Professional Practice in Information Technology

Professional
Practice
In
Information
Technology
Professional Practice
In
Information Technology

By
Babatunde B. Olofin
Table of Contents
Page
Part I – Information Technology Professionalism

1. Concept of Information 1
2. Privacy & Confidentiality 24
3. Legal, Ethical & Intellectual Property Issues 29
4. Computer Crime & Fraud 45
5. Professional Issues & Professional Bodies 58
6. Information Technology & Society 73
Part II – Information Technology Practices

7. Distributed System Issues 81
8. Quality Management Process 82
9. Emerging Technologies & Current Issues 91
10. Principles of Team Work 124
11. Job Application Process 141
12. Making a Successful Presentation 164

Professional Practice in Information Technology

Chapter 1
Concept of Information
Introduction
The terms ‘data’ and ‘information’ are used interchangeably in everyday speech as meaning the
same thing. However, the terms have distinct meanings. Data are raw facts, figures, images or sounds
collected from observations or recordings about events, objects or people, which can be stored on a
manual or computer-based medium, e.g. employee’s name and number, number of hours worked in a
week, inventory part numbers, or sales order. Data has little meaning or value in its own right, it only
has meaning when it is processed and put into context as information. For example, if we are told
that John scored 85 in a test, it does not tell us a lot. Is it 85 marks? If it is 85%, it may appear a good
result, but how did the other people taking the test perform? What is the pass mark in the test? If it is
85 marks, what was the number of marks available? To be of any value, it needs to be processed in
some ways to produce information, e.g. collected, sorted, organized, and presented in acceptable
formats. Data is the input raw materials from which information is produced.
Information is a data that has been processed and presented in a useful format that will enable
an individual to gain knowledge in order to be able to make a decision. The act of producing data
does not itself produce information. Information is data that have been interpreted and understood by
the recipient of the message.
Information has meaning within a specific context and is useful for making a decision,
solving a problem, performing a task, etc. It is important to note that different individuals may need
the same data arranged in a quite different ways to give them information. The information required
varies with the type of person and his/her needs.

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Data
Data
Collected Processed
Data
Presented
Information
Figure 1.1: Description of Data and Information Activities
Table 1: Examples of Data and Information
Payroll System Sales Ledger System
Raw Data Rate of pay, hours Customer Sales, customer

worked, deduction, remittances, etc.
etc.
Information Pay slip, report for Balance owing statements,

management, etc. debtors balances, etc.
Quality of Information
Good information is the one that is used and which creates value. Research shows that good
information has numerous qualities as follows:
1. Relevance or Appropriateness. Information must be relevant to the problem being
considered. Too often, reports contain irrelevant parts which make understanding more
difficult and cause frustration to the user and lead to information overload.

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2. Accuracy. Information should be sufficiently accurate for the purpose for which it is
intended. The need for accuracy varies according to information usage. For example, the
marketing director is only interested in sales figure +/- N15000.00?
3. Completeness. The information should be complete in respect of the key elements of the
problem.
4. Timeliness. The information should be communicated in time to be used.
5. Reliable. The users must have confidence in the source of the information for it to be used.
6. Communicated to the right person. Information suppliers need to analyse the key decision
points in an organization in order to direct information exactly where it is required.
7. Must contain the right level of detail. Information should contain the least amount of detail
consistent with effective decision making. The level of detail should vary with the level in the
organization; the higher the level, the greater the degree of compression and summarization.
8. Communicated by an appropriate channel of communication. To be used by the manager,

information must be transmitted by means of a communication process.
9. Communication involves the interchangeable of facts, thoughts, vale judgment and

opinions. The communication process may take many forms: face-to-face conversations,
telephone calls, informal and formal meetings, reports, tabulations, VDU transmissions, etc.
Whatever the process, good communication results where the sender and the receiver are in
accord over the meaning of a particular message.
10. That which is understandable by the user. Understandability is what transforms data into
information. If the information is not understood, it cannot be used and thus cannot add value.
Information Levels
Information within an organization can be analysed into three levels – Strategic, Tactical and
Operational.
1. Strategic Information – used by senior managers to plan the objectives of their organizations
and to assess whether the objectives are being met in practice, e.g. population statistics,
investment statistics, national resource availabilities. Much of this information must come from
environmental sources, although internally generated information will also be used. It relates to
long-term planning in an organization, typically 3-5 years.

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2. Tactical Information – used by middle management to ensure that the resources of the business
are employed efficiently and effectively to achieve the strategic objectives of the organisation
e.g. sales analyses and forecasts, production requirements, annual financial statements, predicted
course/student numbers. A large proportion of this information will be generated from within the
organisation. Tactical information is usually prepared regularly – perhaps weekly or monthly and
it is for medium-term planning, typically 6-24 months.
3. Operational Information – used by frontline managers such as foremen or head clerks to ensure
that specific tasks are planned and carried out properly within a factory or office. Operational
information is prepared regularly – perhaps weekly or daily and it is used for a short term
planning, days, weeks, possibly hourly e.g. stock levels, overdue purchase orders, production
control, and module enrolments. The destination level of information is very important as the
information must be material to the user, but without going into unnecessary and time consuming
detail in order to achieve pointless accuracy to the nearest penny. Management control may be
satisfied with costs to the nearest hundred or thousand dollars or naira. Greater detail would serve
no purpose. Strategic planning may be satisfied with figures to the nearest ten thousand, hundred
thousand or even million dollars or naira. In all cases, the information and reports must be
relevant to the particular user.
Types of Information
There are five types of information: facts, concepts, procedures, processes, and principles. A
description of each type of information is provided in below, as well as an example of each type.
• Fact: - This is a unique bit of information that identifies an object, person, place, or date. The
description of each type of information is described below. Example is the driver’s license
number.
• Concept: - This is a category of items or ideas that share common features. Example is a
Cheetah or a Leopard.
• Procedure: - A series of steps that show how to make or do something. An example is the
procedure in a brushing the teeth.
• Process: - A description of how something works or operates. Example is the process of
photosynthesis.
• Principles: - These are rules, heuristics, guidelines, criteria that predict an outcome. An
example is the preparation of a research paper using the school guidelines for writing perfect
research papers.

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Sources of Information
Written information can be divided into several types. It is easier to explain what kind of information
the formats cover if the formats are contrasted.
• Primary vs. secondary sources
• Books vs. periodicals
• Scholarly vs. non-scholarly
• Reference vs. general books
• Print vs. electronic
Primary vs. Secondary Sources

There are two kinds of sources for information, primary and secondary. Primary sources are
firsthand, "direct from the source" information. Secondary sources are analyses of primary sources.
If you write an autobiography, that's a primary source for your life. If someone reviews or writes a
criticism of that autobiography, then that's a secondary source for your life. Or if someone writes a
biography of you, that would also be a secondary source.
• For literature, the works by an author are primary, and the criticisms of the works are
secondary.
• For historical issues, letters, diaries, and contemporary accounts are primary sources, while
anything written after the event is a secondary source.
• For the sciences, the output from the original research on the issue (an article on a survey
conducted or the study done) is the primary source, while any analysis or summaries of
research done by others is a secondary source.
Books vs. Periodicals

Books
Written information can also be divided into two other forms, books and periodicals. Books
themselves come in different types. Monographic books, a.k.a. monographs are "written once," or are
books that stand on their own, rather than being part of a series. The information in monographs
tends to be comprehensive information on a general topic, or at least more general than what is found
in articles. A good monograph should give you a sense of scope, historical background, and a
thorough analysis of the issue. To get the most out of monographs, you really should read it in its
entirety, rather than just breezing through a few selected chapters.
But not all books follow the monographic format. Some are actually a collection of essays or
articles, written by different authors. And while the articles are related somehow, the issues within
the articles can be much more focused on a smaller aspect of the issue.

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And occasionally you will find books that just cite sources of information on an issue, called
bibliographies. Bibliographies are either comprehensive for a particular issue (within a particular
date range), or attempt to be selective, just citing the "best" sources of information (again, within a
date range), but most bibliographies in book format are comprehensive.
Periodicals
Periodicals are any written information that comes out periodically. Newspapers, magazines, and
journals are all periodicals. The articles within periodicals tend to be more specific or about certain
aspects of an issue, versus monographs. Periodicals take many forms.
• Newspapers usually offer articles that are factual accounts of events, but they can be an
analysis of trends or issues as well. Newspaper articles usually aren't written by experts in the
field and don't offer suggested readings or sources of where they got their information.
Newspaper articles are great for current events and primary source material.
• Popular magazines are the least scholarly and are mainly for entertainment. Articles tend to
offer general tips or advice, or interviews with celebrities.
Examples: Good Housekeeping, GQ, People, Road & Track, Vogue, etc.
• Trade magazines are those published by associations and/or aimed at practitioners in a
particular field, offering mainly practical, how-to articles, or news useful to the field. If the
magazine looks like it might be scholarly, but the articles within are clearly not, then it's
probably a trade magazine. Examples: Advertising Age, Computerworld, Progressive
Farmer, etc.
• News magazines are more similar to newspapers, in that they offer factual, current events
news and analysis. Examples: Economist, Maclean's, Newsweek, Time, etc.
• Opinion magazines only offer analysis of issues and trends, sometimes with a political
agenda. Examples: Christianity Today, The Nation, National Review, New Republic, etc.
• A journal is the name given a periodical that is scholarly in nature. Articles are written by
researchers or academics and should offer citations to sources consulted. How a particular
article winds up in the journal depends on the kind of journal it is.
• A peer-reviewed journal accepts manuscripts and farms them out to other experts
in the field to judge the article, usually without the name of the author. The article
is then critiqued and is either accepted, sent back to the author for revisions, or
outright rejected.
• Other journals do not accept unsolicited manuscripts; rather they recruit particular
individuals and ask them to contribute an article. So while this type of journal isn't
peer-reviewed, it is very selective and just as prestigious to be published in.

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• And some journals aren't quite as rigorous as the two above. The works are
scholarly, but article proposals are judged in-house by the editor or the editorial
board, rather than peer-reviewed.
Most journals will tell you straight out if they are peer-reviewed or not in the description of
its scope, near where the journal lists the editor/editorial board. Otherwise you can consult a
reference set called Ulrich's Periodical Directory, kept behind the Information Desk on Level 2.
Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly

One could also divide information into two camps, scholarly and non-scholarly. Sometimes your
instructors will place limits on the types of sources you may use for your research, stating that you
can only use scholarly information. Periodicals can be clearly divided this way, usually referred to as
journals vs. magazines. But to judge whether a book is scholarly or not, it's best to note who the
author is and what his/her credentials are, and whether there is a bibliography and notes to sources
consulted. To a certain extent you can judge this also by the publisher. As a rule, university presses
almost always publish scholarly works, while other presses may or may not. But whenever your
instructor states that you can only use scholarly sources, be more vigilant in critiquing the
information. Note the credentials of the author. And if there are no references to sources, you may
want to dismiss it.
Reference vs. General Collection

Another dichotomy in information sources is reference sources vs. general collection books.
Reference works are those resources that you only want to "refer" to a small section of the work,
either to find a quick fact, or to get a general overview of an issue. The information sources found in
the reference collection vary widely, but here are some common ones.
• Encyclopaedias are the best sources for reading an overview of a topic. There are both
general encyclopaedias, which try to summarize all knowledge, and subject-specific
encyclopaedias, which focus only on a general topic like health or the environment, and offer
overviews of aspects of the general topic. The entries within encyclopaedias can range from a
paragraph to 30 pages. Most subject-specific encyclopaedias will also offer a short
bibliography or suggestions for further reading.
• Dictionaries offer shorter definitions and summaries of terms. Like encyclopaedias,
dictionaries can be general or subject-specific. Also, just to make it even more confusing,
some reference works are entitled Dictionary of something, but are in fact encyclopaedias in
terms of scope and length of the entries.

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• Handbooks/Manuals/Guides are works that offer quick facts, formulas, equations, or names
and addresses for a particular subject.
• Atlases offer information in cartographic form. While you may think of atlases as just
offering maps of countries or U.S. states, some atlases describe historical events or social
issues in map form, e.g. the changing borders of European countries, or the percentage of
people in poverty around the world.
• Almanacs offer quick facts, either for all subjects, e.g. The World Almanac and Book of
Facts, or subject-specific, e.g. The Almanac of Illinois Politics.
• Statistical compilations describe issues with numbers. Some are general in scope, the best
known being the Statistical Abstract, but there are some that only cover a general subject,
such as criminal justice or economics. Most statistical compilations are published by state,
federal, or international agencies, and may then be found in the Government Publications
area, rather that Reference.
Print vs. Electronic

And finally, there's print vs. electronic information. Like print, electronic information encompasses
all the formats mentioned above. You can find electronic books, electronic periodicals, electronic
reference works, etc.
But print is not dead, for a variety of reasons.
• Publishers themselves have been somewhat wary about going completely digital, and some of
them package the electronic versions with purchase of print copies.
• Libraries have centuries worth of print information, and a lot of it is not going to be digitized
anytime soon, if ever, simply because it wouldn't be profitable to digitize it.
• Some types of information don't lend themselves to being read on a computer because of the
current technology, and it isn't cost effective for individuals to print out the information.
Most e-books, e-journals, databases, and online encyclopaedias are not free. The library
purchases them, and then gives free access to their patrons who have paid for library resources, either
tax dollars for public libraries and/or tuition to academic libraries.
And then there are all those free websites. There's a lot of useful information out there in
cyberspace, as well as lots of unsubstantiated, worthless information as well. You can find
information on any topic, assuming that someone bothered to create the website. So why would
someone take the time and effort to put the website together?
• For commercial enterprises, they bothered because they want to sell you something, or they
want to attract your attention to bring in advertising revenue.

