Doing Ethics Technique
AJIS
vol. 10 no. 2
May 2003
DOING ETHICS: A UNIVERSAL TECHNIQUE IN AN ACCESSIBILITY CONTEXT
Christopher R. Simpson1, Liddy Nevile2, Oliver K. Burmeister3
1
Adjunct Teaching Fellow, School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, E-mail: csimpson@swin.edu.au;
2
E-mail: Liddy.Nevile@motile.net;
3
Swinburne Computer-Human Interaction Laboratory, School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, E-mail: oburmeister@it.swin.edu.au;
ABSTRACT
Thinking ethically is difficult without a background in moral philosophy. Asking people to embrace ethics without offering practical explanation of the efficacy of so doing, is a thankless task. A technique that people can follow easily, that helps them value ethical behaviour is needed. Illustrations of such a procedure show how professional scenarios are used in the domain of web accessibility. Scenario design and extensions to the technique are considered.
Keywords Ethics; Accessibility; Case-studies; Dilemma resolution, IT. INTRODUCTION Whether a student, a retiree or in professional practice, today one confronts many situations where it would be helpful to have a particular way of sifting through issues to determine appropriate courses of action. Gordon Preece (2002) writing on a recent topical issue put it this way: 'The womb is like an ethical war-zone. Embryonic stem-cell research, deaf lesbians choosing deaf-babies, IVF embryos chosen and conceived to save existing children, single and lesbian women accessing IVF. Hardly a day goes by without a new ethical dilemma. The pace of technological change and precedent makes it almost impossible to keep up. ' This paper gives the background that gave rise to this technique, the process itself, and then makes use of exemplary scenarios to illustrate how the procedure can be useful to practitioners. One scenario illustrates the approach, while a second illustrates the value in designing appropriate scenarios. The
vol. 10 no. 2
May 2003
DOING ETHICS: A UNIVERSAL TECHNIQUE IN AN ACCESSIBILITY CONTEXT
Christopher R. Simpson1, Liddy Nevile2, Oliver K. Burmeister3
1
Adjunct Teaching Fellow, School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, E-mail: csimpson@swin.edu.au;
2
E-mail: Liddy.Nevile@motile.net;
3
Swinburne Computer-Human Interaction Laboratory, School of Information Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, E-mail: oburmeister@it.swin.edu.au;
ABSTRACT
Thinking ethically is difficult without a background in moral philosophy. Asking people to embrace ethics without offering practical explanation of the efficacy of so doing, is a thankless task. A technique that people can follow easily, that helps them value ethical behaviour is needed. Illustrations of such a procedure show how professional scenarios are used in the domain of web accessibility. Scenario design and extensions to the technique are considered.
Keywords Ethics; Accessibility; Case-studies; Dilemma resolution, IT. INTRODUCTION Whether a student, a retiree or in professional practice, today one confronts many situations where it would be helpful to have a particular way of sifting through issues to determine appropriate courses of action. Gordon Preece (2002) writing on a recent topical issue put it this way: 'The womb is like an ethical war-zone. Embryonic stem-cell research, deaf lesbians choosing deaf-babies, IVF embryos chosen and conceived to save existing children, single and lesbian women accessing IVF. Hardly a day goes by without a new ethical dilemma. The pace of technological change and precedent makes it almost impossible to keep up. ' This paper gives the background that gave rise to this technique, the process itself, and then makes use of exemplary scenarios to illustrate how the procedure can be useful to practitioners. One scenario illustrates the approach, while a second illustrates the value in designing appropriate scenarios. The
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