On the Difficult Task of Teaching Computer Ethics to Engineers

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenges of teaching computer ethics to engineers. The computer professionals are identified as the starting point of the stakeholders network of ICT and as a consequence it is underlined the importance of computer ethics courses for engineers. To this purpose, a simple four-steps methodology is proposed for teaching computer ethics. The importance of applying the paradigm of complex systems is then described and the three dimensions of Slow Tech (good, clean, and fair ICT) are proposed as a compass for designing complex socio-technical systems. Finally some preliminary results coming from the feedback of about some hundreds students in several years are illustrated.