Social Issues and

Professional Practice --
Overview
Assoc. Prof. Maria
Keet
Department of Computer Science
University of Cape Town
Lecturer
Lecturer: A/Prof. Dr. Maria Keet
Telephone: 021 650 2667
Room: 314.10
Email: mkeet@cs.uct.ac.za
Homepage: www.meteck.org
Consultation: by email, by appointment
Why?

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 Why?
■
While technical issues are central to the computing curriculum, they
do not constitute a complete educational program in the field.
■
Students must also be exposed to the larger societal context of
computing to develop an understanding of the relevant social, ethical,
legal and professional issues.
■
As technological advances continue to significantly impact the way we
live and work, the critical importance of social issues and professional
practice continues to increase; new computer-based products and
venues pose ever more challenging problems each year.
■
It is our students who must enter the workforce and academia with
intentional regard for the identification and resolution of these
problems.
www.acm.org/education/curricula-recommendations
Values

■
This block in CSC1016S is about the values that underlie your
professional life

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson January 02, 1995

 Social Issues & Professional
Practice (International curriculum guidelines)
■ Social Context
■ Analytical Tools
■ Professional Ethics
■ Intellectual Property
■ Privacy and Civil Liberties
■ Professional Communication
■ Sustainability
■ History
■ Economies of Computing
■ IT Security Policies, IT Laws, and Computer Crimes
SIPP topics in this course

Lecture Topics

SP01-Social Context Social Context + ICT4D + Sustainability

SP02-Values Analytical Tools and Ethical principles

SP03-Tools Analytical Tools for critical reasoning

SP04-Privacy Privacy and Civil Liberties

SP05-Property Intellectual Property + Alternatives

SP06-Professional Professional Ethics + Codes of Conduct

 The speed of innovations outpaces the slowness

Analytical tools???
of devising policies and laws how to deal with the
new technologies, leaving a ‘vacuum’ where
events and practices occur. These events and
practices, while (unintentionally?) not illegal, may
still be unethical or immoral.
■
Yes
■
Because of the policy vacuum
– Something may sound nice—but is it really?
– There’s no guideline or law that tells you to do x in case of y.
Now what? You can’t paralyse yourself, so…
■
Think and make up your own mind!
■
Analytical tools helps you with that:
– Formulating your own position regarding x
– Having a constructive argument with someone
– Detect flaws in your own or someone else’s argument
– Understand when to agree to disagree, and why
 Recommended Text
■
CS@UCT SIPP reader
– Departmental attempt to
■
Increase the relevance of SIPP
topics for the Southern African
region
– International topics, local
examples
– Topics particular to the region
(e.g., its laws, ethics)
■
Reduce the cost of buying
textbooks
■
Available on Vula and at
https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/3
0659 as open educational resource
 Other suggested Text (among
several)
■
Ethics and Technology: Controversies,
Questions, and Strategies for Ethical
Computing (4th Ed)
Herman T. Tavani
ISBN-13: 978-1118281727
– Library has 1st ed 174.9004 TAVA

– Some online materials available at

bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action
=index&bcsId
=1604&itemId=0471249661
 Other resources

■
Slides
■
Amathuba 'lessons' feature
■
Some articles to read
■
A few short videos to watch

■
Essay writing help (equivalent of 1 lecture, in mid Sept./early Oct.)
 Exercises, assessment etc.

■
A few more pop quizzes (not for marks)
■
Exercises in the SIPPnotes
■
Additional practice exercises (will be posted on Amathuba)
■
Engagement in the Amathuba forum

■
Assignment 10 is the SIPP assignment (essay)
■
A few questions in the class tests
 ChatGPT, Bard, CodePilot and
the like …
■
On (not) using it for the assignment (and elsewhere in your studies)
– See general rules on “generative AI” use in education
– It’s you who should pass the course, not the LLM
– It’s you who pays for an education to learn something (delegating
the learning to the AI tool does not make you more knowledgeable,
or not as much as you should)
– Future employer remunerates you for your knowledge and skills,
not for just handing off the whole task to the AI tool
– Values: honesty, integrity, etc.
■
More on ethics of such AI tools later in the module (after a pop quiz )