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Expanding ethical vistas of IT professionals

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Abstract

In this paper we argue for an experientially grounded view of IT professionals’ ethical formation and support. We propose that for such formation and support to be effectual, it should challenge professionals’ conceptualisations of their field and of ethics, and it should do so with the aim of changing their experience. To this end, we present a Model of Ethical IT, which is based on an examination of the nature of ethics and on empirical findings concerning IT professionals’ experience of ethics. We argue that for IT professionals to be enabled to become more ethical in their practice: the purpose of IT must be primarily understood to be user-oriented; the nature of professional ethics must be primarily understood to be other-centred; and the goal of ethics education must be understood as primarily promoting a change in awareness.

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Acknowledgements

This article draws on research supported financially through a Queensland University of Technology Capacity Building Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queensland University of Technology, Faculty of Science and Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, 4000, Australia

    Ian Stoodley, Christine Bruce & Sylvia Edwards

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  1. Ian Stoodley
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  2. Christine Bruce
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  3. Sylvia Edwards
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Correspondence to Ian Stoodley.

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Stoodley, I., Bruce, C. & Edwards, S. Expanding ethical vistas of IT professionals. Inf Syst Front 12, 379–387 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-009-9207-7

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