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• For mainstream news organizations or publishers, they are already set up to make money via
advertising, so they may be able afford to offer free content. But they may only have a week's
worth of articles available, or selected articles to entice you to subscribe.
• For federal and state government agencies, they have a legal mandate to disseminate
information gathered via tax dollars back to the public. So the Internet is seen as a cheaper
method of dissemination than print.
• For non-profit organizations, they want to "get the word out" about their cause, so the Internet
is a perfect medium to distribute their own reports.
• Scholarly information generated by academics can be found, but we are still in the infancy of
the Internet being used for this. There have been a number of big pushes to have more e-
journals, to counteract the costs of scholarly journals, especially in the sciences. And there
are a number of digitization projects of historical, primary documents on the Web, many of
them sponsored by academic institutions.
Locating Information
Once you know what type of information you need and what sources of information are likely to
have that information, you can start looking for those sources. Although there is no one best path for
searching for information, there are a few steps that every researcher needs to take:
• Library databases vs. the public Web
Determine whether a library database or the public Web is more likely to have the information
you need.
• Subject specific vs. general databases
If a library database if more likely to have the information you need, determine whether you need
a subject specific database or can rely on a more general tool.
• Types of searches
Once you have identified a database or other research tools, choose a search strategy for using
that tool.
• Keyword searching
• Subject searching
Library Databases vs. the Public Web

Library Databases
For example, all of Penn's University (in the USA) research databases are accessed through the
physical library or the Library Web. Most of these resources are paid for by the Library and provided
to students free of charge. Because library databases contain mostly scholarly information and are

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designed to allow convenient searching of scholarly topics, they are very well suited for scholarly
research.
Public Web
The public Web includes information on the Web that can be accessed at no cost, including sites that
can be accessed with search engines such as Google and Yahoo. Because anyone can place a site on
the public Web, only a small percentage of the information available is appropriate for scholarly
research (see Penn's Web evaluation tutorial for help evaluating public Web sites).
Examples
Library Public
• Ebsco Megafile • Wikipedia
• ISI • Google
• JSTOR • Yahoo
• E-Journals • CNN
Content: Library Databases vs. Public Web
Library databases have especially good The public web has especially good coverage
coverage of: of:
• Books • Very current (today's) news
• Journal, magazine and newspaper articles • Primary resources
• Scholarly and general reference materials • Information about popular culture
• Government documents • General reference information
• Primary resources • Recent government documents
• Statistical information • Statistical information
• Pictures and images • Pictures and images
Features: Library Databases vs. Public Web
Library databases Public web
Credibility of material Generally high Varies widely
Level of resources Mostly scholarly Mostly popular
Availability of full-text Moderate High
Search capabilities Sophisticated Simple

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Subject-specific vs. general databases
Subject Specific Databases
Some resources provide content with a specific discipline in mind; these tools typically provide
comprehensive coverage of scholarly literature in a defined field. For instance, a database might
strive to list every scholarly journal article written about American History. Works listed in such
databases usually range from merely scholarly to highly technical.
General Databases
General databases typically include information about articles from many disciplines, but don't cover
any discipline as comprehensively as a subject specific database would. Examples
Library Public
Ebsco Megafile Psycinfo
ISI Medline
JSTOR ABI-Inform (business)
E-Journals Historical Abstracts
Keyword vs. Subject Searching

If you don't know the title or author of an item, or if you are searching for literature on a topic, you
will probably rely on keyword or subject searches. Successful searching often depends on
understanding the difference.
Keyword Searches
Keyword searches are similar to Internet searches with Google in that the database will look for the
words you use wherever they may be on a page. Regardless of whether the word is in a title, author
name, place of publication or footnote, the page will be returned as a result.
Subject Searches
Subject searches, on the other hand, only return results in which the term being used appears in the
subject field. Databases have different interfaces and use different terms, but most will provide these
two options for searching
Keyword or Subject Search?

• Do you know appropriate subjects? Use a subject search unless you want to combine terms.
• Do you want to combine terms? Use a keyword search.
• Is there little information about your topic? Use a keyword search.
• Does your subject search return 'no results'? Use a keyword search.

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Comparisons of Keywords and Subject searches

Keywords Searches
• Search for: Records that have the search term anywhere within them.
• Volume: Depending on the terms you use, searches may retrieve no results or thousands.
Searches with general terms often return many results.
• Relevance: Varies. Results may be completely unrelated to your topic. For example, a search
for 'Philadelphia' returns records for every book published by the University of Pennsylvania
Press (located in 'Philadelphia') regardless of whether the work is about Philadelphia.
• Flexibility: High: Terms can be combined in complex ways to design effective searches.
Subject Searches
• Search for: Records that have the search term in the subject headings part of that record.
• Volume: Varies widely. Some searches will retrieve hundreds of results, but, if you choose a
nonexistent subject term, you will get none.
• Relevance: High as long as you identify the correct subject for your topic.
• Flexibility: The flexibility of your search is limited by the manner in which subjects are
structured in the database that you are searching.
Using Subject searches

Subject Heading Searches
Subject heading searches look for categories instead of words, and the exact name of a category is
often required to get successful results. Furthermore, names of subjects can be quite unintuitive.
Assume that you are doing a subject heading search in Franklin for books about
the history of French film. If you tried the following searches you would receive
the following results:
films history france 0
france motion pictures history 0
motion pictures france history 69
motion pictures french history 0
cinema france history 0
Only one combination of terms is successful! The others return no results! This
aspect of subject heading searches can make such searching difficult unless you
already have some idea of what the subject heading is.

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Alternatives means of identifying subject headings

If you don't know and can't guess the correct subject heading, you have a few alternatives:
1. Try a keyword search. This will frequently work fine, but by using keyword searches you
lose the benefits of subject searches.
2. Use a keyword search to locate a subject heading.
3. Some databases will allow you to do a subject heading keyword search. This will search for
specific words in the subject headings area of records--you will not need to know the exact
combination of words in the subject heading to get quality results.
Evaluating Information
Before you can use the information you've found you need to evaluate it to determine its
appropriateness for your purposes, which can often be done by applying a number of standard
criteria. These criteria include Credibility, Accuracy, Currency, Relevance and Bias.
Credibility
A credible resource is one that is deserving of belief. A credible resource may provide incorrect or
misleading information, but it is much less likely to do so than is a resource that lacks credibility.
What could go wrong? You may run into a number of problems if you use information that
does not come from credible sources.
• The information may be incorrect
• The information may be lead you towards a flawed analysis
• Scholars may see that you have used untrustworthy sources and assume that your research is
untrustworthy as well.
To avoid the above listed problems or troubles, use the signs of a credible source to determine
whether a work deserves your consideration or not.
Signs of a Credible Source:

Sources of information can usually be determined to be credible or not by considering who is
responsible for the information in it, who made it available, and where you learned about it:
Signs of a credible author

• advanced degree (PH.D, MD, JD, etc.) in the area being written about
• affiliation with an institution of higher learning
• reputation as an expert within area of publication

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• relevant publication record
Signs of a credible publisher

• publisher has a reputation for scholarly publishing
• publisher is affiliated with a university, college or other research institution
• there is an editorial board consisting of multiple experts in the field
• the board makes its decisions on the basis of the results of a blind review process
Signs of a credible referring source

• Reference is from a professor or other expert
• Reference is from a scholarly database (MLA, Medline, etc.)
• Reference is from a scholarly reference work (Encyclopaedia of Religion, etc.)
• Reference is from a citations or bibliography of a scholarly book or journal article
Accuracy
Even if a work is credible, it may not be accurate. It might rely on or present incorrect information.
This is a particular problem when the work is old, emotionally charged or addresses a disputed or
unclear issue. Look for the following signs to determine whether a work is accurate:
Signs of Accuracy
• the work uses facts and presents results that agree with your own knowledge of the subject
• the work uses facts and presents results that agree with those of other specialists in the field
• the work provides clear explanations of how data was gathered and results were reached
• the work provides citations and detailed explanations of reasoning
• the work addresses theories and facts that may negate the main thesis
Currency
Information about an event will appear over time in different types of resources. Depending on the
type of research you are doing, you may need to consider the time frame in which the information
has been published. This time line indicates the minimum amount of time after an event takes places
or an idea is developed that information about it filters into various types of media information may
always appear later.
Minutes-
days Day-Days Week Months Year-Years

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WWW Newspapers Popular Scholarly Journals Books
Magazines Reference Works
What could go wrong?

• You may run into a number of problems if you don't consider the currency of information.
• The information may have been proven incorrect.
• More recent interpretations may have become standard.
• You may use a source that isn't relevant to your topic.
• Scholars may see that you have used inappropriate sources and disregard your research.
How to avoid it:

• Understand when and why currency is an important factor in choosing sources.
What to look for! - Time-Sensitive Research:

• Research about current events: - Research about events occurring in the present or very
recent past must rely on media with a short information cycle. Events that happened less than
a week ago may only be covered on the Internet, newspapers and radio transcripts.
• Research that relies on time-sensitive information and theory: - Researchers needing
current data such as statistics, scientific breakthroughs or current events may want to use
journals, newspapers or even the Internet to access information. Furthermore, researchers
should be careful with older works that may be dated.
• Time sensitive historical research:- Researchers needing primary resources that are very
contemporary with an event will likely have more luck using newspapers, magazines and
personal accounts from that time period than using books or journal articles, which often
appear long after the event being considered.
Relevance
Relevant information is about your topic and helps to answer your question. Some of the information
may be related to the concepts in your topic and yet still not be relevant. To make good relevance
judgments you need to know a good deal about your topic and what sorts of information are
available. To determine the relevance of information you need to answer the following questions and
use the answers to make smart decisions:
• What is your research question?
• What information would help to answer it?
• Do you need popular or scholarly resources?

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• Do you need opinions or more objective information?
• What formats (book, journal, magazine, newspaper, etc.) of information resources would be
useful?
Bias
According to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, bias is "an inclination of temperament or
outlook; especially: a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment: PREJUDICE." All authors have
inclinations of outlook and are to some degree biased, but bias damages the reliability of some works
more than others.
Signs suggesting bias

• the work is created by a person or organization that is committed to a viewpoint that may
colour their views on the subject at hand
• the work is published by a person or organization that would benefit by promoting a
particular point of view
• the work is actively trying to sell a product or service
• the work does not document information or cites unscholarly or biased works
The Cautious Researcher Should

• learn about the author of a work to identify particular interests and commitments that may
lead to significant bias
• independently verify facts and statistics with a reliable source
• consider whether the biased analysis is the only one that fits the data
• try to identify general and specific ways in which the bias may have influenced the argument
Evaluating Resources Worksheet

This worksheet can help you evaluate any resource you may want to use for your research.
Authority
Does the author have a relevant degree?
Is the author connected with an institution of higher learning?
Is the publisher known for quality publications?
Did you learn about the work from a reliable source?
Bias
Is the work trying to promote a product or service?
Is the author strongly committed to a viewpoint espoused in the
work?
Was the work sponsored by an organization that is committed to
the viewpoint being espoused?

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Does the work cite material that seems biased?
Accuracy
Does the work agree with your own knowledge?
Does the work agree with that of other specialists in the field?
Does the work avoid questionable assumptions?
Does the work document sources and explain its methodology?
Currency
Is the work current enough to include relevant events?
Does the work clearly state when it was published and most
recently revised?
Relevance
Does the work address your research question?
Is the work at the level of scholarship you require?
Is the work objective enough for your purposes?
Is the work the correct type and format?
Documentation
The first step in the research process is often to develop a research question that is appropriate for
your assignment, interesting and neither too broad nor too narrow. Although researchers have
different techniques for developing topics, this section guides you through a standard path.
Penn's Plagiarism Policy

The University of Pennsylvania's Code of Academic Integrity defines Plagiarism as:
Plagiarism: using the ideas, data, or language of another without specific or proper
acknowledgment.
If you present someone's words, thoughts or data as your own, you are committing plagiarism—
you are stealing. The location of the information is irrelevant: when it comes to plagiarism,
information from the Internet is equivalent to information from a physical book or journal. To
avoid plagiarism you must cite the original author every time you:
• Use an author's exact written or spoken words. In this case, you must also identify the
words by enclosing them with quotation marks or indenting the quote on both sides of the
margin.
• Paraphrase someone's written or spoken words
• Use facts provided by someone else that are not common knowledge.
• Make significant use of someone's ideas or theories.

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It is also plagiarism to pay a person or Internet service for a paper, hand in someone else's paper as
your own, or cut and paste text from the Internet to your paper without citing the source.
Consequences
Students caught plagiarizing may face either academic or disciplinary negative consequences.
Instructors who determine that a paper includes plagiarized material can take academic measures,
such as giving a failing grade for the paper. If the instructor decides that disciplinary measures
should be taken, the case will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. If the student is found
responsible following formal procedures, the student may face a number of sanctions—including
suspension. Whatever the sanction, academic integrity action by the Office of Student Conduct
becomes a part of the student's permanent record and may have an adverse impact on future
academic and career goals.
Examples of Paraphrase
Of course, direct quotations require quotation marks and citations, but even paraphrases—
rewordings of text—need to be cited. Paraphrasing without providing a citation is plagiarism. Even
paraphrases with citations can be instances of plagiarism if they are so similar to the original that the
paraphraser claims credit for the original author's language.
A paraphrase that avoids plagiarism:
• Cites the source of the material being paraphrased.
• Differs enough from the original that it doesn't require quotation marks.
Following are two examples of paraphrases, one that is plagiarism and one that is not. The original is
taken from Maguelone Toussaint-Samat's A History of Food (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992. 263).
Original:
Wines drunk at Greek tables did not always come from Greece itself. The wine snobbery of the
time extolled the merits of wines from the slopes of Mount Lebanon, from Palestine, Egypt and
Magna Graecia-Greater Greece, i.e., southern Italy. The ten litres a day drunk by the famous
wrestler Milo of Croton was a wine famous in Calabria, where Milo lived: this wine, Ciro, is still
made.
Plagiarism:
Wines drunk by Greeks were not always made in Greece itself. The wine snobs of that period
celebrated wines from Mount Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt. The famous wrestler Milo of Croton,

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who consumed ten liters of wine a day, drank wine made in Calabria outside of Greece; this wine,
Ciro, is still made.
This paraphrase fails for two reasons:

1. By having no citation, the paraphrase misleads readers into believing that the ideas, facts and
sense of the passage are a result of the author's own research and knowledge.
2. The language of the paraphrase is too similar to the original. Even if the author had provided
a citation, some instructors would consider this plagiarism.
Not Plagiarism:
Although Greeks were picky about their wine, they enjoyed wine from outside Greece. Upstanding
Greeks enjoyed wine from many of Greece's local trading partners—including Palestine, Egypt
and southern Italy. One story tells of the famous wrestler Milo of Croton, who consumed ten litres
of foreign wine daily (Toussaint-Samat 263).
This paraphrase cites the original and rephrases its words to create an original construction.
Example of a paraphrase with a citation that is still plagiarism

The original is by Thomas Childers (Wings of morning: the story of the last American bomber shot
down over Germany in World War II, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. 1990. 83.) The use of the
original is by Stephen E. Ambrose (The wild blue: the men and boys who flew the B-24s over
Germany. New York: Simon & Schuster, c2001.164.)
Original:
Up, up, up, groping through clouds for what seemed like an eternity....No amount of practice could
have prepared them for what they encountered. B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of
the clouds all over the sky.
As used:
Up, up, up he went, until he got above the clouds. No amount of practice could have prepared the
pilot and crew for what they encountered-B-24s, glittering like mica, were popping up out of the
clouds over here, over there, everywhere.
(There later followed a citation to the original quotation).

