An Ethical Approach towards Developing the Student Workload Tracker Project - Essay Example

AN ETHICAL APPROACH TOWARDS DEVELOPING THE WORKLOAD PROJECT By School Location Introduction Development of computer systems has been a critical element in the technology and business world due to the rapid growth of information technology use in many industries. As a result, many system developers have increased their efforts to develop relevant systems that in order to catch up with the increasing demands of the information technology sector. Nevertheless, the technological environment created by the development of information technology systems has been confronted by a lot of ethical issues. Ethical issues with regard to information technology systems have taken different dimensions because not only do the ethical issues arise due to the emergence of technology but also due to the implementation by the users. Moreover, the ethical issues may also involve the role of the developer of the system concerning the objective of the information technology system. The following analysis aims to identify the ethical issues surrounding a class project concerning intellectual property and reliability of the project. Section one Project title and description The case study for the analysis is based on the student workload tracker project. The student Workload tracker project was developed under the oversight of two administrator and nine project members who contributed towards the development of the project. The student workload tracker project was aimed at developing a computer system that would enhance the scheduling process of student’s assignments in school. In an ordinary learning environment students attempt to struggle balancing assignments, academic studies and social life. Subsequently, this makes the students to be overwhelmed since especially when they lack proper time management skills. Therefore, the student workload tracker project was aimed at developing a time management schedule based on the analysis of students’ routine activities and the normal time spent on completing a specific activity. Consequently, the system would use the data to present a trend based on various analytical tools such as graphs and charts. In addition a user interface would be used to enhance the appearance of the data in order to provide a clear view of the students’ task performance trends. Therefore based on the portrayed trend by the system, the students would be in a position to create a reliable schedule based on sequence of assignments and the anticipated time for completing relevant tasks. Section two Ethical Issues surrounding the project The implementation of the Student Workload tracker system was assessed on the basis of functionality and achievement of the deliverables by the group members. However, regardless of the fact that the system seemed to be a viable project one of the most important aspects of the project that were overlooked were the potential ethical issues that would face the system. The information technology has over the years required reliance on dynamic rules regarding the moral responsibility of handling computer systems. This is due to the fact that the nature of handling computer information systems may result in a variety of ethical issues (Berzai, 2012). Based on the desired functionality of the project the predominant ethical issues identified involve Safety/reliability and Intellectual/intangible property. With regard to ethical issues surrounding the intellectual/intangible property, the project was a group-based initiative. The United Nations declaration of human rights establishes that every individual has the right to own intellectual property as an individual or in a group. Additionally, no human being should be deprived his or her rights to own property (Peslak, 2007 pp. 207). Therefore, based on the Student Workload project developed by the group each member of the group has the right to have a stake on the ownership of the project. Nevertheless, ethical issues with regard to safeguarding the intellectual property that relies on information technology platforms has been difficult due to the easy access to such intellectual property through rampant unauthorized access to the information technology platforms (Peslak, 2007 pp. 207). In this case, intellectual property applies to the knowledge used to develop a specific product (Freeman & Peace, 2005 pp. 54). There are various legal remedies applied with regards dealing with ethical issues relating the information technology systems’ intellectual property. Whereas varieties of laws are enacted in order to enhance the ethics concerning intellectual property are patents and copyright laws. Patents and copyrights concerning intellectual property of computer projects Patents are one of the most reliable sources of protecting intellectual property. This is due to the fact that they enable developers of a specific program to be able to not only own the product but also enables a developer to have the rights on methods of usage for the specific project (United States Patent and trademark office, 2014). Moreover patents provide financial incentives to the developers of a system since they enable the owner of the rights to control the usage of the system based on money paid to use the system (Hall, 2009 pp. 3). However, ethical issues arise because for developers of a project to be granted patent rights they have to disclose all the information regarding the system. This also includes the all the details of the development process of the project (World intellectual property organization, n.d). Nevertheless, conflicting issues with regard to patents have often cropped up since not all computer projects can be patented. In most cases, ethical debates pertaining to patenting information technology projects are based on whether the project is an original idea or a modification of an already existing project (United States National technical information service, n.d pp. 86). Similarly, ICT projects also require the owners to acquire copyright protection. Copyright protection is general used to protect the artistic and written work of the developer (World intellectual property organization, n.d). Therefore, copyrights would be very useful in protecting the source code of the projects and the application interfaces in order to distinguish the work of different developers. The essence of copyright is to ensure that the owner of the rights of a specific ICT project can only authorize the distribution of the project through a license agreement. Nevertheless, this creates a situation where an individual desiring to use a specific piece of copyrighted project will have to contact the owner of the rights towards the project (Seadle, 2005). This poses a challenge in the event an individual aims to use a particular project but cannot contact the copyright owner of the project in order to be given the go ahead to use the project. One of the major ethical issues surrounding intellectual property with regards to information technology projects is the distribution process. Information technology projects require a lot of process because various software and hardware resources are used to come up with the main project. Moreover, these projects also require blocks of programming code. Therefore, the entire process becomes intensive (Krol & Pilichowski, 2013 pp.2). However, ethical issues arise when individuals find it easy to distribute such property oblivious of the means used to develop the project. In this case, the issues surrounding the project will be based on how to avail the Student Workload system without violating the intellectual property rights. The implementation aspect of the project will require students to install the system in their computers. However, based on the fact that one student can use a single copy on different computers, the students will most