Overview

As discussed in the earlier chapters, controlled experiments and questionnaires offer HCI researchers the opportunity to deal with numbers and the hope is that in doing so we can reach solid, secure results like other sciences. Of course, as discussed in Chapter 1, there are a lot of pitfalls in ensuring that these numbers are meaningful. Even if they are avoided there is still the problem that people vary – we all take different amounts of time to do routine tasks such as finding a link on a web page or copying a paragraph from one page in a document to another. Thus, we need to be sure that what we see in our numerical data is not just natural variation between people but variation due to the real differences between interfaces and their effects on people. Statistical methods allow us to do this.

The purpose of this chapter is to look at the two sorts of data that occur frequently in HCI: data from controlled experiments and data from questionnaire studies. We will discuss how statistics can be used to distinguish natural variation from systematic difference, or in other words, how to see the wood for the trees. It is also worth saying that the purpose of this chapter is not to help you choose and execute different statistical tests. There are a lot of excellent textbooks out there, some of which will be recommended later, where you can find out the nuts and bolts of statistics.

Overview

Eyetracking records eye movement and provides information on what people look at. Understanding how people look gives researchers an insight into how people think, especially in areas of cognition such as attention. The advantage of eyetracking is that it also gathers this information in real time and to a high level of detail.

The eye movement recorded by eyetrackers is a combination of two main behaviours: first, fixations, where the eye is relatively still; second, saccades, where the eye moves rapidly between fixations (Rayner, 1998; Salvucci and Goldberg, 2000). Fixations are usually of more interest, since these are the times when the eye receives the most detailed information.

The academic world has investigated tracking eye behaviour for over 100 years. However it really started to flourish in the 1960s and 1970s, being used in the realms of cognitive sciences, language and advertising (Jacob and Karn, 2003; Rosbergen, 1998, cited by Radach et al., 2003). In the past few years however, it has been used more widely in academia and commercially. Early eyetrackers were very expensive and used bespoke equipment and software. They were also cumbersome for participants as sensitivity to head motion meant equipment such as bite bars and chin rests were used to reduce movement (see Figure 3.1). Advances in technology have greatly decreased the cost of eyetracking equipment and improved its accessibility and marketability.

Introduction

Writing is hard, and it is easy to postpone doing it. There seem to be many natural reasons to postpone writing, like you don't know what to write yet so you can't start. Our natural inclinations, however, are counter-productive. This chapter provides many reasons to start writing now. Writing now will improve your self-esteem, it will help you write better and it will help you do the work you are writing about – there are many other benefits this chapter covers. In short, writing is formative; it is the most important activity of your project, and is integral to it, not just a description of what you did. This chapter does not tell you everything you need to know about writing, but it tells you the most important secret: write now.

The advice in this chapter is written concretely as if for helping people write project reports (undergraduate, Masters or PhD theses). But the arguments apply equally to writing research proposals, job applications, novels or research papers.

Writing (noun) and writing (verb)

Writing (noun) was invented around six thousand years ago by the Sumerians. Today, we take writing for granted, yet in truth writing has a magic effect on us. Little marks, on a screen, on paper, on a road sign, anywhere, convey information – thoughts and emotions – from the writer to the readers.

Introduction

In many ways, ethics is concerned with authentic human development. In this regard, we will look at the different ethical systems in Chapter 3 and the topic of psychology and computer ethics in Chapter 7. Before we do that, a sketch is presented here of the relationship between computers and a humanistic view of human development.

From the beginning of time until 1980 there had only been about one million computers in existence. Even considering that the first electronic computer was produced in 1946, the exponential increase in the production of computers in the last few decades has been nothing short of incredible. It seems that the computer revolution is having an impact on our society equal to that of the Industrial Revolution.

Consider this prediction made in 1979 by Alfred Bork, a physics professor at the University of California at Irvine who has done pioneering work with educational computers: “By the year 2000 the major way of learning at all levels, and in almost all subject areas will be through the interactive use of computers.” What is it about the computer that made Professor Bork think that, within two decades, the computer would become the major instrument of learning?

I believe the reason is that, physiologically and psychologically, the computer is the most natural of human learning instruments. Consider that the computer is basically a replica of the human nervous system.

The Center for the Study of Ethics at the Illinois Institute of Technology lists on its Web site forty-seven current codes of ethics relating to computing and information systems. Two of these codes that pertain to large numbers of professionals in the computing field are the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice. The latter code is a joint project of the ACM and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE). A third document presented in this chapter, the Ten Commandments of Computer Ethics, is an early computer ethics code meant for popular consumption. It was produced by the Computer Ethics Institute, a project of the Brookings Institution located in Washington, D.C.

ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

Adopted by ACM Council 10/16/92.

Preamble

Commitment to ethical professional conduct is expected of every member (voting members, associate members, and student members) of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).