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Ambrose cites but does not quote Childers' original work, and therefore he claims responsibility for
the beautiful prose. Because the prose and imagery is Childers,' Ambrose is plagiarizing. Ambrose
should have either used Childers' passage as a direct quotation or modified his own passage so that it
consisted of his own language.
Examples of Common Knowledge

Not every fact in your paper needs to be documented. Facts that are widely known—common
knowledge—can stand by themselves.
Examples of statements expressing common knowledge:

George Washington was the first president.
Plato spent most of his life in Athens.
Maine has a lower yearly average temperature than Florida.
Any statement that originates from another source and contains information that is not common
knowledge must be cited.
Examples of statements that don't express common knowledge:

Civilizations that were aware of geese usually considered them intermediaries between heaven and
earth (Toussaint-Samat 352).
The Chinese fishing industry produces 800,000 tons of fish annually (Toussaint-Samat 328).
The first international coffee syndicate was based in Germany (Toussaint-Samat 590).
These statements aren't surrounded by quotation marks because they aren't the original
authors' words but must be cited because they express information that involves facts that are not
commonly known.
Tips for Avoiding Plagiarism
1. Be sure to give yourself enough time for research and writing.
You are most likely to plagiarize when you are struggling to write a paper at the last minute.
If you haven't done any research and haven't had time to construct a true argument, you might
be tempted to save time by relying heavily on one or two resources. In your rush you might
closely paraphrase large sections of text or unintentionally use direct quotations without
giving credit. To give you time for research and analysis, start thinking about the paper well
before it is due.
2. Take careful notes and keep records of sources.

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When done well, research includes taking lots of notes. Note taking style varies from
researcher to researcher, but certain patterns should always be followed. Clearly indicate and
provide location information for any duplication or paraphrase of original text in your note.
This will help you avoid accidental plagiarism and allow you to quickly locate the original
text. Furthermore, maintain a working bibliography while you research. This will assure that
you don't forget or lose a work that needs to be cited.
3. Limit quotations and paraphrases to instances when they are really necessary.
The more you rely directly on the work of others, the more likely you are to accidentally
plagiarize. Remember, research papers rely on but do not simply duplicate the work of others.
An over-reliance on quotes or paraphrases when they are unnecessary could suggest that you
do not understand the information well enough to synthesize it for yourself. Quotes or
paraphrases are useful when another's work is being used as a primary resource, when you
want to appeal to authority, or when you are summarizing.
4. When in doubt -- cite.
You will not always be clear about what needs to be cited. In times of doubt, err on the side
of caution. If a paraphrase seems similar to the original source, cite it. If it includes complex
ideas that you wouldn't have thought of on your own, cite it. If large sections of your paper
were generated through consideration of someone else's argument, include a general citation
that explains how it influenced your work.
Copyright
Copyright is a form of legal protection granted by the government to authors of original
works that have been 'fixed' in a tangible medium of expression. A 'fixed' work is in a form that
allows it to be communicated over time, and copyrightable items include textual, musical, pictorial,
graphic, audiovisual, architectural and choreographed works.
Copyright potentially extends to:

• published and unpublished works
• works in any format, including physical, textual, visual, audio and digital
• works of popular culture, including television shows, movies, photographs and songs
• works that you own but did not create, including DVDs and digital files
• works that are widely available for free, including items available on the public Internet
• works that do not indicate their copyright status

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In most cases, copyright protects original works from being reproduced, distributed,
displayed, and performed, etc, without permission from the work's owner--its copyright holder.
Improper use of copyrighted works--copyright infringement--is illegal and may result in fines or
other remedies. Copyright status can be difficult to determine, and, with few exceptions, you should
assume that every work is covered by copyright until you can prove otherwise.
Documentation and Copyright
Some people believe that it is permissible to use a work if an acknowledgment or citation is

provided. For example, one may think that it is acceptable to reproduce a photograph for publication
in an article as long as the name of the photographer is included. This is not true. Acknowledgment
of the copyright holder may play a role in determining whether a work was used fairly, but it will not
protect against a claim of infringement.
On the other hand, proper documentation must be used even for works that are not covered
by copyright (government documents, for example). The failure to do so may result in plagiarism.
Limits of Copyright and the Public Domain
Copyright has limits: it does not cover everything. Works that are not protected by copyright
are in the public domain; that is, they are not owned by a copyright holder but rather by the public,
and no permission is required to use them. Some works are in the public domain because copyright
does not cover them. Other works are in the public domain because their copyright has expired.
Works falling in any of the categories described below are in the public domain.
Works that are not protected by copyright:

Phrases, Facts, Ideas
Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, methods, or simple lists (such as recipes)
although it may protect expressions of them. For example, the expression of an idea as words can be
protected by copyright, but the idea itself cannot. Note: although copyright does not protect names,
titles, slogans, or short phrases, they may be protected as trademarks.
Works that have not been 'fixed'

Copyright does not protect works that have not been fixed in a tangible form of expression. For
example, improvised speeches or performances that have not been written, recorded, choreographed,
etc., are not protected by copyright.

22

Government Documents
Copyright protection does not extend to any work created by the government of that country or to the
work of any federal employee insofar as the employee created the work as part of their official
responsibilities. For instance, a presidential speech could be printed and sold on street corners
without first receiving permission from the president. However, state and local government
documents may be protected by copyright.
Works with Expired Copyright

When applicable, copyright is granted for a certain number of years from the creation or publication
of a work, with the specific length of coverage depending on when the work was created. Because of
changes in copyright law over the years, it is not always clear when copyright protection for a
particular work will expire.

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Chapter 3
Legal, Ethical & Intellectual Property
Issues
Introduction
In most countries of the world, the “information revolution” has altered many aspects of life
significantly: commerce, employment, medicine, security, transportation, entertainment, and so on.
Consequently, information and communication technology (ICT) has affected — in both good ways
and bad ways — community life, family life, human relationships, education, careers, freedom, and
democracy (to name just a few examples). “Computer and information ethics”, in the broadest sense
of this phrase, can be understood as that branch of applied ethics which studies and analyzes such
social and ethical impacts of ICT. The present essay concerns this broad new field of applied ethics.
The more specific term “computer ethics” has been used to refer to applications by professional
philosophers of traditional Western theories like utilitarianism, Kantianism, or virtue ethics, to
ethical cases that significantly involve computers and computer networks. “Computer ethics” also
has been used to refer to a kind of professional ethics in which computer professionals apply codes
of ethics and standards of good practice within their profession. In addition, other more specific
names, like “cyber ethics” and “Internet ethics”, have been used to refer to aspects of computer
ethics associated with the Internet. During the past several decades, the robust and rapidly growing
field of computer and information ethics has generated new university courses, research
professorships, research centres, conferences, workshops, professional organizations, curriculum
materials, books and journals.
The Foundation of Computer and Information Ethics

In the mid 1940s, innovative developments in science and philosophy led to the creation of a new
branch of ethics that would later be called “computer ethics” or “information ethics”. The founder of
this new philosophical field was the American scholar Norbert Wiener, a professor of mathematics
and engineering at MIT. During the Second World War, together with colleagues in America and
Great Britain, Wiener helped to develop electronic computers and other new and powerful
information technologies. While engaged in this war effort, Wiener and colleagues created a new
branch of applied science that Wiener named “cybernetics” (from the Greek word for the pilot of a
ship). Even while the War was raging, Wiener foresaw enormous social and ethical implications of

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cybernetics combined with electronic computers. He predicted that, after the War, the world would
undergo “a second industrial revolution” — an “automatic age” with “enormous potential for good
and for evil” that would generate a staggering number of new ethical challenges and opportunities.
When the War ended, Wiener wrote the book Cybernetics (1948) in which he described his
new branch of applied science and identified some social and ethical implications of electronic
computers. Two years later he published The Human Use of Human Beings (1950), a book in which
he explored a number of ethical issues that computer and information technology would likely
generate. The issues that he identified in those two books, plus his later book God and Golem, Inc.
(1963), included topics that are still important today: computers and security, computers and
unemployment, responsibilities of computer professionals, computers for persons with disabilities,
computers and religion, information networks and globalization, virtual communities, teleworking,
merging of human bodies with machines, robot ethics, artificial intelligence, and a number of other
subjects.
Although he coined the name “cybernetics” for his new science, Wiener apparently did not
see himself as also creating a new branch of ethics. As a result, he did not coin a name like
“computer ethics” or “information ethics”. These terms came into use decades later. (See the
discussion below.) In spite of this, Wiener's three relevant books (1948, 1950, and 1963) do lay down
a powerful foundation, and do use an effective methodology, for today's field of computer and
information ethics. His thinking, however, was far ahead of other scholars; and, at the time, many
people considered him to be an eccentric scientist who was engaging in flights of fantasy about
ethics. Apparently, no one — not even Wiener himself — recognized the profound importance of his
ethics achievements; and nearly two decades would pass before some of the social and ethical
impacts of information technology, which Wiener had predicted in the late 1940s, would become
obvious to other scholars and to the general public.
In The Human Use of Human Beings, Wiener explored some likely effects of information
technology upon key human values like life, health, happiness, abilities, knowledge, freedom,
security, and opportunities. The metaphysical ideas and analytical methods that he employed were so
powerful and wide-ranging that they could be used effectively for identifying, analyzing and
resolving social and ethical problems associated with all kinds of information technology, including,
for example, computers and computer networks; radio, television and telephones; news media and
journalism; even books and libraries. Because of the breadth of Wiener's concerns and the
applicability of his ideas and methods to every kind of information technology, the term
“information ethics” is an apt name for the new field of ethics that he founded. As a result, the term
“computer ethics”, as it is typically used today, names only a subfield of Wiener's much broader
concerns.

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In laying down a foundation for information ethics, Wiener developed a cybernetic view of
human nature and society, which led him to an ethically suggestive account of the purpose of a
human life. Based upon this, he adopted “great principles of justice” that he believed all societies
ought to follow. These powerful ethical concepts enabled Wiener to analyze information ethics
issues of all kinds.
Defining Computer Ethics

Computer ethics is a branch of practical philosophy which deals with how computing professionals
should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. The term "computer ethics" was
first coined by Walter Maner in the mid-1970s, but only since the 1990s has it started being
integrated into professional development programs in academic settings. The conceptual foundations
of computer ethics are investigated by information ethics, a branch of philosophical ethics
established by Luciano Floridi. Computer ethics is a very important topic in computer applications.
Identifying issues
Identifying ethical issues as they arise, as well as defining how to deal with them, has traditionally
been problematic in computer ethics. Some have argued against the idea of computer ethics as a
whole. However, Collins and Miller proposed a method of identifying issues in computer ethics in
their Paramedic Ethics model. The model is a data-centred view of judging ethical issues, involving
the gathering, analysis, negotiation, and judging of data about the issue.
In solving problems relating to ethical issues, Michael Davis proposed a unique problem-
solving method. In Davis's model, the ethical problem is stated, facts are checked, and a list of
options is generated by considering relevant factors relating to the problem. The actual action taken
is influenced by specific ethical standards.
Some questions in computer ethics

There are a number of questions that are frequently discussed under the rubric of computer ethics.
One set of issues deal with some of the new ethical dilemmas that have emerged, or taken on new
form, with the rise of the internet. For example, there is a wide range of behaviours that fall under the
heading of “hacking”, many of which have been variously defended and opposed by ethicists.
There are now many ways to gain information about others that were not available, or easily
available, before the rise of computers. Thus ethical issues about information storage and retrieval
are now in the forefront. How should we protect private data in large databases?

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Questions about software piracy are also widely discussed, especially in light of file sharing
programs such as Napster. The ethical questions that arise from software piracy are: Is it immoral or
wrong to copy software, music, or movies? If so, why?
A second set of questions, pertaining to the Internet, that are becoming more widely
discussed are questions relating to the values that some may wish to promote via the Internet. Some
have claimed that the internet is a "democratic technology", or an e-democracy. But is it really? Does
the Internet foster democracy? Should it? Does the digital divide raise ethical issues that society is
morally obligated to ameliorate?
Ethical standards
One of the most definitive sets of ethical standards is the Association for Computing Machinery
Code of Ethics. The code is a four-point standard governing ethical behaviour among computing
professionals. It covers the core set of computer ethics from professional responsibility to the
consequences of technology in society.
Another computer ethics body is the British Computer Society, which has published a code of
conduct and code of practice for computer professionals in the UK.
The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) defines ethical behaviour
from the standpoint of legality, specifically during the contracting process of computing. It defines
how valid computing contracts are formed and how issues, such as breach of contract, are defined
and settled. However, legality does not completely encompass computer ethics. It is just one facet of
the constantly expanding field of computer ethics.
Computing and Human Values

Beginning with the computer ethics works of Norbert Wiener (1948, 1950, 1963), a common thread
has run through much of the history of computer ethics; namely, concern for protecting and
advancing central human values, such a life, health, security, happiness, freedom, knowledge,
resources, power and opportunity. Thus, most of the specific issues that Wiener dealt with are cases
of defending or advancing such values. For example, by working to prevent massive unemployment
caused by robotic factories, Wiener tried to preserve security, resources and opportunities for factory
workers. Similarly, by arguing against the use of decision-making war-game machines, Wiener tried
to diminish threats to security and peace.
This “human-values approach” to computer ethics has been very fruitful. It has served, for
example, as an organizing theme for major computer-ethics conferences, such as the 1991 National
Conference on Computing and Values at Southern Connecticut State University (see the section
below on “exponential growth”), which was devoted to the impacts of computing upon security,

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property, privacy, knowledge, freedom and opportunities. In the late 1990s, a similar approach to
computer ethics, called “value-sensitive computer design”, emerged based upon the insight that
potential computer-ethics problems can be avoided, while new technology is under development, by
anticipating possible harm to human values and designing new technology from the very beginning
in ways that prevent such harm.
Professional Ethics and Computer Ethics

In the early 1990s, a different emphasis within computer ethics was advocated by Donald Gotterbarn.
He believed that computer ethics should be seen as a professional ethics devoted to the development
and advancement of standards of good practice and codes of conduct for computing professionals.
Thus, in 1991, in the article “Computer Ethics: Responsibility Regained”, Gotterbarn said:
There is little attention paid to the domain of professional ethics — the values that guide the
day-to-day activities of computing professionals in their role as professionals. By computing
professional I mean anyone involved in the design and development of computer artefacts. …
The ethical decisions made during the development of these artefacts have a direct
relationship to many of the issues discussed under the broader concept of computer ethics.
Throughout the 1990s, with this aspect of computer ethics in mind, Gotterbarn worked with
other professional-ethics advocates (for example, Keith Miller, Dianne Martin, Chuck Huff and
Simon Rogerson) in a variety of projects to advance professional responsibility among computer
practitioners. Even before 1991, Gotterbarn had been part of a committee of the ACM (Association
for Computing Machinery) to create the third version of that organization's “Code of Ethics and
Professional Conduct”. Later, Gotterbarn and colleagues in the ACM and the Computer Society of
the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) developed licensing standards for
software engineers. In addition, Gotterbarn headed a joint taskforce of the IEEE and ACM to create
the “Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice”.
In the late 1990s, Gotterbarn created the Software Engineering Ethics Research Institute
(SEERI) at East Tennessee State University (see http://seeri.etsu.edu/); and in the early 2000s,
together with Simon Rogerson, he developed a computer program called SoDIS (Software
Development Impact Statements) to assist individuals, companies and organizations in the
preparation of ethical “stakeholder analyses” for determining likely ethical impacts of software
development projects. These and many other projects focused attention upon professional
responsibility and advanced the professionalization and ethical maturation of computing
practitioners.

