## Business Ethics for IT
Lecturer: Dr. Roland Alton
Given at University of Applied Sciences
## Lesson 1 - March 3
* Introduction *
We are talking about value sets, lifestyles and the economy.
Where are our beliefs and values come from: https://ethify.org/content/tugenden (german only)
English: recommended book: Jennings M.: Business Ethics (2012), Unit 1 p10-17
We go through the Nine Ethify Values as an example for a value set: http://ethify.org/en/content/values
We look at how to measure wealth und happiness.
How happy is a country? http://happyplanetindex.org/
Task 1 until March 10: Analyse your ecological footprint e.g. here https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/#/
Task 2 until March 10: Analyse how 3 companies behave. Choose one of the platforms:
ETHICALCONSUMER http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcompanyratings.aspx (in English)
TREEDAY https://treeday.net
ETHICS BY DESIGN: Wisdom in seven minutes (choose 3 from https://www.ethicalsystems.org/ethicsbydesign small videos in the middle)
Task 3 until March 31: Choose either
- a book from the literature list http://ethify.org/content/anhang#Literatur
- an article from one of the issues of Ökologisch Wirtschaften https://www.oekologisches-wirtschaften.de/index.php/oew/issue/archive (german)
- a web portal on ethics such as http://ethicalsystems.org/content/executive-summary
- any suitable book dealing with ethics or responsibility in the library, e.g. from shelfs WBB112, WBB114, WAA501, WAA772
- a documentary on ethical issues, here is a first list: http://ethify.org/filmtipps
Read/view parts of the chosen media and write a summary of about 2 pages as a blog entry on ethify.org (login literature | literature)
Try to answer the following questions:
- Which values did the author have in mind?
- How can you apply such values in enterprises or organisations?
- Is there a typical ethical dilemma situation? How is it solved?
Points (100 maximum)
20 book summary
60 semester project
10 final presentation
10 additional engagement shown (blog, social media meme, inviting a guest, organising a field trip, ...)
Presence rule: skipping one lesson is ok, maximum 2, for each skipped lesson minus 7 points.
## Lesson 2 - March 10
Applying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in companies and organisations:
http://prezi.com/0pnftmptylma/social-responsibility-and-sustainable-development/
Your semester project: you choose either A or B or C or D.
There will be ongoing coaching through the semester, results to be presented on May 5:
A) Work out a case study of a company (min 5 pages). Find out, how serious they are about CSR. Apply one of the aforementioned methods (ISO 26000, Gemeinwohlbilanz, EthiCheck) or Vorwaerts http://ethify.org/vorwaerts or CSR Leitbild der WKO http://respact.at/leitbild/de/einleitung (last both available in german only)
Structure of the report
- company and its environment
- stakeholder
- running projects
- communication about sustainability and resposibility
- how do they deal with the Corona pandemia (2020)
- chosen method (ISO,...)
- describe process of evaluation
- results
- outlook
B) Write a paper on "Conflict of Interests"
focus on a specific sector (such as software development or data privacy), collect some cases and discuss them, total 8-10 pages
Read here about typical COIs: http://ethicalsystems.org/content/conflicts-interest
COI case studies (from various sectors): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest#Examples
Resources:
"Forum Informatiker für Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung": http://www.fiff.de/themen (german)
"Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility": http://cpsr.org/
Recommended book: Michael Hopkins: Corporate Social Responsibility & International Development WBB114.
