…

8. Problems with I.T. Projects KPMG: ‘more than half companies surveyed’ NAO: ‘about 60% fail to meet requirements’ in government sector. Standish Group - ‘Only 16.2% on-time and on-budget’. How should we interpret this data?

9. Flying Lessons Blaming the user is always easy and always worthless. Incidents, accidents, and failures don’t have single causes. Categorization matters. It is best to collect wide-ranging data by constant monitoring before looking at a particular problem.

10. Reliability Moore’s Law, M25 Syndrome, and laziness. Safety-critical techniques. Therac-25 1985-7 >3deaths LAS Despatch system 1992 circa 20 deaths. Software permanence and maintenance. Software arbitrariness.

11. The case for professionalism (1) The ‘self interest case’ Both the BCS and IEEE are actively promoting professionalism in the UK. Cowboy traders devalue the market for everybody. If people within the industry do not act then others will.

12. The case for professionalism (2) The ‘moral case’ Moral duties simply override expediency - including the need for profit. Software designers can (and probably do) send important signals to society at large. We ought to do better.

13. The case against professionalism Other professional bodies (eg. The Law Society, BMA) exist to secure the interests of their members, not society at large. Codes give practitioners a set of excuses for not thinking about difficult questions.

14. The case against professionalism The field is moving too fast -any restrictions will be out of date. It might be better to teach undergrads (and others) about social implications. Nobody will pay attention until there is government legislation.

15. The Legal approach 1. ‘It’s all up to the government, really’ What do governments know about IT? Track record - DPA, CMA, CDA. This may turn out to be very restrictive for the IT industry.

16. The Legal approach 2. ‘Wait till a few cases come to court, then decide.’ How many people have to die? What do lawyers know about computing? How will they find out? This could be very restrictive for the IT industry.

17. What would more professionalism look like? Entrance qualifications? Accreditation? Adherence to a code? Legal restrictions? Even will all the above in place there still remains the question of a ‘professional attitude’ to one’s work. There are difficult ethical questions posed by the use of modern computer technology. NB. There are about 500,000 people employed in the UK IT industry yet membership of the BCS is around 40,000