This Code, consisting of 24 imperatives formulated as statements of personal responsibility, identifies the elements of such a commitment. It contains many, but not all, issues professionals are likely to face. Section 1 outlines fundamental ethical considerations, while Section 2 addresses additional, more specific considerations of professional conduct. Statements in Section 3 pertain more specifically to individuals who have a leadership role, whether in the workplace or in a volunteer capacity such as with organizations like ACM. Principles involving compliance with this Code are given in Section 4.

Introduction

Almost everyone would agree on the need for ethical standards. The problem comes in determining how those standards are to be derived. The area of philosophy known as “metaethics” is helpful in this task. However, metaethics is subject to misunderstanding. William Halverson regards metaethics as “The generic name for inquiries that have as their object the language of moral appraisal.” This definition reflects the viewpoint of a philosophy known as Philosophical Analysis. Metaethics is perhaps better conceived of as the generic name for inquiries about the source of moral judgments (i.e., about the foundation of moral judgments) and how such judgments can be justified. Taken in this sense, metaethics is not about isolated individual judgments concerning whether certain actions are right or wrong. It is about how a particular worldview – or more precisely, a weltanschauung – underlies and determines the formulation of such ethical judgments. This is an abstract way of saying, “What you think the meaning of life is, determines how you live it.”

Before one can make a judgment on whether a particular action is right or wrong, one must have adopted a weltanschauung, that is, have made an assumption that life and reality have a particular meaning. After that, one can ask whether a particular action is in harmony with one's basic understanding of the meaning of life and reality and thus one can judge whether that action is right or wrong.

A Brief History of Computers and the Internet

At the beginning of a study of computer ethics we need to have some understanding of how computing has developed in society. In one sense, computers have been around for a long time, and in another, they are a fairly recent phenomenon. Historically, the first computers were simply fingers and toes – digital computers in the literal sense. They were simple tools used for counting. As calculation became more complex, other tools began to be used to leverage the calculating load. This technology developed along the lines of sticks and stones, then the abacus about 1000 BCE in China, and finally the machines produced during the period of formal mechanics.

Like the railroad, mechanical computers were invented in the United Kingdom. The inventor of the first mechanical computer was Charles Babbage (1791–1871). In the early 1820s he began work on a model of a machine he called the Difference Engine. The purpose of this machine was to calculate numbers for use in mathematical tables. In the early 1830s he turned his attention to work on a programmable Analytical Engine, which was intended to use punched cards. This machine, like the Difference Engine, never went into production. Part of the problem was Babbage's continual rethinking of his plans for the engines. The other part of the problem was the lack of available tools that would produce materials of the tolerance that he required.

Introduction

One of the areas in which the rapid growth of technology, especially digital technology, is having a huge impact is international development. It is causing a “digital divide,” that is, a widening of the gulf between nations that have well-developed technologies and those that have little or none. To remedy this problem, the United Nations has organized a program called the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). A brief consideration of this Summit will identify some of the problems that a lack of technology, or an imbalance of technology, has caused in the area of international development and some suggestions for possible solutions to these problems.

The World Summit on the Information Society

The World Summit on the Information Society is a worldwide effort to improve and make more equitable the communication of information throughout the nations of the world. Specifically, WSIS defines itself in these words: “The digital revolution in information and communication technologies has created the platform for a free flow of information, ideas and knowledge across the globe. This revolution has made a profound impression on the way the world functions. The Internet has become an important global resource, a resource that is critical to both the developed world as a business and social tool and the developing world as a passport to equitable participation, as well as economic, social and educational development.

(© 2007 by Robert Newton Barger)

Introduction

The last chapter of this book is reserved for the treatment of a unique computer ethics dilemma. Few dilemmas can literally be called “computer” ethics dilemmas. This is because most such dilemmas are not restricted only to the use of computers. They often can employ some other medium. For instance, the action of a bank teller pilfering a bank account by shorting each deposit a fraction of a cent through the use of a computer is not a unique computer ethics crime. This crime could also have been committed without the use of a computer.

The dilemma to be described in this chapter involves a proof-of-concept experiment performed by four faculty members at the University of Notre Dame. The four were Vincent Freeh and Jay Brockman of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Albert-Laszlo Barabasi and Hawoong Jeong of the Department of Physics. This dilemma might best be introduced in the researchers' own words:

Introduction

You may be wondering what a chapter on robotics and ethics is doing in a book on computer ethics. Simply put, robotics today is heavily dependent upon artificial intelligence, and artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science. I would feel I was short-changing the reader if I had not included this chapter.

The Roboethics Roadmap, a product of the European Robotics Research Network (EURON), begins with the following statement: “We can forecast that in the XXI century humanity will coexist with the first alien intelligence we have ever come into contact with – robots.” EURON is a group that aims to promote excellence in robotics by creating resources and exchanging knowledge, as well as looking to the future. Its objectives are research coordination, a joint program of research, education and training, industrial links, and dissemination. It is clear from the quoted statement that EURON is serious about looking to the future through a multinational approach that will prepare for the advent of the relationship between humans and intelligent robots.

