1. Legal, social and ethical aspects of interactive technologies
Alistair Edwards

2. LSEP
Legal
Social
Ethical
Professional

3. Which decisions have no ethical aspects?
Ethics
What is (are) ethics?
The moral principles by which a person is guided (OED)
Which decisions have no ethical aspects?
None

4. What are Ethics?
Ethics are based on an underlying moral code
That code is culturally dependent
Different philosophical schools imply different codes of ethics

5. What are Ethics?
As well as legal codes there are codes of ethics
Usually applied by organizations

6. Professional codes of ethics
User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA, USA)
User Practitioner Association (UK) ?
British Computer Society (BCS)
British Psychological Society
Ethical Principles for conducting Research with Human Participants

7. Professional codes of ethics
What happens if you break one the code of ethics of an organization you belong to?
err… nothing
You might be expelled from the organization but who cares?

8. There are no hard-and-fast rules
What are Ethics?
There are no hard-and-fast rules
beyond the law
…and even that is subject to judgement
Personal judgements
Cultural differences
Every decision you make has an ethical (values) dimension
Nothing I say today can be taken as definitive

9. Ethics and legality
The legal system reflects the extremes of the moral code
Just because something is legal it is not necessarily ethical
Examples?

10. The legal system reflects the extremes of the moral code
Ethics and legality
The legal system reflects the extremes of the moral code
Just because something is legal it is not necessarily ethical
Examples?
Tax avoidance verses tax evasion

11. Tax avoidance verses tax evasion

12. The legal system reflects the extremes of the moral code
Ethics and legality
The legal system reflects the extremes of the moral code
Just because something is legal it is not necessarily ethical
Examples?
Tax avoidance verses tax evasion
MPs and expenses

13. MPs and expenses

14. The legal system reflects the extremes of the moral code
Ethics and legality
The legal system reflects the extremes of the moral code
Just because something is legal it is not necessarily ethical
Examples?
Tax avoidance verses tax evasion
MPs and expenses
Others?

15. LSEP and ADVT
What are legal, social, ethical and professional considerations with regard to each of the classes in this module?