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Information Ethics
Some important recent developments, which began after 1995, seem to be confirming Górniak's
hypothesis — in particular, the information ethics theory of Luciano Floridi and the “Flourishing
Ethics” theory that combines ideas from Aristotle, Wiener, Moor and Floridi.
In developing his information ethics theory (henceforth FIE), Floridi argued that the purview
of computer ethics — indeed of ethics in general — should be widened to include much more than
simply human beings, their actions, intentions and characters. He offered FIE as another
“macroethics” (his term) which is similar to utilitarianism, deontologism, contractualism, and virtue
ethics, because it is intended to be applicable to all ethical situations. On the other hand, IE is
different from these more traditional Western theories because it is not intended to replace them, but
rather to supplement them with further ethical considerations that go beyond the traditional theories,
and that can be overridden, sometimes, by traditional ethical considerations.
The name ‘information ethics’ is appropriate to Floridi's theory, because it treats everything
that exists as “informational” objects or processes:
[All] entities will be described as clusters of data, that is, as informational objects. More precisely,
[any existing entity] will be a discrete, self-contained, encapsulated package containing the:
• appropriate data structures, which constitute the nature of the entity in question, that is, the
state of the object, its unique identity and its attributes; and
• a collection of operations, functions, or procedures, which are activated by various
interactions or stimuli (that is, messages received from other objects or changes within itself)
and correspondingly define how the object behaves or reacts to them.
At this level of abstraction, informational systems as such, rather than just living systems in
general, are raised to the role of agents and patients of any action, with environmental processes,
changes and interactions equally described informationally.
Since everything that exists, according to FIE, is an informational object or process, he calls
the totality of all that exists — the universe considered as a whole — “the infosphere”. Objects and
processes in the infosphere can be significantly damaged or destroyed by altering their characteristic
data structures. Such damage or destruction Floridi calls “entropy”, and it results in partial
“empoverishment of the infosphere”. Entropy in this sense is an evil that should be avoided or
minimized, and Floridi offers four “fundamental principles”:
• Entropy ought not to be caused in the infosphere (null law).
• Entropy ought to be prevented in the infosphere.
• Entropy ought to be removed from the infosphere.
• The flourishing of informational entities as well as the whole infosphere ought to be
promoted by preserving, cultivating and enriching their properties.

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FIE is based upon the idea that everything in the infosphere has at least a minimum worth that
should be ethically respected, even if that worth can be overridden by other considerations:
FIE suggests that there is something even more elemental than life, namely being — that is, the
existence and flourishing of all entities and their global environment — and something more
fundamental than suffering, namely entropy … . FIE holds that being/information has an intrinsic
worthiness. It substantiates this position by recognizing that any informational entity has a Spinozian
right to persist in its own status, and a Constructionist right to flourish, i.e., to improve and enrich its
existence and essence.
By construing every existing entity in the universe as “informational”, with at least a minimal
moral worth, FIE can supplement traditional ethical theories and go beyond them by shifting the
focus of one's ethical attention away from the actions, characters, and values of human agents toward
the “evil” (harm, dissolution, destruction) — “entropy” — suffered by objects and processes in the
infosphere. With this approach, every existing entity — humans, other animals, plants, organizations,
even non-living artifacts, electronic objects in cyberspace, pieces of intellectual property — can be
interpreted as potential agents that affect other entities, and as potential patients that are affected by
other entities. In this way, Floridi treats FIE as a “patient-based” non-anthropocentric ethical theory
to be used in addition to the traditional “agent-based” anthropocentric ethical theories like
utilitarianism, deontologism and virtue theory.
FIE, with its emphasis on “preserving and enhancing the infosphere”, enables Floridi to
provide, among other things, an insightful and practical ethical theory of robot behavior and the
behavior of other “artificial agents” like softbots and cyborgs. FIE is an important component of a
more ambitious project covering the entire new field of the Philosophy of Information.
Example Topics in Computer Ethics

No matter which re-definition of computer ethics one chooses, the best way to understand the nature
of the field is through some representative examples of the issues and problems that have attracted
research and scholarship. Consider, for example, the following topics:
• Computers in the Workplace
• Privacy and Anonymity
• Intellectual Property
• Professional Responsibility
• Globalization

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Computers in the Workplace
As a “universal tool” that can, in principle, perform almost any task, computers obviously pose a
threat to jobs. Although they occasionally need repair, computers don't require sleep, they don't get
tired, they don't go home ill or take time off for rest and relaxation. At the same time, computers are
often far more efficient than humans in performing many tasks. Therefore, economic incentives to
replace humans with computerized devices are very high. Indeed, in the industrialized world many
workers already have been replaced by computerized devices — bank tellers, auto workers,
telephone operators, typists, graphic artists, security guards, assembly-line workers, and on and on.
In addition, even professionals like medical doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants and
psychologists are finding that computers can perform many of their traditional professional duties
quite effectively.
The employment outlook, however, is not all bad. Consider, for example, the fact that the
computer industry already has generated a wide variety of new jobs: hardware engineers, software
engineers, systems analysts, webmasters, information technology teachers, computer sales clerks,
and so on. Thus it appears that, in the short run, computer-generated unemployment will be an
important social problem; but in the long run, information technology will create many more jobs
than it eliminates.
Even when a job is not eliminated by computers, it can be radically altered. For example,
airline pilots still sit at the controls of commercial airplanes; but during much of a flight the pilot
simply watches as a computer flies the plane. Similarly, those who prepare food in restaurants or
make products in factories may still have jobs; but often they simply push buttons and watch as
computerized devices actually perform the needed tasks. In this way, it is possible for computers to
cause “de-skilling” of workers, turning them into passive observers and button pushers. Again,
however, the picture is not all bad because computers also have generated new jobs which require
new sophisticated skills to perform — for example, “computer assisted drafting” and “keyhole”
surgery.
Another workplace issue concerns health and safety. As Forester and Morrison point out,
when information technology is introduced into a workplace, it is important to consider likely
impacts upon health and job satisfaction of workers who will use it. It is possible, for example, that
such workers will feel stressed trying to keep up with high-speed computerized devices — or they
may be injured by repeating the same physical movement over and over — or their health may be
threatened by radiation emanating from computer monitors. These are just a few of the social and
ethical issues that arise when information technology is introduced into the workplace.

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Computer Crime
In this era of computer “viruses” and international spying by “hackers” who are thousands of miles
away, it is clear that computer security is a topic of concern in the field of Computer Ethics. The
problem is not so much the physical security of the hardware (protecting it from theft, fire, flood,
etc.), but rather “logical security”, which Spafford, Heaphy and Ferbrache divide into five aspects:
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Integrity — assuring that data and programs are not modified without proper authority
• Unimpaired service
• Consistency — ensuring that the data and behaviour we see today will be the same tomorrow
• Controlling access to resources
Malicious kinds of software, or “programmed threats”, provide a significant challenge to
computer security. These include “viruses”, which cannot run on their own, but rather are inserted
into other computer programs; “worms” which can move from machine to machine across networks,
and may have parts of themselves running on different machines; “Trojan horses” which appear to be
one sort of program, but actually are doing damage behind the scenes; “logic bombs” which check
for particular conditions and then execute when those conditions arise; and “bacteria” or “rabbits”
which multiply rapidly and fill up the computer's memory.
Computer crimes, such as embezzlement or planting of logic bombs, are normally committed by
trusted personnel who have permission to use the computer system. Computer security, therefore,
must also be concerned with the actions of trusted computer users.
Another major risk to computer security is the so-called “hacker” who breaks into someone's
computer system without permission. Some hackers intentionally steal data or commit vandalism,
while others merely “explore” the system to see how it works and what files it contains. These
“explorers” often claim to be benevolent defenders of freedom and fighters against rip-offs by major
corporations or spying by government agents. These self-appointed vigilantes of cyberspace say they
do no harm, and claim to be helpful to society by exposing security risks. However every act of
hacking is harmful, because any known successful penetration of a computer system requires the
owner to thoroughly check for damaged or lost data and programs. Even if the hacker did indeed
make no changes, the computer's owner must run through a costly and time-consuming investigation
of the compromised system.
Privacy and Anonymity

One of the earliest computer ethics topics to arouse public interest was privacy. For example, in the
mid-1960s the American government already had created large databases of information about
private citizens (census data, tax records, military service records, welfare records, and so on). In the

37

US Congress, bills were introduced to assign a personal identification number to every citizen and
then gather all the government's data about each citizen under the corresponding ID number. A
public outcry about “big-brother government” caused Congress to scrap this plan and led the US
President to appoint committees to recommend privacy legislation. In the early 1970s, major
computer privacy laws were passed in the USA. Ever since then, computer-threatened privacy has
remained as a topic of public concern. The ease and efficiency with which computers and computer
networks can be used to gather, store, search, compare, retrieve and share personal information make
computer technology especially threatening to anyone who wishes to keep various kinds of
“sensitive” information (e.g., medical records) out of the public domain or out of the hands of those
who are perceived as potential threats. During the past decade, commercialization and rapid growth
of the internet; the rise of the world-wide-web; increasing “user-friendliness” and processing power
of computers; and decreasing costs of computer technology have led to new privacy issues, such as
data-mining, data matching, recording of “click trails” on the web, and so on.
The variety of privacy-related issues generated by computer technology has led philosophers
and other thinkers to re-examine the concept of privacy itself. Since the mid-1960s, for example, a
number of scholars have elaborated a theory of privacy defined as “control over personal
information”. On the other hand, philosophers Moor and Tavani have argued that control of personal
information is insufficient to establish or protect privacy, and “the concept of privacy itself is best
defined in terms of restricted access, not control”. In addition, Nissenbaum has argued that there is
even a sense of privacy in public spaces, or circumstances “other than the intimate.” An adequate
definition of privacy, therefore, must take account of “privacy in public”. As computer technology
rapidly advances — creating ever new possibilities for compiling, storing, accessing and analyzing
information — philosophical debates about the meaning of “privacy” will likely continue.
Questions of anonymity on the internet are sometimes discussed in the same context with
questions of privacy and the internet, because anonymity can provide many of the same benefits as
privacy. For example, if someone is using the internet to obtain medical or psychological
counselling, or to discuss sensitive topics (for example, AIDS, abortion, gay rights, venereal disease,
and political dissent), anonymity can afford protection similar to that of privacy. Similarly, both
anonymity and privacy on the internet can be helpful in preserving human values such as security,
mental health, self-fulfilment and peace of mind. Unfortunately, privacy and anonymity also can be
exploited to facilitate unwanted and undesirable computer-aided activities in cyberspace, such as
money laundering, drug trading, terrorism, or preying upon the vulnerable.

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Intellectual Property
One of the more controversial areas of computer ethics concerns the intellectual property rights
connected with software ownership. Some people, like Richard Stallman who started the Free
Software Foundation, believe that software ownership should not be allowed at all. He claims that all
information should be free, and all programs should be available for copying, studying and
modifying by anyone who wishes to do so. Others argue that software companies or programmers
would not invest weeks and months of work and significant funds in the development of software if
they could not get the investment back in the form of license fees or sales. Today's software industry
is a multibillion dollar part of the economy; and software companies claim to lose billions of dollars
per year through illegal copying (“software piracy”). Many people think that software should be
ownable, but “casual copying” of personally owned programs for one's friends should also be
permitted. The software industry claims that millions of dollars in sales are lost because of such
copying. Ownership is a complex matter, since there are several different aspects of software that can
be owned and three different types of ownership: copyrights, trade secrets, and patents. One can own
the following aspects of a program:
• The “source code” which is written by the programmer(s) in a high-level computer language
like Java or C++.
• The “object code”, which is a machine-language translation of the source code.
• The “algorithm”, which is the sequence of machine commands that the source code and
object code represent.
• The “look and feel” of a program, which is the way the program appears on the screen and
interfaces with users.
A very controversial issue today is owning a patent on a computer algorithm. A patent provides
an exclusive monopoly on the use of the patented item, so the owner of an algorithm can deny others
use of the mathematical formulas that are part of the algorithm. Mathematicians and scientists are
outraged, claiming that algorithm patents effectively remove parts of mathematics from the public
domain, and thereby threaten to cripple science. In addition, running a preliminary “patent search” to
make sure that your “new” program does not violate anyone's software patent is a costly and time-
consuming process. As a result, only very large companies with big budgets can afford to run such a
search. This effectively eliminates many small software companies, stifling competition and
decreasing the variety of programs available to the society.
Professional Responsibility
Computer professionals have specialized knowledge and often have positions with authority and
respect in the community. For this reason, they are able to have a significant impact upon the world,

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including many of the things that people value. Along with such power to change the world, comes
the duty to exercise that power responsibly. Computer professionals find themselves in a variety of
professional relationships with other people, including:
employer — employee
client — professional
professional — professional
society — professional
These relationships involve a diversity of interests, and sometimes these interests can come into
conflict with each other. Responsible computer professionals, therefore, will be aware of possible
conflicts of interest and try to avoid them.
Professional organizations in the USA, like the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), have established codes of
ethics, curriculum guidelines and accreditation requirements to help computer professionals
understand and manage ethical responsibilities. For example, in 1991 a Joint Curriculum Task Force
of the ACM and IEEE adopted a set of guidelines for college programmes in Computer Science. The
guidelines say that a significant component of computer ethics (in the broad sense) should be
included in undergraduate education in computer science.
In addition, both the ACM and IEEE have adopted Codes of Ethics for their members. The
most recent ACM Code (1992), for example, includes “general moral imperatives”, such as “avoid
harm to others” and “be honest and trustworthy”. And also included are “more specific professional
responsibilities” like “acquire and maintain professional competence” and “know and respect
existing laws pertaining to professional work.” The IEEE Code of Ethics (1990) includes such
principles as “avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible” and “be honest and
realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data.”
The Accreditation Board for Engineering Technologies (ABET) has long required an ethics
component in the computer engineering curriculum. And in 1991, the Computer Sciences
Accreditation Commission/Computer Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAC/CSAB) also adopted the
requirement that a significant component of computer ethics be included in any computer sciences
degree granting program that is nationally accredited.
It is clear that professional organizations in computer science recognize and insist upon
standards of professional responsibility for their members.