A major product of EURON is a robotics research roadmap that is meant to investigate opportunities for developing and employing robot technology over the next twenty years. The first release of this roadmap took place in July of 2006. More than fifty people who produced it had participated in previous activities on robotics, possessed a cross-cultural attitude, and were interested in applied ethics.

Introduction

Having spoken in Chapter 12 about theft and piracy concerns and in Chapter 14 about privacy concerns, it will be the task of this chapter to cover power concerns. “Power concerns” might sound like a catchall for any issues left over after those covered in Chapters 12 and 14. In a sense, this is the case. However, the choice of the term “power” is meant to focus more specifically upon ethical dilemmas involving the use of power or involving subjection to power.

Accountability of Bloggers

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “blog” as “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and sometimes hyperlinks provided by the writer.” The question of accountability has been raised in regard to blogging in as much as blogs are essentially public materials, intended for all to see, and meant as media to publicize the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of the blogger. If the press is to be held accountable for its reporting, should not bloggers also be held accountable for what they publish?

In 2005, a blogger was given press credentials for admission to the White House briefing room. The same New York Times story that reported this event continued by saying: “Increasingly, bloggers are penetrating the preserves of the mainstream news media. They have secured seats on campaign planes, at political conventions and in presidential debates, and have become a driving force in news events themselves.”

An Opening Orientation

The words “computer ethics” sometimes evoke the quip: “‘Computer ethics…isn't that an oxymoron?” Indeed, the computer has received a great deal of bad press over the years because of its association with things like spam, fraud, and impersonalization, but the computer itself is not to blame for these things. Obviously, it is the people who misuse computers who are to blame. They are the unethical ones, not the computers. This book shows that there is indeed an ethics that governs the use of computers. It examines the basis for ethical decision-making and presents a methodology for reaching ethical decisions concerning computing matters. Finally, it concentrates on the theory and practice of computer ethics, using a case-based approach.

An Outline of This Book

Chapter 1 considers a brief history of computers and the Internet, the meaning of ethics, the distinction between law and ethics, the subjects of ethics, and whether computer ethics is a unique kind of ethics. This chapter, and the rest of the chapters in the book, ends with a chapter summary and a “your turn” section soliciting student response to material covered in the chapter.

Chapter 2 deals with the computer as a humanizing agent. This chapter shows that the computer is not – as it is sometimes accused of being – the antithesis of what it means to be human.

Chapter 3 gives a systems approach to ethics. Here you can study the philosophies of Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, Existentialism, and Philosophical Analysis.

In this chapter a number of cases will be presented that involve forms of piracy. By piracy is meant the taking of something, or the attempt to take something, which a person is not entitled to take.

Internet Fraud Case

An e-mail message with no “Subject” line received on January 19, 1999, by Robert Newton Barger from a person using a fictitious name.

ATTN: ROBERT

DATE: January 19, 1999

CC: FRIENDS CLUB

EXTREMELY URGENT AND HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL

I am [fictitious name] the President of ‘FRIENDS CLUB,’ a charity organization. The club inherited and was disbursed the heavy fortune through revenue allocation from the Funds and Properties Inheritance Board by the Federal Government of Zaire Central Africa.

I got your contact as a reliable, competent and trustworthy person that has a good name. The friends club was disbursed on Friday, January 15, 1999 at 10.35am by the financial controller of the Funds and Properties Inheritance Board, Dr K. S. Chaka, the sum of One Hundred and Thirty One Million USD ($131,000,000.00) to organise charity, promote scholarship programmes and aid the less privileged. This fund is an inheritance contained in the Federal Revenue Allocation for 1999 to charity.

The friends club pledged to ascertain a programme of excellence ever lasting and wishes to invest in a steady lucrative business in Europe or America to achieve its goal. It is my duty to safeguard, persist, and ensure a successful programme for the club. We have started by flying the funds through a security company as trustee to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, a free and safe African country practising [sic] first class democracy to ensure the safety of the funds from theft and also avoid new generation banking fraud affecting the world banking system today which is why you have been contacted.

In this chapter a number of cases will be presented that involve violations of privacy.

Fingering Case

© 2007 by John Halleck, used with permission)

The case concerns a student who used a computer to monitor his ex-girlfriend by checking how often she logged on, from what terminal she logged on, and with whom she communicated. First, here is a bit of background on this case. Most computer systems have a “finger” command of some sort. This command tells if a given user is on the system or not, information about when that person was last on, and, often, information as to the location where the person logged in. The finger command on a system at a fictitious university that will be known as Desert State University also says whether the person has new mail (and when it was last read). Some finger commands even tell from whom the person last received mail. This “feature” would no doubt have been disabled on machines at the University in the years after this case was originally written. Most people at the University would agree that this information is more or less “public.”

Here is the substance of the case. Administrators discovered that one of their student machines was severely bogged down in a manner that made it painful for the average student to use. It was discovered that a particular student's script was eating up all the available resources of the machine. Contrary to stated policy, it was a background script that continued running twenty-four hours a day, whether or not the student who had written the script was logged on.