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Ethical Considerations for Software Engineering Faculty

Ethical Considerations for Software Engineering Faculty. Leon J. Osterweil ( ljo@cs.umass.edu ) University of Massachusetts Amherst USA. Membership in a Community Requires Obeying its Rules. What communities are you joining? What are the penalties for not obeying its rules?

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Ethical Considerations for Software Engineering Faculty

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  1. Ethical Considerations forSoftware Engineering Faculty Leon J. Osterweil (ljo@cs.umass.edu) University of Massachusetts Amherst USA

  2. Membership in a CommunityRequires Obeying its Rules • What communities are you joining? • What are the penalties for not obeying its rules? • What are the rules? • Ignorance is no excuse

  3. Caution While the following may seem clear and straightforward, there are a lot of gray areas surrounding all of this

  4. Plagiarism • Putting your name on someone else’s work • This is theft of intellectual property • Intellectual property is all academics have • Plagiarism is grounds for summary dismissal • Situation may not be clear • Rights of individuals in multiple authorship • Better safe than sorry

  5. Authorship • Your name on a paper asserts that you were a substantial contributor • All authors should agree on this • Discuss beforehand • Discuss again at the end • You are responsible for all of it • If it is wrong, you are to blame (even if a coauthor made the errors) • Never put someone’s name on a paper until and unless they agree

  6. Conflict of Interest • In reviewing papers, proposals, etc. • Reviewer advantage must not be unfairly exploited • Money, other valuable considerations • Backscratching • Stealing of ideas, results • Giving advantage to your students • Written rules (eg. NSF’s) on when COI exists • Here too there are gray areas • Rules on unfair advantage are much harder

  7. Duplicate Submission • Having “the same” paper under review in more than one place at the same time • A serious insult to the community • Software Engineering journals and conferences are particularly sensitive to this

  8. Fairness to students • Don’t stand in the way of a student • Push and support students • Show respect for student ideas • Even if they aren’t great • Be sure your assessments (eg. in letters) are fair • To the student • To the recipient

  9. What about Good Research with Potential for Harm? • This can be agonizing • Each of us needs to make a personal decision • At the very least, technical experts need to follow their work into the societal debate • Rather than preempt it • Or dominate it • Or ignore it

  10. Being a good colleague • Support the communities you are in • Committees • Energy • Sharing opinions • Don’t place inappropriate burdens on colleagues

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