1. COASPTD Social and Ethical Issues

2. Collecting Data needs to be free from bias. Bias means that data is unfairly skewed or gives too much weight to a particular result. The accuracy of the collected data is a vital ingredient of an information system. The accuracy of data is dependent on the source of the data and whether it is entered correctly. Data validation techniques used to check the entry of data include range checks, list checks, type checks, and check digits. Copyright is the right to use, copy or control the work of authors and artists. It is against the law to infringe copyright laws. Text of images obtained from a web site should not be used without acknowledgment or permission from the owner. Privacy is the ability of an individual to control personal data. Data collected on individuals is not always accurate. Inaccuracies can be caused by mistakes in gathering or entering data, by mismatch of the data and the person, or by information being out of date. Ergonomics refers to the relationship between people and their work environment. It is the process of designing or arranging workplace, products and systems so that they fit the people who use them.

3. Organizing Current trends in organizing data include the increasing use of the internet and hypermedia. Data is organized and stored using hypertext markup language (HTML). In addition to the growth of the internet, software applications are providing better ways of accessing different types of data. Poorly organized data results in irrelevant information. If a database is poorly defined, it will contain data that is not necessary to solve the problem. It is important that data types be clearly defined for the information to be relevant and accurate. Data must be appropriate and complete. This issue was raised by the threat of the ‘millennium bug’ or ‘Y2K’ problem in the late 1990’s. not considering the end of the millennium, programmers used a two- digit field instead of a four digit field to record the year. With the change from 1999 to 2000, computer programs would be in danger of malfunctioning because they would identify ’00’ as being 99 years before ’99’ instead of the year after. It cost billions of dollars to fix the incompleteness of this data.

4. Analyzing Unauthorized analysis of data occurs when people gain illegal access to an information system. The theft of information and its subsequent analysis is a major concern for any organization. The incorrect analysis of data results in inaccurate information. If data has been poorly organized or an inappropriate model used to represent a situation the analysis will be wrong. It is very costly for and organization to make decisions based on inaccurate information. Privacy is eroded by linking databases for analysis. Most people in pursuit of society’s benefits readily give information about themselves to selected organizations. They can also leave a electronic trail by doing this. If the data sources is combined it can create an accurate picture of a persons habits, expenditure patterns and tastes. Those people can be targeted very precisely by advertisements. This way of combining and analyzing data of a person is known as ‘data warehousing’ or ‘data mining’. Invasion of privacy is not a new problem. It has always been possible for information to fall into the wrong hands.

5. Storing and Retrieving Security of data information is a major issue. The cost of replacing stored data that is deliberately or accidentally damaged is enormous. Data security involves a series of safeguards to protect data, such as passwords, personnel objects, biometric devices, firewalls, data encryption, securing waste, carefully screening employees and having appropriate backup procedures. Unauthorized retrieval of data refers to people gaining illegal access to information systems. These people are called hackers. Hackers are often involved in information theft or financial theft. Their crimes are often not reported due to adverse publicity and are not regarded in the same light as conventional theft.

6. Processing Type of processing raises issues of security and flexibility. It is easier to secure data on one computer rather than on numerous workstations. Therefore centralized processing is more secure that distributed processing. On the other hand, distributed processing is much more flexible and is not totally dependent on one central computer. Ownership of processed data is causing increasing concern in society. Organizations can use our preferences, weaknesses and habits to their commercial advantage. Bias in processing can be caused by biased data collected, or incorrect manipulation of the data.

7. Transmitting and Receiving 1 The accuracy of information received form the internet is not guaranteed. It is necessary to compare data from a number of sources and determine which data is accurate. Security, on method to protect data from deliberate or accidental damage is the use of certificates. A certificate or digital signature is an encrypted code that identifies a particular person or web site. It aims to ensure that unauthorized persons cannot access data. ‘Netiquette’ refers to the way people communicate with each other on the internet. It is being considerate to others users of the internet and thinking about the effect of your actions. There are some conventions regarding appropriate behavior when sending electronic mail, chatting or using newsgroups. Acknowledgement of sources is necessary when downloading data. Data on the internet is encrypted, it is important to cite and internet source. This would at least include the authors name, title of the completed work and the URL of the page you downloaded it from.

8. Transmitting and Receiving Privacy, web sites use cookies to record information about visitors to their site. A cookie is a file that is put on the user’s hard disk when they visit a web site. The cookie stores information such as the date, web pages visited and the transactions completed. When the user visits the same site as a later date, the information in the cookie is available to the host of the site. Some people argue that cookies store personal information about the user, and that is an invasion of privacy. In some areas of employment, information systems have improved the Nature of work, the way people do their job. This may involve people retraining and learning new skills. However in other areas information systems have had the opposite effect. Some peoples jobs now require fewer skills.

9. Displaying The communication skills of those presenting displays need to be effective. Presentation are effective if the information displayed is well organized attractive and easy to understand. Current trends in display are changing the way people interact with computers. Fifteen years ago screens were small and unable to handle different font sizes and graphics. Today larger monitors can display text, graphics, photographs and video. Visually impaired people need appropriate displays. This issue is a concern on the internet. Web page designers should consider how people with disabilities will be able to access their information. Offensive material available on the internet such as porn, racist and violent material is a major concern. Children with internet access can potentially view this material. There is a significant amount of offensive material on the internet and it is easy to find.