Is there a Global Environmental Justice Movement? Written by Joan Martinez Alier, Leah Temper, Daniela Del Bene, and Arnim Scheidel. In: Colloquium Paper No. 16 http://www.iss.nl/fileadmin/ASSETS/iss/Research_and_projects/Research_networks/ICAS/16-ICAS_CP_Martinez_Alier_et_al.pdf
Growth Critique in the 1970s Crisis and Today: Malthusianism, Social Mechanics, and Labor Discipline. Written by Markantonatou, M. New Political Science, 38(1), 23-43, 2016 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07393148.2015.1125117
The proximity of nations to a socially sustainable steady-state economy. Written by O'Neill, D.W.,Journal of Cleaner Production 108, Part A, 1213-1231. 2015 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652615010471
What should be held steady in a steady-state economy? Interpreting Daly's definition at the national level. Written by O'Neill, D.W., Journal of Industrial Ecology 19 (4), 552-563. 2015 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.12224/abstract;jsessionid=8090212F97BEBB3B9927439343C93AFF.f03t04
C) Programming: Create a tool for evaluating companies (similar to ethicheck, holidaycheck or kununu.com). You may choose one of the following value sets and methods:
ISO 26000 http://kwick.me/pq5j prototype available here: http://bethics.neseri.at/ (ask RAS for code, based on ZendFramework), next step: offer as a check with ethify.org, offer list of companies, probably offer as alternative to http://ethify.org/ethicheck
Economy of Common Good (Gemeinwohlbilanz) https://www.ecogood.org/gemeinwohl-bilanz with matrix https://www.ecogood.org/media/filer_public/88/3e/883e7106-2aaa-493c-af80-89bbd38c65fd/gwb-rechner_5_0_2_vollbilanz.xlsx
SD-KPI standard http://kwick.me/pj7w (copyright situation needs to be cleared)
// D) Visualize and discuss in a short paper the historical development of the relation of
// government debt (use government debt to GDP by GDP), money supply (M2)
// Select USA, EU, Austria, Germany and one more country. Here you can export all data: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/indicators
// Done in 2015, see http://ethify.org/content/money
// E) Extend Ethicheck http://ethify.org/ethicheck (requires know-how with Drupal modules) or the Ethify Mozilla Add-On http://ethify.org/rating done, deprecated
F) Visualize World Happyness Report https://s3.amazonaws.com/happiness-report/2019/Chapter2OnlineData.xls or use any othe open data source
Watch out for Events (Spielboden, Saumarkt, ...) that offer talks on Ethical issues or show movies.
## Evening Lessons
Mon 09 MAR 2020 19:00 Naturschau Dornbirn Expert Talk: „Neben uns die Sintflut. Klimawandelanpassung im internationalen Kontext“
Tue 10 MAR 2020 18:00 Spielboden Dornbirn Human Vision Film Festival "Wir retten die Welt" https://www.spielboden.at/veranstaltungen/2020/03_maerz/4th-human-vision-film-festival
## Lesson 3 - March 17
Here are some more details of the methods when evaluating a company / organisation as a semester project in this course:
Case Study with The Economy of the Good (Gemeinwohlökonomie) (A)
When applying this method, _you_ fill out the questionnaires for the company, ideally in close co-operation with a person in the company whom you may ask some details, which are not public available e.g. in a CSR report. Aspects you can not find out may assigned an average value.
Quick Test (german) https://www.ecogood.org/sites/default/files/dateien/page/schnelltest-matrix4.1-final-1.2.pdf German documents: https://www.ecogood.org/services/downloads
Calculator (german): https://www.ecogood.org/download/file/fid/673
English documents are here: https://www.ecogood.org/en/menu-footer/downloads/
Calculator sheet: https://www.ecogood.org/en/download/file/fid/683
Case Study with ISO 26000 (A)
A hard copy can be obtained in the library. You may also find copies on the web (usage violates the ISO copyright). Here is a practical guide, including tables for evaluation: http://responsabilitate-sociala.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/ISO_26000_Practical_Guide_SITE.pdf You may strip down the number of questions, as one of your former colleague has done with an online query tool: http://bethics.neseri.at/
Writing a paper (B)
When looking at dilemma situations, you should apply various viewpoints and angles. A common method in social sciences is to analyze cases and argue with dialectic, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectic#Hegelian_dialectic With dialectic, you create a thesis, react with an anti-thesis and try to resolve the issue by a synthesis.
### Further input on some CSR aspects
Un-Equality
Wilkinson & Picket have written a book: "Spirit Level" https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level - the web site has many more resources.