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Globalization
Computer ethics today is rapidly evolving into a broader and even more important field, which might
reasonably be called “global information ethics”. Global networks like the Internet and especially the
world-wide-web are connecting people all over the earth. As Krystyna Gorniak-Kocikowska
perceptively notes in her paper, “The Computer Revolution and the Problem of Global Ethics” for
the first time in history, efforts to develop mutually agreed standards of conduct, and efforts to
advance and defend human values, are being made in a truly global context. So, for the first time in
the history of the earth, ethics and values will be debated and transformed in a context that is not
limited to a particular geographic region, or constrained by a specific religion or culture. This may
very well be one of the most important social developments in history. Consider just a few of the
global issues:
a) Global Laws
If computer users in the United States, for example, wish to protect their freedom of speech on
the internet, whose laws apply? Nearly two hundred countries are already interconnected by the
internet, so the United States Constitution (with its First Amendment protection for freedom of
speech) is just a “local law” on the internet — it does not apply to the rest of the world. How can
issues like freedom of speech, control of “pornography”, protection of intellectual property,
invasions of privacy, and many others to be governed by law when so many countries are involved?
If a citizen in a European country, for example, has internet dealings with someone in a far-away
land, and the government of that land considers those dealings to be illegal, can the European be
tried by the courts in the far-away country?
b) Global Cyberbusiness
The world is very close to having technology that can provide electronic privacy and security on
the internet sufficient to safely conduct international business transactions. Once this technology is in
place, there will be a rapid expansion of global “cyberbusiness”. Nations with a technological
infrastructure already in place will enjoy rapid economic growth, while the rest of the world lags
behind. What will be the political and economic fallout from rapid growth of global cyberbusiness?
Will accepted business practices in one part of the world be perceived as “cheating” or “fraud” in
other parts of the world? Will a few wealthy nations widen the already big gap between rich and
poor? Will political and even military confrontations emerge?
c) Global Education

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If inexpensive access to the global information net is provided to rich and poor alike — to
poverty-stricken people in ghettos, to poor nations in the “third world”, etc. — for the first time in
history, nearly everyone on earth will have access to daily news from a free press; to texts,
documents and art works from great libraries and museums of the world; to political, religious and
social practices of peoples everywhere. What will be the impact of this sudden and profound “global
education” upon political dictatorships, isolated communities, coherent cultures, religious practices,
etc.? As great universities of the world begin to offer degrees and knowledge modules via the
internet, will “lesser” universities be damaged or even forced out of business?
d) Information Rich and Information Poor

The gap between rich and poor nations, and even between rich and poor citizens in industrialized
countries, is already disturbingly wide. As educational opportunities, business and employment
opportunities, medical services and many other necessities of life move more and more into
cyberspace, will gaps between the rich and the poor become even worse?
Intellectual property (IP) is legal property rights over creations of the mind, both artistic and
commercial, and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted
certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works;
ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of
intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade
secrets. The majority of intellectual property rights provide creators of original works economic
incentive to develop and share ideas through a form of temporary monopoly. While credited with
significant contributions to modern economic growth, some have criticised the expansion in nature
and scope of IP laws. Although many of the legal principles governing intellectual property have
evolved over centuries, it was not until the late 20th century that the term intellectual property began
to be used as a unifying concept.
Intellectual property rights are a bundle of exclusive rights over creations of the mind, both
artistic and commercial. The former is covered by copyright laws, which protect creative works, such
as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and software, and gives the copyright holder
exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time. The
second category is collectively known as "industrial properties", as they are typically created and
used for industrial or commercial purposes. A patent may be granted for a new, useful, and non-
obvious invention and gives the patent holder a right to prevent others from practicing the invention

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without a license from the inventor for a certain period of time. A trademark is a distinctive sign
which is used to prevent confusion among products in the marketplace.
An industrial design right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial
object from infringement. A trade secret is an item of non-public information concerning the
commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business. Public disclosure of trade secrets may
sometimes be illegal.
The term intellectual property denotes the specific legal rights described above, and not the
intellectual work itself.
Objectives
The main objective of intellectual property is to stimulate technological progress, for the benefit of
society.
Financial incentive
Intellectual property rights grant exclusive rights to intellectual creations; they grant ownership over
creations of the mind. These exclusive rights allow owners of intellectual property to reap monopoly
profits. These monopoly profits provide a financial incentive for the creation of intellectual property,
and pay associated research and development costs.[3]
Technology diffusion
Technology diffusion occurs if intellectual property is licensed or sold, conversely technology can
equally be prevented from being shared, should the owner wish not to sell or license.
Economic growth
The legal monopoly granted by IP laws are credited with significant contributions toward economic
growth. Economists estimate that two-thirds of the value of large businesses in the U.S. can be traced
to intangible assets. Likewise, industries which rely on IP protections are estimated to produce 72
percent more value per added employee than non-IP industries.[4] Additionally, a joint research
project of the WIPO and the United Nations University measuring the impact of IP systems on six
Asian countries found "a positive correlation between the strengthening of the IP system and
subsequent economic growth." However, correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
Economics
Intellectual property rights are considered by economists to be a form of temporary monopoly
enforced by the state (or enforced using the legal mechanisms for redress supported by the state).
Intellectual property rights are usually limited to non-rival goods, that is, goods which can be used or

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enjoyed by many people simultaneously—the use by one person does not exclude use by another.
This is compared to rival goods, such as clothing, which may only be used by one person at a time.
For example, any number of people may make use of a mathematical formula simultaneously. Some
objections to the term intellectual property are based on the argument that property can only
properly be applied to rival goods (or that one cannot "own" property of this sort).
Since a non-rival good may be used (copied, for example) by many simultaneously (produced
with minimal marginal cost), producers would have no incentive to create such works. Monopolies,
by contrast, also have inefficiencies (producers will charge more and produce less than would be
socially desirable). The establishment of intellectual property rights, therefore, represents a trade-off,
to balance the interest of society in the creation of non-rival goods (by encouraging their production)
with the problems of monopoly power. Since the trade-off and the relevant benefits and costs to
society will depend on many factors that may be specific to each product and society, the optimum
period of time during which the temporary monopoly rights exist is unclear.

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Chapter 11
Job Application Process
Introduction
An application for employment, job application, or application form (often simply called an
application) is a form or collection of forms that an individual seeking employment, called an
applicant, must fill out as part of the process of informing an employer of the applicant's availability
and desire to be employed, and persuading the employer to offer the applicant employment.
Purpose of the Application

From the employer's perspective, the application serves a number of purposes. These vary depending
on the nature of the job and the preferences of the person responsible for hiring, as "each
organization should have an application form that reflects its own environment". At a minimum, an
application usually requires the applicant to provide information sufficient to demonstrate that he or
she is legally permitted to be employed. The typical application also requires the applicant to provide
information regarding relevant skills, education, and previous employment. The application itself is a
minor test of the applicant's literacy, penmanship, and communication skills - a careless job applicant
might disqualify themselves with a poorly-filled out application.
The application may also require the applicant to disclose any criminal record, and to provide
information sufficient to enable the employer to conduct an appropriate background check. For a
business that employs workers on a part-time basis, the application may inquire as to the applicant's
specific times and days of availability, and preferences in this regard. It is important to note,
however, that an employer may be prohibited from asking applicants about characteristics that are
not relevant to the job, such as their political view or sexual orientation.
For white collar jobs, particularly those requiring communication skills, the employer will
typically require applicants to accompany the form with a cover letter and a résumé. However, even
employers who accept a cover letter and résumé will frequently also require the applicant to
complete a form application, as the other documents may neglect to mention details of importance to
the employers. In some instances, an application is effectively used to dissuade "walk-in" applicants,
serving as a barrier between the applicant and a job interview with the person with the authority to
hire.

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Creating an Effective CV
The term 'Curriculum Vitae' (CV) is derived from Latin and translated means "the way your life has
run". In simple terms, a CV is a personal statement outlining your life from an educational and
professional review.
The idea of a CV is to get you an interview and your foot in the door, not to get you the job.
Your CV should reflect your occupational and educational life and be relevant to the position you are
applying for. Think of it as a personal marketing platform to sell/promote yourself to a prospective
employer. When constructing your CV bear in mind that potential employers will only spend a mere
30 - 60 seconds reading your life history.
Evaluating your own skills, achievements and personality is one of the most difficult hurdles
and is the first step in the CV writing process. In summary, a CV should:
• Refer to your major accomplishments and identify areas of proven effectiveness
• Present your background precisely, accurately and honestly, saying not only what you have done, but
also how well you have done it
• Emphasize what is important and relevant, and how you match the job or requirement
• Be effective as a "marketing tool", which will enable the reader to be interested in seeing you and
discussing your skills in more detail.
CV Structure and Format

Keeping your CV concise and to the point is a difficult task. Selecting a comprehensive structure and
format will help you to achieve this. There are many layouts to choose from, and they vary from
country to country; the example layout below is typical for the European Market:
Name/Contact Details - display a permanent address, home phone, email and mobile. (Note: if a
graduate remember to give a permanent address of a family member and your term time address)
Personal Details - include your Date of Birth, Nationality and Marital status. (Can be placed at the
beginning or end of the document.)
Personal Profile - highly recommended grabbing the reader’s attention, it is a key selling point.
Ideally this should be punchy, precise and no more than three, 15-word sentences. E.g. ‘A Senior
Interpretation Geophysicist with 10 years E&P experience.’ We recommend you review our
example profiles.
Academic Qualifications - recommend you list higher education only if already working. Include
details on your final year project, i.e. dissertation, thesis. List any other major projects, field studies,
training courses etc. (Can be placed after Work Experience.)
Work Experience – List in reverse chronological order. Include dates, job title/position and
company name. As well as writing a brief overview of your job, try and incorporate your

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responsibilities and achievements.
Computing Skills - list all geoscience and general software applications used, hardware, operating
systems, databases, etc. For each one you might want to list your level of proficiency.
Additional Skills – Industry Knowledge, Technical, Commercial, Managerial, Analytical,
Languages.
Publications – be careful not to list too many, you may appear to be too academic. You may want to
combine topics and list the topic and number of papers written/presented.
Personal Interests - keep this limited but consider what it says about you… eg. are you a team
player or an individual?
Society Memberships - List the most relevant.
Referees - optional but recommended, use 3 maximum. Ensure at least one is an existing or previous
manger – provide details on company name, job title and telephone/email/contact details. Graduates
should list at least one academic referee.
Selecting a CV Format
There are several different formats; the most common are listed below. Choose one that is suitable
for your own career history or the job that you are applying for.
Chronological –Details your work history in reverse chronological order. It shows no gaps or
changes in your career and is useful to display a continuous work history that is related to your
next job opportunity.
Functional – Highlights certain skills, achievements and responsibilities rather than listing your
work history. It is ideal for career changing, periods of unemployment, redundancy or illness.
Also useful if you have repetitious job titles.
Targeted – A one off CV targeted for a specific job or vacancy. It concentrates on your potential
and what you are capable of. Unlike chronological and functional formats which focus on past
work history, this type can be used for specialised positions.
CV Presentation
The quality and presentation of your CV is vital when selling yourself. The appearance of your CV is
an indication to a prospective employer of the type of person that may be working in their
environment. There is no exact format for compiling a CV, but the following guideline is a sure fire
way to avoid yours being rejected.
The Good CV…

Is no more than 2 pages max - long CV’s are regarded as time wasting. (If you have an extensive

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work history, use no more than a maximum of 4 pages.)
Clearly states who you are, where you have been and what you have got to offer. Don’t hide your
name with your personal information, put it in bold at the top of your CV and in a minimum of
12-14pt.
Looks attractive - is well laid out, structured and easy to read.
Include a catchy Personal Profile to grab the reader’s attention.
Try to print on good quality paper - it may be circulated around several departments. Also
remember to print on one side of the paper only.
Use bulleted lists - short and concise points are clean and informative.
All relevant work experience listed - make sure its written in reverse chronological order
The Bad CV…

Avoid excessive references to “I, he or she” - Alternatively write “Employed as a Seismic
Interpreter with 6 months practical experience in …..”
Check for common spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors. Have someone read your CV,
spouses and colleagues know your strengths and weakness and are often more than willing to
criticise.
Don’t draw attention to any negative descriptions - the idea of a CV is to sell yourself.
Try not to highlight gaps in your work history – this might cause the reader to have
doubts/questions about you. It is easier to discuss these details face to face at an interview.
Avoid listing too many interests and personal information - think about what it is relaying to the
reader.
And The Ugly CV!

Avoid excessive use of CAPITALS, underlining, bold and italics, large fonts - NOT VERY
USER FRIENDLY
Don’t write long sentences, paragraphs or ramble - aim for concise information, less text is easier
to read
Make sure it’s not disorganised and unstructured - don’t make the reader switch back and forth
between pages
Avoid too many graphics, colours, rigid formatting
Embedding photos - different software might distort your appearance – so be careful
The cyclical nature of the Oil and Gas Industry means that it is unlikely you will have a job for life.
Therefore, your CV should be a dynamic report continually modified to reflect your latest skills and

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achievements. It needs to be immediately at hand for any new opportunities, enabling you to secure
your ‘perfect job’!
Preparing your CV
The attached template shows the sort of information all CVs should contain. You should remember that:
• The CV should focus on the needs of the reader, who will be interested in knowing what you have
achieved and learned, and what you have to offer them
• It must be clean, neat and give an air of quality. The reader will often make assumptions about you
simply from the quality of your CV
• It must be concise – 2 to 3 pages at most – with key information on the front page
• It should be a stand-alone document, which is understandable to any reader who does not necessarily
know your organisation (structure, functions or business objectives), and it should not contain jargon
or acronyms
• It should be factual
• It should say what you did. It should contain bullet points of interesting facts where possible and
avoid waffle
• The final version should be a seamless piece of text, i.e. it should flow – the boxes on the template are
only there to show the separate areas to be covered.
Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Personal details
[Name]
[NI number]
[Address]
[Telephone – daytime contact number]
[Email ……………………..gsi.gov.uk]
[Working pattern]
[Details of any disability in order that reasonable adjustments may be made]
(i) Career Summary

Current post – Since 2003, I have worked in [x] unit as a substantive [ ] where I have been responsible for
xxx. This has required me to develop policy initiatives/lead a small team/consult with colleagues/develop and
use IT systems, etc.
I have achieved……
Before this – over the 10 years (including external skills), I…

e.g.

