Ethics and IT Professionals
Note: The current issue of Computer World has a lauditory front-page story on Simon Fraser University (British Columbia)implementing a new on-line system for registration and enrollment. Having dealt with a similar, incredibly frustrating, system at York University (there are no alternative processes), I felt compelled to respond. Here's my letter to the Computer World editor.
I note with exasperation that Simon Fraser University's CIO feels "the bumpy patch is over" in implementing the university's new student enrollment and information system, powered by PeopleSoft. ("SFU signs up IT for enrolment," May 26, 2006)
Oh, except for "one remaining sticky point...PeopleSoft doesn't work as well on some of the less popular browsers as it should, and there are some issues with Macs."
Not to worry though, because "as long as a student can get to a Windows machine running Internet Explorer," everything will be just fine.
York University, where I recently completed doctoral studies, has a similar on-line registration system, and it, too, demands Microsoft software of the user. Those of us who, for a variety or reasons, prefer open source software and the Mac platform, are effectively shut out of the system. One learns of this only through hours of incredibly frustrating trial-and-error.
It seems to me, as one who teaches ethics to IT students, that any CIO who cannot see that there are serious ethical implications involved in implementing mandatory systems that arbitrarily exclude large numbers of potential users--particularly in public institutions--has a remarkably poor grasp of his or her moral responsibilities as an IT professional.
The idea that one should have to use the products of a particular corporation, in this case Microsoft, in order to register for courses in a publicly-funded institution such as a university is not only obnoxious, it is probably illegal. I would encourage some bright young law student to take SFU, York and other universities to court for employing--however inadvertently-- this kind of unacceptable commercial coercion. And I would encourage all IT professionals to take seriously the ethical implications of the work they do.
I note with exasperation that Simon Fraser University's CIO feels "the bumpy patch is over" in implementing the university's new student enrollment and information system, powered by PeopleSoft. ("SFU signs up IT for enrolment," May 26, 2006)
Oh, except for "one remaining sticky point...PeopleSoft doesn't work as well on some of the less popular browsers as it should, and there are some issues with Macs."
Not to worry though, because "as long as a student can get to a Windows machine running Internet Explorer," everything will be just fine.
York University, where I recently completed doctoral studies, has a similar on-line registration system, and it, too, demands Microsoft software of the user. Those of us who, for a variety or reasons, prefer open source software and the Mac platform, are effectively shut out of the system. One learns of this only through hours of incredibly frustrating trial-and-error.
It seems to me, as one who teaches ethics to IT students, that any CIO who cannot see that there are serious ethical implications involved in implementing mandatory systems that arbitrarily exclude large numbers of potential users--particularly in public institutions--has a remarkably poor grasp of his or her moral responsibilities as an IT professional.
The idea that one should have to use the products of a particular corporation, in this case Microsoft, in order to register for courses in a publicly-funded institution such as a university is not only obnoxious, it is probably illegal. I would encourage some bright young law student to take SFU, York and other universities to court for employing--however inadvertently-- this kind of unacceptable commercial coercion. And I would encourage all IT professionals to take seriously the ethical implications of the work they do.
2 Comments:
The University of Toronto uses a homegrown Perl-based registration system. It works perfectly under non-MS operating systems including Linux.
It makes me sad and a little mad when I see that a school like SFU has spent what is certainly a ridiculous amout of money implementing something like PeopleSoft. It's not as if there aren't a huge array of open source options out there, including the fairly comprehensive Bazaar which I used during my short attempt at taking a course through Athabasca University. It wasn't the nicest online collaboration software I've ever used (that prize goes to BaseCamp, though it's "project management" style collaboration rather than education-oriented collaboration), but it was way better than the WebCT's and (probably) PeopleSoft's of the world.
Mr. Rowland,
Your books make for interesting lite reading. Love your use of AD HOC, CUM HOC and overused AD VERECUNDIAM. fun stuff, keep up the good work.
Dane Griffith
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