likely distribute the copies to unauthorized personnel. This will be unethical since based on copyright laws, it is necessary to have the permission of the copyright owner in order to distribute the copies. Nonetheless, the distribution of a computer project may depend on the distribution system of the developer. Hence, in the event a developer does not provide a reliable platform for distributing the system the developer may also be considered to be at fault. Reliability and safety of the project On the other hand, other ethical issues with regard to the project will likely be based on safety and reliability of the system. The aspect of reliability and safety of an ICT project relies on the ability of the respective project to perform its required function (Pham, 2007, pp. 10). In any information technology environment, data reliability is integral in ensuring the relevant functions of Information technology platforms are effectively dealt with (Kloss, 2012). Consequently, it is essential for any information technology system developers to guarantee the integrity of its usage. Therefore, lack of reliability and safety of information technology has been one of the major concerns with regard to ethical issues facing information technology projects. For instance, unreliable data has predominantly played a big role in delivery of poor results in organizations. In addition, individuals to prevent them from accessing reliable information can exploit the unreliability of data provided by information technology systems. Therefore, it is the moral responsibility of system developers to ensure that the respective projects facilitate delivery of accurate information (Mason, Carr & Cox, 1986). In the event information technology developers are aware of the likely situations whereby the developed systems contribute to misinformation, the developers are liable for any losses. This is due to the fact that the developers have the authority to ensure the systems developed provide reliable information. Therefore, with regard to the Student Workload project system it is the responsibility of the entire team that contributed towards its development to ensure that information reliability is achieved. The main deliverable of the project was based on creating a reliable schedule for the student based on the time spent on performing specific tasks in school. Therefore, the major concepts for the project relied on collecting data on the students’ activities in school and the average time spent on a specific activity. Consequently, the data would be used to provide information based on the relevance of the tasks. As a result, this would provide results based on the students actual activities in order to provide the most appropriate time schedule for the student with regard to allocating time for tasks. Therefore, the moral responsibility all the individuals involved in the project was to ensure that the system would provide an efficient management solution to students and therefore increase their productivity. Thus, in the event the system provided inaccurate results it would poses an ethical issue since it would not only interrupt the students’ schedule but it would also inhibit the students’ performance. With regard to the project, the ethical issue of safety and reliability will have a higher priority than the issue of intellectual property. This is because prior to the consideration of ethics for the project the issue of reliability coincided with the objective of the development team to develop a reliable system. Proposed Way Forward The proposed way forward for the project will be based on the intended implementation environment. The student workload tracker will be aimed at providing a real-time in school scenario. One of the biggest problems with regard to implementing ICT in learning environments is usually inhibited by lack of reliable ICT frameworks (Solar, Sabattin & Parada, 2013 pp. 206). Therefore, proposed solutions for the identified ethical issues will also rely on the policies of the learning institution. In relation to the intellectual property issue, the system will be required to benefit both the developers and the students. Since the Student Workload project will require future developments the initial product will be distributed as a free system. This will eliminate any legal implications on the usability of the system. Moreover, free system distribution enables the users to identify any issues in the source code and the usability of the project since it involves the distribution of the system together with its source code (Goerzen, 2000). Therefore, this will allow the developers of the system to improve the project for future application. Additionally, delivering free software to the users not only minimizes the ethical issues between the user and the developers of the softwares but it also creates shares responsibility between the two parties (Choi, Kim & Yu, 2009 pp. 525). Proposed solution on dealing with reliability and safety of the project System reliability and safety relies on the ability of the developers to incorporate hardware compatibility, software’s response to system failure, and the legal implications of using the software (Pan, 1999). The basis of hardware compatibility is to ensure that the system can operate on a variety of machines in order to guarantee efficient usability for every user (Peled, 2001 pp. 93). Therefore, the proposed solution will involve testing the project on various computer devices using various operating systems and specifications in order to develop a benchmark for hardware reliability. On the other hand, software failure in system development offers the biggest challenge because results of the project rely predominantly on the software (Xie, 1991, pp. 2). Additionally, software reliability monitoring is essential since vulnerabilities in the software’s codes may completely alter the performance of the system. Therefore, in order to ensure that ethical issues due not arise due to software failure the developers of the project will conduct routine performance checks of the software based on the student review. This would also include the analyzing the source code of the project in order to identify potential loopholes. Conclusion In conclusion, the Student Workload tracker project requires apt solutions with regard to dealing with the intellectual property and the reliability ethical aspects of the project. Because the two ethical issues will have a legal and functional influence on the project, it is essential to address the ethical issues that surround the project. Therefore, the proposed solution for viable ethical standards with regard to the project will involve offering the system as a free licensed system in order to eliminate any issues that may arise due to distribution of the project. Additionally, the system will require routine tests in order to sustain the ethical responsibility of reliability and safety. References list Berzai, L., 2012. Ethical problems in computing. [Online] Available at: [Accessed November 22, 2014] Choi, C.J., Kim, S.W. and Yu, S., 2009. Global Ethics of Collective Internet Governance: Intrinsic Motivation and Open Source Software. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(4), pp. 523-531. Freeman, L. and Peace, G., 2005. Information ethics: privacy and intellectual property. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc.. Goerzen, J., 2000. The ethics of free software. [Online] Available at: [Accessed November 22, 2014]. Hall, B., 2009. The use and value of patent rights. Intellectual property office. Krol, M. and Pilichowski, T., 2013. Advances in business ICT. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Science & Business Media. Kloss, L.L., 2012. Information Integrity: A High Risk, High Cost Vulnerability. Health data management, 20(4), pp. 44-5. 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