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• Managed 10 caseworkers (on TP to ) from x to y delivering x decisions a year
• Was responsible as an for making grants to voluntary organisations to ensure they were properly
funded (from x to y)
• Reviewed procedures for considering expenses claims
[for each example give evidence of achievement]
(ii) Key skills

I believe I have developed the following key skills:
For each skill, you feel you have developed give an example.
e.g.
• A very good resource manager as I reduced costs by changing processes
• A good leader having taken my teams through major change whilst maintaining high output
• Strong intellectual skills having helped develop a new policy to reduce burglaries
(iii) Preferred Work Areas/Location

What are you looking for in a new post, or what do you think you can offer?
• I wish to use my intellectual abilities to address complex or contentious problems
• I want to be able to use my change management skills to tackle structural problems in an organisation
so I can effect significant improvements
• I wish to be proactively involved with stakeholders, acting as an interface between an organisation
and its customers
• I would like to be heavily involved in representational activity for the organisation
• I want a post that will help me develop my policy skills more
Educational and other relevant training

Include details of degrees and professional qualifications only
Other skills
Include familiarisation with IT systems, languages, etc.
Writing a Job Application Covering Letter

There are several scenarios where you may need to write a covering letter for your CV. This section
of the chapter will look at the different points at which to use each and cover the basics of writing job
application covering letters.
Reasons for Including Covering Letters with Your CV

• It looks more professional.

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• If a recruitment agency or an employer received anything in the post (a CV, promotional
material, etc) without a brief covering letter explaining its purpose, they will instantly think
less of it. Covering letters will also serve as a reference for your contact details.
• Also, it is a further opportunity to market yourself. You can put your skills and ambitions
into a better context within your covering letters as they are more personal than your CV
(which is basically just stripping the glossy stuff away to the essentials).
• Look at it this way – you wouldn’t send your CV by email attachment without writing
anything on the actual email, would you?
When to Include Covering Letters

• When sending your CV to recruitment agencies (you have to let them know what kind of
work you are looking for).
• When enquiring about possible job vacancies with an employer.
• When applying for advertised jobs that request you send your CV to the employer.
Basic letter writing techniques apply to all of these scenarios, although each letter should be tailored
every time (ideally, so should your CV).
Covering Letters for Recruitment Agencies

When sending your CV to a recruitment agency, you should include a covering letter to let them
know what kind of work you are looking for. You are helping them out, so (hopefully) they will help
you out in return. By carefully wording your desired career goals, you can save them the time of
finding out that information from you (which they will have to do anyway in order to find you a job).
So, instead of, “So, what kind of work are you looking for?” when you meet them or speak
with them, it will be, “I see that you are interested in xxxxx”. From here it will either be, “We
currently have a position available that may be of interest to you”, or “We don’t have anything along
that line just now”. Either way you will know the score. If they don’t have the job you are looking
for, then ask them what kind of jobs that they do have available (trust me – if they can get you in a
job, then they will – that’s how they make their money!).
When you originally contact an agency you should state your preference (if any) between
permanent and temporary work and give an idea of what kind of job role you are looking for. It
should be noted at this point that if you state specific job titles, then you may be limiting your
possibilities (after something else may come along that you would like, but not be offered because
you didn’t specify it). If you don’t have the experience for a particular job then it may be worthwhile
keeping your options open for possibilities that may lead to you ideal job.

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For example, instead of saying you want break into web design, say you are IT literate and
have an interest and particularly good range of web related skills. This way, you will be considered
for work in many job roles (and I can’t emphasise enough the importance of getting a broad range of
experience is for many careers). However, if you are experienced in your particular field, stating
exactly what you want to do from the start will be ultimately be more beneficial, as you are less
likely to be offered something that is inappropriate for you.
Enquiring About Possible Job Vacancies

This is similar to sending your CV to recruitment agencies. You are using the opportunity to market
yourself directly to employers. Using this method has its advantages.
• Chances are you will receive some feedback (at the very least they will keep your CV, but
they may also direct you to their own recruitment process, e.g. their website).
• You are cutting out the middle man (if you happen to contact an employer that has a position
that would suit you, then you are saving them cost of advertising and recruitment).
• Even if you don’t get any response, you are still covering all the bases in the recruitment
process (there is only so much you can do – you have to do everything you can to give
yourself the best opportunity for success).
When writing your covering letter to employers, be sure to direct it to the HR Manager or
Office Manager. This way you know at least it is going to the relevant person (chances are that they
won’t read it, but it will be filed in the appropriate place for future reference and not be passed from
department to department where it may be lost).
Again, similar to your letter to recruitment agencies, you should specify what type of role you
want. If you don’t know what you want to do, then use the letter to briefly elaborate on your skills
and what you think you would be good at and ask if they have any suitable vacancies.
Also, when targeting employers, choose ones that you would want to work for. Decide upon
your reasons for your choice and explain them in your letter, along with what you can offer.
Applying For Advertised Jobs

• When applying for advertised jobs, your covering letters should, again, state why you are the
best person for the job, relating the information in the job description to your experience and
skills.
• You should make special note of what the requirements are in the job specification and
reflect this in your CV.

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• Your covering letter, however, should be brief, professional and be directed to person stated
on the job advert. At the end of the day, the employer is only going to look at CV’s in this
case.
General Rules for Writing Your Covering Letter

• Your covering letter should be a professional layout and you should refer to the contact as Sir
or Madam if you do not know the name of the contact in the organisation.
• Your covering letter should be no more than one page long (it’s a covering letter not an essay
– you don’t want to bore the person who is about to red your CV!).
• It should be easy to read – use small paragraphs to break up the text.
• It should have all your contact details on it, along with the date it was sent out.
• It should not repeat what is said in your CV. Use the covering letter to elaborate on details
that are only briefly covered in your CV.
• When elaborating on your skills, you should both reflect on your own experience and relate
them to the skills asked for in the job advert.
• When closing the letter, finish with “Yours Sincerely” or “Kind Regards”.
Interviews
Interviews are a crucial part of the recruitment process for all organisations. Their purpose is to give
the selector a chance to assess your suitability for the role and for you to demonstrate your abilities
and personality. It’s also an opportunity for you to ask questions and to make sure the organisation
and position are right for you. After an interview you should ask yourself ‘do I want this job?’
Interview Format
Interviews take many different forms. Always ask the organisation in advance what format the
interview will take.
• Competency/Capability Based Interviews: These are structured to reflect the competencies

or capabilities that an employer is seeking for a particular job (often detailed in the job
specification. If you do not have one - ask). You will have focused on these in your CV and
application form. All candidates are asked more or less the same questions. The organisation
determines the selection criteria based on the roles they are recruiting for and then, in an
interview, examines whether or not you have evidence of possessing these. Using the
information you give us in your application form and the skills and behaviours we have

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identified as being necessary for our graduate development programme, we can then score
your capabilities based on your examples and evaluate these against our pre-defined criteria.
• Chronological Interviews: These work chronologically through your life to date and are
usually based on your CV or a completed application form.
• Technical Interviews: If you have applied for a job or course that requires technical
knowledge (e.g. positions in engineering or IT) it is likely that you will be asked technical
questions or have a separate technical interview to test your knowledge. Questions may focus
on your final year project or on real/hypothetical technical problems. You should be prepared
to prove yourself but also to admit to what you don’t know (stress that you are keen to learn).
• Unstructured Interviews: Sometimes an interview will have no clear structure and feel more
like an informal chat about you, your interests and your career ambitions.
• Portfolio Based Interviews: If the role is within the arts, media or communications
industries then you may be asked to bring a portfolio of your work to the interview, in which
case the questions will centre on your work. You will talk in depth about the pieces you have
chosen to present in your portfolio.
• Case Study Interviews: These can range from a straightforward brainteaser to the analysis of
a hypothetical business problem. You will be evaluated on your analysis of the problem, how
you identify the key issues, how you pursue a particular line of thinking and whether you can
develop and present an appropriate framework for organising your thoughts.
Specific Types of Interview

• Face-to-face interviews: These are one-to-one meetings between the candidate and the
interviewer.
• Panel interviews: These involve several people sitting on a panel. The actual number of
interviewers can vary but there is usually a chairperson to coordinate the questions, a
specialist who knows about the job in detail and an HR manager. These types of interviews
are popular in the public sector.
• Telephone interviews: Telephone interviews are increasingly used by companies as an
integral part of the recruitment process. Most commonly, they are used as a method of initial
screening but some use them as far down the line as third or fourth interviews. The majority
of companies inform you in advance and usually pre-arrange a time with you but you should
also be prepared for those who just ring! Remember, it is just as important to make a good
first impression on the telephone as it is in person.

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• Group interviews: Several candidates are present and will be asked questions in turn. A
group discussion may be encouraged and you may be invited to ask questions to the other
candidates.
• Sequential interviews: These are several interviews in turn, with a different interviewer each
time. Usually, each interviewer will ask questions to test different sets of competencies.
However, you may find yourself answering the same questions over and over. If this does
happen, make sure you answer each one as fully as the time before.
Professionalism
Once you have sent your application to a company it is essential that you maintain a standard of
professionalism whilst in the process of organising and attending interviews. Make sure you return
all company calls, even if it’s to say that you are no longer available for an interview. Let the
organisation know if you cannot attend an interview. Within certain industries you never know when
you might encounter the same people or companies again.
Interviews: Preparation
Preparation is a key part of any interview process. Remember, you only have one chance to make a
good first impression!
Practical preparation
What format is the interview?
Don’t be afraid to ring up and ask:
• How long will the interview last?
• Are there any group exercises?
• Do I need to prepare anything?
• Are there any other tests or selection methods being used?
Find out who will be interviewing you and their position within the company. You may want to find
out a bit about them before you meet.
Where is the interview?

Make sure you:
• know how to get to the venue and how long the journey takes;
• have maps, train times, etc, in advance;
• check for any planned disruptions to road or rail services;
• leave plenty of time so you are not rushing;

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• if necessary, find out if travel and overnight accommodation are paid for;
• if you have a disability, check the physical access to the premises and indicate any additional
support that you might require in the interview.
Health and safety

Tell someone where you are going and when you expect to return (you may want to leave an address
and telephone number). Beware of going into private dwellings for an interview.
What to take?
• The interview letter, with the name(s) of the interviewer(s) and their address and phone
number.
• A map of how to get there.
• A copy of your CV and/or application form.
• A note of the key points you want to make and any questions you want to ask.
• Money for a taxi in case you are running late.
• A number to call if you are running late but remember to switch your mobile off before going
in to the interview.
• A small bottle of water.
What to wear?
• Make sure you are dressed appropriately for the position for which you are being
interviewed. Some companies have a much more relaxed approach to dress than others but, if
in doubt, wear a suit.
• Ensure that you maintain good standards of personal hygiene but avoid using overpowering
deodorants, aftershave or perfume.
• Your hair should be neat and tidy and your shoes and clothes clean.
• Dress appropriately. It is important that you look smart for your interview but equally
important that you feel comfortable.
• Make sure that your interview outfit is ready the night before, get a good night’s sleep and set
off in good time.
It is a good idea to avoid alcohol the night before an interview. Also smokers should avoid the
temptation to have a cigarette on the way or whilst waiting for an interview. The smell will be
noticeable immediately as you walk into the interview room.

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Mental preparation
It is important to think about how you might answer certain types of question. How will you provide
evidence of certain qualities? If you are asked about being a team player, what evidence will you use
to show this? Make sure you cover the five areas below in your mental preparation.
Knowledge about yourself

It is important to remind yourself of the messages you have conveyed through your CV/application
form and be prepared to discuss anything you have included. Read through your application and
imagine you are the interviewer. What questions would you ask in their position? Make sure you can
give at least one positive example (preferably more) for each of the skills and attributes the employer
is seeking.
Ask yourself these questions:
• Why do I want this job?
• Why should this organisation select me?
• What are my ambitions?
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What have I gained from my degree?
• What skills have I gained from my work-related and extracurricular activities?
Knowledge about the job itself

It is important that you know as much as possible about the job you are applying for. Increasingly,
employers are adding case studies of employees to their websites, which can provide an interesting
insight into the day-to-day activities of certain roles. You do not need to know exactly what you
would be doing but an understanding of the types of activities you would be involved in will help.
Refer to the job advertisement, job description or person specification which you should have
obtained from the employer.
Ask yourself:
• What does the job involve?
• What skills will I need?
• What examples can I give from work, academic study or outside interests to show I have the
skills the employer is seeking?
Prepare your answers, but avoid sounding as if you have rehearsed them. Then prepare your attitude:
enthusiasm, a positive outlook and honesty are always the best policies. Prepare your questions to
ask the interviewer as this is your chance to find out more and we are happy for you to bring written

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or prepared questions if that helps you. Of course, we really want to understand you and what makes
you different, so please be yourself!
If you have a disability you may want to consider at this stage declaring it to the employer.
Knowledge about the organisation

This will demonstrate your interest and enthusiasm for working for this particular organisation and
will help you to prepare some questions to ask the interviewer. All employers will expect you to
display some understanding of their business, its size and the sector in which it operates. Memorising
the year’s financial performance is not necessary but it is important to read recent information about
the organisation and to be aware of its competitors. Read their graduate recruitment brochure, have a
look at their website and, if possible, their annual report. Many employer websites have press
archives of articles that have been issued by them or have appeared in the local/national press.
Questions to ask yourself:
• What do I know about this organisation/function/subject?
• What attracts me to this organisation/function/subject?
• What relevant work experience/degree modules/research projects have I done?
• What experience do I have of relevant technical skills/techniques?
• What kind of training/additional skills would I like to gain?
Make sure that you are up to date with developments in the sector to which you are applying. How is
the industry changing or developing? How are organisations responding?
Current affairs/commercial awareness

Whatever the position you are applying for, don’t be surprised if you are asked for your views on
current affairs and issues of the day. An interview won’t be a general knowledge test but you should
have a general idea and understanding of what is going on in the world.
Psychological preparation
Most people feel nervous about interviews. Above all, try and stay positive and remember that it’s a
learning experience and there is no right or wrong.
If you tend to get anxious, you may want to investigate ways to relax before your interview:
• Try visualisation exercises as part of your preparation. Relax and visualise yourself being
enthusiastic and successful at the forthcoming interview. Preparing yourself for success can
make success a more likely outcome.
• Try positive affirmations to eliminate any negative feelings. Identify your main concern
about the interview (e.g. ‘everyone else will be better than me’) and write yourself a positive

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statement, in the first person and in the present tense, to address it. You might try ‘I am the
strongest candidate for the job’. Relax and say your positive affirmation to yourself - out loud
if you can - at the start of the day and repeat it whenever you are feeling nervous.
• Avoid stimulants such as tea and coffee immediately before an interview. Drink plenty of
water.
• Think positively by focusing on your strengths and achievements.
Interviews: How to impress