1. Browse through the PowerPoint slides (linked on that page).
2. Watch the TEDx talk of Wilkinson: https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson_how_economic_inequality_harms_societies?language=de#t-21751
3. Short reading: How is unequality defined? https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/how-economic-inequality-defined
4. (optional) Joseph Stiglitz talk at Google on Un-Equality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woerUgtufUo
Criticism on CSR Reports
Harmonization of GRI envisaged (german): http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Wildwuchs-der-Nachhaltigkeitsberichte-mangels-Vorgaben-3153916.html
## Lesson 4 - March 24
Present book summaries (those who already did it, please publish as blog and/or upload in ilias)
Ethics in Media
Journalism, Mass Media, Wikileaks, Social Media campaigns for a better world, Adbusters
Portals that look behind the curtain of media (mostly in Austria)
https://www.mimikama.at/ (checking facts)
schandfleck.or.at until 2017
maschek.org (Comedy with TV voice over)
https://correctiv.org/
https://www.dossier.at/
https://rsf.org/en (Reporters without borders)
What is the difference between investigative journalism and fact check?
An Ethics Case Study on Broken Heart on Facebook
Hacker Ethics
Ethics in IT
Copyright and Moral Right
Text: Grenzfurthner/Schneider: Hacking the Spaces - Hackerspaces heute lesen
Hackerspace in Dornbirn 2007-2011: http://lab.netculture.at/
Code of ethics: http://www.eccouncil.org/Support/code-of-ethics
Guy Fawkes Maske: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_wie_Vendetta_%28Comic%29#Guy-Fawkes-Maske
http://www.bigbrotherawards.at/ (yearly ceremony in Vienna)
## Lesson 5 - March 31
Present book summaries
THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF CORPORATE ETHICS PROGRAMS - read online https://search.proquest.com/docview/214393328?pq-origsite=summon
Unconditional Basic Income (Bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen) - https://fuereinander.jetzt/
work on your company evaluation
## Lesson 6 - April 21
The Concept of Basic Income
Wikipedia with international examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_income
Movie Grundeinkommen (Schweiz / Bodensee) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExRs75isitw
Movie "Free Lunch Society" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFm1bJKaX-Q (Trailer)
Helicopter Money: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/helicopter-money-answer-looming-economic-crisis/
The Mechanics of Money
Elektrischer Reporter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7OSYKqDTfw&feature=relmfu
Overview slides from runtux: http://www.runtux.com/files/download/money.4.pdf
The role of the FED http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3KjyhNX5E0&feature=related
Distributed Money - the rise and fall of the FairCoin project http://www.faircoin.world/ and the fair.coop ecosystem.
Joseph Stiglitz on Problems of the GDP: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUaJMNtW6GA&feature=fvwrel
Joseph Stiglitz presenting his book "Freefall" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt_JlPCkQSs&hd=1
Bernard Lietaer: Why money needs to change now! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4ThwS1Xln0
## Lesson 7 - April 28
Presentation of case studies (for those who are already done)
Coachings on demand
We will be walking to Radetzkystrasse 3 to visit Suedwind Agentur at 12h00 (leaving FHV at 11:30).
Some more topics, we probably will not have time to dive into:
The Occupy Movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_movement
The OCCCU money http://occcu.com (FHV students' project)
The Debt Crisis makes us dependent on banks: http://www.occupy.com/article/putting-life-debt-global-rise-citizen-debt-audits
Money as Debt Documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8 (minutes ~3-10)
NGO ATTAC http://www.attac.at/ueber-attac/was-ist-attac.html
Lanegengger TALENTE http://www.allmenda.com/langenegger-talente
Das Experiment von Wörgl http://www.unterguggenberger.org/page.php?id=162&navigation=M182Mw==
Cooperatives http://www.mitgruenden.at/
## Lesson 8 - May 5
Presentation of case studies and evaluation services.
Additional Material
Recommended Audio Course from MIT on Business Ethics: http://kwick.me/ngqS