Your CV and application form has already impressed selectors. The next step is to sell yourself in
person.
First impressions
First impressions are crucial. An interview may last for 30 minutes or more but studies have shown
that someone forms judgements about you within four minutes of meeting you and that these
judgments affect their subsequent impressions. Research shows that first impressions are made up of
the following:
• 55% visual impact, i.e. dress, facial expressions and body language;
• 38% tone of voice;
• 7% from what you actually say. All is not lost if you are very nervous at the outset but try to
create the best first impression you can - a warm smile and firm handshake will help.
Body language
Much of the impact you create at interview is based on your visual and non-verbal presentation.
Non-verbal presentation is composed of:
• How you look - see preparation.
• How you walk, sit, act - sit reasonably upright - slouching or leaning too far back in your
chair can give the impression that you are too casual about the whole thing. If you tend to
flap your hands around a lot when you speak, try to hold them together. However, don’t cross
your arms as it can make you appear defensive. Moderate hand movements are perfectly
acceptable and can enliven the conversation.
• Eye contact - good eye contact is essential and is an excellent way of conveying your interest
in the job. Looking downwards or at anything other than the interviewer can make you appear
disinterested and insincere. Maintaining good eye contact can also help you gauge the
interviewer’s reaction to what you are saying (to see whether you should be expanding on

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your answers). With panel interviews, the best advice is to look at and answer the person
asking the questions, with a glance from time to time at the other interviewers.
• The style, tone and delivery of your voice - try not to talk too fast and keep your tone
moderate. This can be difficult when you are nervous but take a deep breath before you start
to answer a question and work on keeping your answers concise. Rehearse your answers
beforehand and monitor your speed and tone. Don’t use slang and watch out for too many
‘ers’ and ‘ums’. Practising beforehand, especially in front of someone else, can help you
identify any bad habits.
• How confident you appear to be - try to relax. An interview is also about deciding if you
will fit into the organisation so try to smile and establish a rapport with your interviewer.
Interviews: Their questions

With thorough preparation, you are in a good position to respond effectively to questions and display
knowledge of yourself, the job and the organisation to which you are applying. Remember that some
interviewers may be inexperienced and untrained; not only does this mean that they may be nervous
too but also that they may not be best placed to get the best out of you. You need to make sure you
are providing all the information they require.
Tips
• Be prepared to talk - avoid yes/no answers and expand as often as possible. Don’t, however,
over-communicate; it can be tempting to talk too much. Don’t talk yourself out of a job trying
to fill silences left by the interviewer! Take your cue from the interviewer and, if you are not
sure that they have heard enough, ask if they would like you to continue.
• Ask for clarification if you need it - this not only helps you to answer the question asked but
also demonstrates confidence and control.
• If you need a moment’s thinking time, take a sip of water, if available - this will provide
you with an opportunity to think about your answer.
• Use examples from several different experiences, rather than concentrating on just one
aspect of your life.
• Be positive - don’t use the word ‘but’. Many people play down good experiences, saying
things like: ‘yes, I have worked as part of a team but that was only in a bar at weekends’. A
more positive summary would be: ‘I worked in a busy bar at weekends with three other staff
and we needed to work well as a team in order to keep the queues down and keep our
motivation up’.

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• Be yourself - if you adopt a new persona for the interview, the result is likely to be insincere
and transparent. Even if you are offered the job, you may find later that it’s not right for the
‘real’ you.
• Remember that honesty is the best policy. If it is discovered at a later stage that you have
been dishonest, you could be dismissed. Admitting to a period of poor motivation during your
A-levels shows more integrity than blaming someone else for your grades. Don’t feel that
you should cover up incidents like this; rather present them as positive learning experiences.
Difficult questions
You may feel that there are certain questions that have the potential to flummox you. These may
include questions that appear to be an invitation to shoot yourself in the foot and those asking you to
think about yourself in a different way, such as:
• What is your biggest weakness?
• What would you say has been your greatest failure?
• How would your friends describe you?
• If you were an animal/biscuit, what would you be?
One of the reasons that questions like these are asked at all is to see how you react. Relax, be honest,
keep in mind the points that you want to make about yourself and turn the matter around so that you
can emphasise the positive whilst minimising weaker areas. In answer to the first question, you
might say that you tend to be a perfectionist, which can cause time management problems but that
you have realised this and now ensure you allocate your time effectively to meet deadlines.
The same strategy can also be used with questions asking you to think about yourself in a
different way. It is unlikely that your friends would highlight all of the strengths that you would like
to lay claim to but the question focuses very much on your relationships with other people. Your
answer could cover your loyalty, your understanding or your readiness to help. The problem is that it
is sometimes difficult to say things like ‘my friends think I’m loyal…’ without sounding
presumptuous and you may find it easier to precede these glowing attributes with, ‘I think that my
friends would say…’ or ‘I hope that my friends would say…’.
Personal questions
Recruiters must not discriminate on the grounds of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, age or
disability. If you feel uncomfortable about a particular question or line of questioning, you could say
‘I’m sorry but I don’t feel comfortable answering that question’. Or ‘I’m not sure how to answer that
at the moment - could we move on to the next question’. If you feel uneasy or unsafe in any way then

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you can end the interview politely and leave. If you feel that you have been discriminated against or
that your personal safety has been compromised then please discuss this with your careers adviser.
Interviews: Questions to ask

Prepare two or three questions to ask the interviewer or panel. For example you could ask them to
tell you about the company culture. This can also be a good opportunity to reveal positive aspects
about yourself that the interviewer’s questions may not have elicited. Good questions to ask are those
that demonstrate your eagerness to develop within the organisation and take on responsibility.
Questions about training or what the process is for progression in the company are also a good idea
but make sure these are relevant to the organisation. This is also a good opportunity for you to
demonstrate your research into the organisation by asking questions about relevant articles you may
have read, for example: ‘I read in the newspaper last week that you are expanding into Europe. Is the
company thinking of expanding into any other markets?’
Remember:
• show an interest - ask about the job, organisation, employees, products and processes;
• don’t ask about pay, pensions or other perks - it is not appropriate at this stage;
• don’t ask questions that have been answered in the graduate brochure or other literature sent
out with the invitation to interview.
Interviews: Problems
Not getting interviews
Don’t despair! If you are concerned about not being invited for interview, you should critically
review your CV, application forms and covering letters. Ask a friend or relative to look over your
CV and covering letter. There is a big difference between applying for advertised jobs and sending
your CV to a company speculatively. It is difficult to get a company to see you when they haven’t
advertised a position.
Are you making it clear that you know what the jobs you have applied for involve? Have you
a clear picture of the sort of person employers are seeking? Are you being unduly modest about your
accomplishments? Have you been focused enough in your approach or have you, at a more basic
level, not really thought hard enough about what you want to do?
You cannot change your history but you can:
• expand, rearrange or alter the emphasis of your applications;
• get more relevant experience by enrolling on new courses, taking part in voluntary activities
or finding a temporary job;
• make an appointment to see a careers adviser to discuss your concerns.

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If recruitment in your chosen profession or industry operates through a network of contacts, you may
have to consider starting at a more junior level than you would normally expect in order to find out
about potential openings.
Getting first interviews but not second interviews or offers

If you are getting invited to interviews you can assume that, on paper, employers consider you
capable of doing the jobs for which you have applied. However, once at interview, their opinion has
somehow changed. Are you able to substantiate in person the messages given in your applications?
Are you presenting a professional, confident image at interview? Have a look at preparation to see if
you are preparing well enough before you go. Be honest with yourself - replay in your mind some of
the answers you gave, particularly the ones you found difficult and consider whether you are actually
pursuing the right career.
It is always worth asking an organisation for feedback after an interview; at worst they will
say no and at best you will receive a critique of your performance. It may be that the impression that
the interviewer formed of you strikes a chord with your own reflections but it may be that they have
rejected you on entirely different grounds, which you can try to address. If it isn’t immediately
obvious how you can improve your performance in future interviews, visit your careers service and
see if an adviser can run through a mock interview with you so that you can discuss where you’re
going wrong.
Getting to selection centres but not getting offers

It is worthwhile making some notes of your own, while they are still fresh in your mind, about areas
in which you did well at the assessment centre and areas where, in retrospect, you could have done
better. Most employers will also give you feedback on your performance. If you were faced with a
similar situation again, would you react differently? How could you demonstrate the qualities they
want?
Interviews: Job offers

What constitutes an offer?
An official offer of employment comes in the form of a letter or document inviting you to accept a
specific post, which should be signed by someone in authority, e.g. a manager of the organisation. It
is possible that you will receive a telephone call or email to offer you the job in the first instance or
be told on the day of your interview. A formal written offer should include the following
information:
• your name and the name of the employing organisation;

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• the date of the offer;
• the job title and department/location;
• salary details;
• period of notice required for either party to end the contract;
• your start date (it may state that this is negotiable).
It may also give:
• your hours of work;
• your holiday entitlement;
• details about pension schemes, bonuses, salary reviews, company car schemes and other
benefits.
If there is additional information you feel you need before accepting the job, you should make
contact with your prospective employer as soon as possible.
Conditions
The offer may be conditional upon a number of things:
• satisfactory references from your nominated referees;
• a satisfactory medical examination, either because of the nature of the work or as a means
of meeting the requirements of the company’s pension scheme;
• a specific classification of degree, either as a requirement of the employer or an associated
professional body if professional training is part of the job (if you don’t make the stated
grade, don’t assume that all is lost but contact the employer to discuss the situation);
• satisfactory completion of a probationary period (the duration should be specified);
• acceptance by a given date (this can pose problems if you have other applications in the
pipeline).
Making a decision
Timing
A common problem for finalists and graduates can be the timing of offers. The employer of your
dreams is running late in completing its selection process but you have had an offer from another,
less preferred, organisation. Should you cut your losses and secure the offer you have or take a risk,
turn it down and wait for the one you really want?
The following pointers may help.
• See a careers adviser - to re-examine your options and weigh up the pros and cons of each.
Think beyond starting salaries and look at the total packages being offered: firm ‘A’ might
offer you a generous joining bonus; firm ‘B’ may offer better training and prospects.

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• Contact your preferred employer - and ask how far they have proceeded with your
application and when you are likely to hear of their decision.
• Contact the employer who has made you the offer - and ask if they are prepared to extend
the acceptance date.
Above all, don’t accept an offer that you feel unhappy about; you secured one offer - you can do it
again.
It could be that you have an interview approaching with an employer who you view on equal
grounds to the one who has made you the offer but would still like to go to the interview to find out
more. Explain to employer ‘A’ that you have another interview and, in order to make an informed
decision, you would like to attend. You can’t stretch their patience forever - they need to know your
decision so that they can offer the position to someone else, if necessary - but as long as you keep
them informed and do what you can to reach a decision quickly, they should be happy. If the
interview with employer ‘B’ is several weeks away, you could contact them explaining that you have
received another offer and ask if the interview can be moved forward.
It’s worth bearing in mind that it can cost a company over £10,000 to recruit a single graduate
so it is important for recruiters to secure the right candidate. If you are pressured into making a
decision quickly, ask yourself whether you want to work for a company that is asking you to make a
hasty and ill-informed choice.
Multiple offers
If you are fortunate enough to have several offers and there appears to be little between them, you
may need to revisit your original list of needs. Measure these against things like location, company
culture, approach to training, how you felt at interview, etc. It is worth trusting your instincts but you
still have time to do some extra research if it will help you make a better decision.
Try to answer these questions:
• What are the responsibilities, pressures and demands - both intellectual and physical, of
each job?
• Does the work that you will be expected to do conflict with your values?
• Will you be given training? Few employers expect you to be 100% effective from the start
and most expect to train you while you are working for them. What form will the training
take? Who pays the fees? Is study leave given where appropriate?
• What will the salary be? How much of your salary will be commission/ performance-based?
Are there overtime payments? What are the opportunities for promotion and salary increases?

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If you accept a job and later find you have made the wrong decision, all is not lost. Applying for
other jobs in light of this experience and with a greater knowledge of your needs, skills, experiences
and values, usually results in a positive outcome.
Accepting or declining an offer

Accepting an offer
Write to thank the person making you the offer, using any reference number they have given and
enclosing any information that has been requested. You should also mention the date of the letter and
quote the full job title and starting date, if stated. Accept the offer and say that you are looking
forward to starting work with the organisation. Keep a copy of this letter as, along with their letter as
it forms your contract of employment. As the word ‘contract’ implies, by accepting the offer you are
making a legal undertaking. You should not accept a job with the intention of rejecting it later if
something better turns up.
If you haven’t received a formal offer letter in the post, contact the company and ask them when you
can expect it. Even if the process has been informal, you are entitled to a written letter of
employment to which you should also respond in writing. In smaller companies this could be done
via email.
Declining an offer
If you decide that the job is definitely not for you, write back, thanking the organisation for the offer
and politely decline it. You might find yourself working with or applying to that organisation again
at a later date so it is worth remaining on good terms. Send the letter as soon as possible so that they
can offer the job to someone else.
Interviews: Positive endings

Questions
This is the chance to ask those questions you prepared earlier. If the opportunity is not offered, assert
yourself politely and say you have a number of things you would like to raise and ask if this is the
appropriate time to do so. It is important to close the interview and if it feels right to you, thank the
interviewer and reiterate your enthusiasm for the job for which you have applied. Always end the
interview on a positive note.
What next?
It is a good idea to ask the interviewer when you can expect to hear from them. Always keep a diary
of interviews you have attended, and your thoughts about the job and company. If the interviewer

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says that they will contact you by a certain date, it is customary not to contact them until that time. If
by that date you have not heard anything from the organisation, you may contact the human
resources department to find out the status of your application. You could do this by phone or email.
Expenses
If you have travelled a long way for the interview or have had to stay overnight, the company may
reimburse your expenses. Check with the company’s human resources department beforehand and
make a note of the procedure for claiming the money back afterwards.

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Chapter 3
Legal, Ethical & Intellectual Property
Issues
Introduction
In most countries of the world, the “information revolution” has altered many aspects of life
significantly: commerce, employment, medicine, security, transportation, entertainment, and so on.
Consequently, information and communication technology (ICT) has affected — in both good ways
and bad ways — community life, family life, human relationships, education, careers, freedom, and
democracy (to name just a few examples). “Computer and information ethics”, in the broadest sense
of this phrase, can be understood as that branch of applied ethics which studies and analyzes such
social and ethical impacts of ICT. The present essay concerns this broad new field of applied ethics.
The more specific term “computer ethics” has been used to refer to applications by professional
philosophers of traditional Western theories like utilitarianism, Kantianism, or virtue ethics, to
ethical cases that significantly involve computers and computer networks. “Computer ethics” also
has been used to refer to a kind of professional ethics in which computer professionals apply codes
of ethics and standards of good practice within their profession. In addition, other more specific
names, like “cyber ethics” and “Internet ethics”, have been used to refer to aspects of computer
ethics associated with the Internet. During the past several decades, the robust and rapidly growing
field of computer and information ethics has generated new university courses, research
professorships, research centres, conferences, workshops, professional organizations, curriculum
materials, books and journals.
The Foundation of Computer and Information Ethics

In the mid 1940s, innovative developments in science and philosophy led to the creation of a new
branch of ethics that would later be called “computer ethics” or “information ethics”. The founder of
this new philosophical field was the American scholar Norbert Wiener, a professor of mathematics
and engineering at MIT. During the Second World War, together with colleagues in America and
Great Britain, Wiener helped to develop electronic computers and other new and powerful
information technologies. While engaged in this war effort, Wiener and colleagues created a new
branch of applied science that Wiener named “cybernetics” (from the Greek word for the pilot of a
ship). Even while the War was raging, Wiener foresaw enormous social and ethical implications of

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cybernetics combined with electronic computers. He predicted that, after the War, the world would
undergo “a second industrial revolution” — an “automatic age” with “enormous potential for good
and for evil” that would generate a staggering number of new ethical challenges and opportunities.
When the War ended, Wiener wrote the book Cybernetics (1948) in which he described his
new branch of applied science and identified some social and ethical implications of electronic
computers. Two years later he published The Human Use of Human Beings (1950), a book in which
he explored a number of ethical issues that computer and information technology would likely
generate. The issues that he identified in those two books, plus his later book God and Golem, Inc.
(1963), included topics that are still important today: computers and security, computers and
unemployment, responsibilities of computer professionals, computers for persons with disabilities,
computers and religion, information networks and globalization, virtual communities, teleworking,
merging of human bodies with machines, robot ethics, artificial intelligence, and a number of other
subjects.
Although he coined the name “cybernetics” for his new science, Wiener apparently did not
see himself as also creating a new branch of ethics. As a result, he did not coin a name like
“computer ethics” or “information ethics”. These terms came into use decades later. (See the
discussion below.) In spite of this, Wiener's three relevant books (1948, 1950, and 1963) do lay down
a powerful foundation, and do use an effective methodology, for today's field of computer and
information ethics. His thinking, however, was far ahead of other scholars; and, at the time, many
people considered him to be an eccentric scientist who was engaging in flights of fantasy about
ethics. Apparently, no one — not even Wiener himself — recognized the profound importance of his
ethics achievements; and nearly two decades would pass before some of the social and ethical
impacts of information technology, which Wiener had predicted in the late 1940s, would become
obvious to other scholars and to the general public.
In The Human Use of Human Beings, Wiener explored some likely effects of information
technology upon key human values like life, health, happiness, abilities, knowledge, freedom,
security, and opportunities. The metaphysical ideas and analytical methods that he employed were so
powerful and wide-ranging that they could be used effectively for identifying, analyzing and
resolving social and ethical problems associated with all kinds of information technology, including,
for example, computers and computer networks; radio, television and telephones; news media and
journalism; even books and libraries. Because of the breadth of Wiener's concerns and the
applicability of his ideas and methods to every kind of information technology, the term
“information ethics” is an apt name for the new field of ethics that he founded. As a result, the term
“computer ethics”, as it is typically used today, names only a subfield of Wiener's much broader
concerns.

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In laying down a foundation for information ethics, Wiener developed a cybernetic view of
human nature and society, which led him to an ethically suggestive account of the purpose of a
human life. Based upon this, he adopted “great principles of justice” that he believed all societies
ought to follow. These powerful ethical concepts enabled Wiener to analyze information ethics
issues of all kinds.
Defining Computer Ethics

Computer ethics is a branch of practical philosophy which deals with how computing professionals
should make decisions regarding professional and social conduct. The term "computer ethics" was
first coined by Walter Maner in the mid-1970s, but only since the 1990s has it started being
integrated into professional development programs in academic settings. The conceptual foundations
of computer ethics are investigated by information ethics, a branch of philosophical ethics
established by Luciano Floridi. Computer ethics is a very important topic in computer applications.
Identifying issues
Identifying ethical issues as they arise, as well as defining how to deal with them, has traditionally
been problematic in computer ethics. Some have argued against the idea of computer ethics as a
whole. However, Collins and Miller proposed a method of identifying issues in computer ethics in
their Paramedic Ethics model. The model is a data-centred view of judging ethical issues, involving
the gathering, analysis, negotiation, and judging of data about the issue.
In solving problems relating to ethical issues, Michael Davis proposed a unique problem-
solving method. In Davis's model, the ethical problem is stated, facts are checked, and a list of
options is generated by considering relevant factors relating to the problem. The actual action taken
is influenced by specific ethical standards.
Some questions in computer ethics

There are a number of questions that are frequently discussed under the rubric of computer ethics.
One set of issues deal with some of the new ethical dilemmas that have emerged, or taken on new
form, with the rise of the internet. For example, there is a wide range of behaviours that fall under the
heading of “hacking”, many of which have been variously defended and opposed by ethicists.
There are now many ways to gain information about others that were not available, or easily
available, before the rise of computers. Thus ethical issues about information storage and retrieval
are now in the forefront. How should we protect private data in large databases?

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Questions about software piracy are also widely discussed, especially in light of file sharing
programs such as Napster. The ethical questions that arise from software piracy are: Is it immoral or
wrong to copy software, music, or movies? If so, why?
A second set of questions, pertaining to the Internet, that are becoming more widely
discussed are questions relating to the values that some may wish to promote via the Internet. Some
have claimed that the internet is a "democratic technology", or an e-democracy. But is it really? Does
the Internet foster democracy? Should it? Does the digital divide raise ethical issues that society is
morally obligated to ameliorate?
Ethical standards
One of the most definitive sets of ethical standards is the Association for Computing Machinery
Code of Ethics. The code is a four-point standard governing ethical behaviour among computing
professionals. It covers the core set of computer ethics from professional responsibility to the
consequences of technology in society.
Another computer ethics body is the British Computer Society, which has published a code of
conduct and code of practice for computer professionals in the UK.
The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) defines ethical behaviour
from the standpoint of legality, specifically during the contracting process of computing. It defines
how valid computing contracts are formed and how issues, such as breach of contract, are defined
and settled. However, legality does not completely encompass computer ethics. It is just one facet of
the constantly expanding field of computer ethics.
Computing and Human Values

Beginning with the computer ethics works of Norbert Wiener (1948, 1950, 1963), a common thread
has run through much of the history of computer ethics; namely, concern for protecting and
advancing central human values, such a life, health, security, happiness, freedom, knowledge,
resources, power and opportunity. Thus, most of the specific issues that Wiener dealt with are cases
of defending or advancing such values. For example, by working to prevent massive unemployment
caused by robotic factories, Wiener tried to preserve security, resources and opportunities for factory
workers. Similarly, by arguing against the use of decision-making war-game machines, Wiener tried
to diminish threats to security and peace.
This “human-values approach” to computer ethics has been very fruitful. It has served, for
example, as an organizing theme for major computer-ethics conferences, such as the 1991 National
Conference on Computing and Values at Southern Connecticut State University (see the section
below on “exponential growth”), which was devoted to the impacts of computing upon security,

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property, privacy, knowledge, freedom and opportunities. In the late 1990s, a similar approach to
computer ethics, called “value-sensitive computer design”, emerged based upon the insight that
potential computer-ethics problems can be avoided, while new technology is under development, by
anticipating possible harm to human values and designing new technology from the very beginning
in ways that prevent such harm.
Professional Ethics and Computer Ethics

In the early 1990s, a different emphasis within computer ethics was advocated by Donald Gotterbarn.
He believed that computer ethics should be seen as a professional ethics devoted to the development
and advancement of standards of good practice and codes of conduct for computing professionals.
Thus, in 1991, in the article “Computer Ethics: Responsibility Regained”, Gotterbarn said:
There is little attention paid to the domain of professional ethics — the values that guide the
day-to-day activities of computing professionals in their role as professionals. By computing
professional I mean anyone involved in the design and development of computer artefacts. …
The ethical decisions made during the development of these artefacts have a direct
relationship to many of the issues discussed under the broader concept of computer ethics.
Throughout the 1990s, with this aspect of computer ethics in mind, Gotterbarn worked with
other professional-ethics advocates (for example, Keith Miller, Dianne Martin, Chuck Huff and
Simon Rogerson) in a variety of projects to advance professional responsibility among computer
practitioners. Even before 1991, Gotterbarn had been part of a committee of the ACM (Association
for Computing Machinery) to create the third version of that organization's “Code of Ethics and
Professional Conduct”. Later, Gotterbarn and colleagues in the ACM and the Computer Society of
the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) developed licensing standards for
software engineers. In addition, Gotterbarn headed a joint taskforce of the IEEE and ACM to create
the “Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice”.
In the late 1990s, Gotterbarn created the Software Engineering Ethics Research Institute
(SEERI) at East Tennessee State University (see http://seeri.etsu.edu/); and in the early 2000s,
together with Simon Rogerson, he developed a computer program called SoDIS (Software
Development Impact Statements) to assist individuals, companies and organizations in the
preparation of ethical “stakeholder analyses” for determining likely ethical impacts of software
development projects. These and many other projects focused attention upon professional
responsibility and advanced the professionalization and ethical maturation of computing
practitioners.

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Information Ethics
Some important recent developments, which began after 1995, seem to be confirming Górniak's
hypothesis — in particular, the information ethics theory of Luciano Floridi and the “Flourishing
Ethics” theory that combines ideas from Aristotle, Wiener, Moor and Floridi.
In developing his information ethics theory (henceforth FIE), Floridi argued that the purview
of computer ethics — indeed of ethics in general — should be widened to include much more than
simply human beings, their actions, intentions and characters. He offered FIE as another
“macroethics” (his term) which is similar to utilitarianism, deontologism, contractualism, and virtue
ethics, because it is intended to be applicable to all ethical situations. On the other hand, IE is
different from these more traditional Western theories because it is not intended to replace them, but
rather to supplement them with further ethical considerations that go beyond the traditional theories,
and that can be overridden, sometimes, by traditional ethical considerations.
The name ‘information ethics’ is appropriate to Floridi's theory, because it treats everything
that exists as “informational” objects or processes:
[All] entities will be described as clusters of data, that is, as informational objects. More precisely,
[any existing entity] will be a discrete, self-contained, encapsulated package containing the:
• appropriate data structures, which constitute the nature of the entity in question, that is, the
state of the object, its unique identity and its attributes; and
• a collection of operations, functions, or procedures, which are activated by various
interactions or stimuli (that is, messages received from other objects or changes within itself)
and correspondingly define how the object behaves or reacts to them.
At this level of abstraction, informational systems as such, rather than just living systems in
general, are raised to the role of agents and patients of any action, with environmental processes,
changes and interactions equally described informationally.
Since everything that exists, according to FIE, is an informational object or process, he calls
the totality of all that exists — the universe considered as a whole — “the infosphere”. Objects and
processes in the infosphere can be significantly damaged or destroyed by altering their characteristic
data structures. Such damage or destruction Floridi calls “entropy”, and it results in partial
“empoverishment of the infosphere”. Entropy in this sense is an evil that should be avoided or
minimized, and Floridi offers four “fundamental principles”:
• Entropy ought not to be caused in the infosphere (null law).
• Entropy ought to be prevented in the infosphere.
• Entropy ought to be removed from the infosphere.
• The flourishing of informational entities as well as the whole infosphere ought to be
promoted by preserving, cultivating and enriching their properties.

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FIE is based upon the idea that everything in the infosphere has at least a minimum worth that
should be ethically respected, even if that worth can be overridden by other considerations:
FIE suggests that there is something even more elemental than life, namely being — that is, the
existence and flourishing of all entities and their global environment — and something more
fundamental than suffering, namely entropy … . FIE holds that being/information has an intrinsic
worthiness. It substantiates this position by recognizing that any informational entity has a Spinozian
right to persist in its own status, and a Constructionist right to flourish, i.e., to improve and enrich its
existence and essence.
By construing every existing entity in the universe as “informational”, with at least a minimal
moral worth, FIE can supplement traditional ethical theories and go beyond them by shifting the
focus of one's ethical attention away from the actions, characters, and values of human agents toward
the “evil” (harm, dissolution, destruction) — “entropy” — suffered by objects and processes in the
infosphere. With this approach, every existing entity — humans, other animals, plants, organizations,
even non-living artifacts, electronic objects in cyberspace, pieces of intellectual property — can be
interpreted as potential agents that affect other entities, and as potential patients that are affected by
other entities. In this way, Floridi treats FIE as a “patient-based” non-anthropocentric ethical theory
to be used in addition to the traditional “agent-based” anthropocentric ethical theories like
utilitarianism, deontologism and virtue theory.
FIE, with its emphasis on “preserving and enhancing the infosphere”, enables Floridi to
provide, among other things, an insightful and practical ethical theory of robot behavior and the
behavior of other “artificial agents” like softbots and cyborgs. FIE is an important component of a
more ambitious project covering the entire new field of the Philosophy of Information.
Example Topics in Computer Ethics

No matter which re-definition of computer ethics one chooses, the best way to understand the nature
of the field is through some representative examples of the issues and problems that have attracted
research and scholarship. Consider, for example, the following topics:
• Computers in the Workplace
• Privacy and Anonymity
• Intellectual Property
• Professional Responsibility
• Globalization

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Computers in the Workplace
As a “universal tool” that can, in principle, perform almost any task, computers obviously pose a
threat to jobs. Although they occasionally need repair, computers don't require sleep, they don't get
tired, they don't go home ill or take time off for rest and relaxation. At the same time, computers are
often far more efficient than humans in performing many tasks. Therefore, economic incentives to
replace humans with computerized devices are very high. Indeed, in the industrialized world many
workers already have been replaced by computerized devices — bank tellers, auto workers,
telephone operators, typists, graphic artists, security guards, assembly-line workers, and on and on.
In addition, even professionals like medical doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants and
psychologists are finding that computers can perform many of their traditional professional duties
quite effectively.
The employment outlook, however, is not all bad. Consider, for example, the fact that the
computer industry already has generated a wide variety of new jobs: hardware engineers, software
engineers, systems analysts, webmasters, information technology teachers, computer sales clerks,
and so on. Thus it appears that, in the short run, computer-generated unemployment will be an
important social problem; but in the long run, information technology will create many more jobs
than it eliminates.
Even when a job is not eliminated by computers, it can be radically altered. For example,
airline pilots still sit at the controls of commercial airplanes; but during much of a flight the pilot
simply watches as a computer flies the plane. Similarly, those who prepare food in restaurants or
make products in factories may still have jobs; but often they simply push buttons and watch as
computerized devices actually perform the needed tasks. In this way, it is possible for computers to
cause “de-skilling” of workers, turning them into passive observers and button pushers. Again,
however, the picture is not all bad because computers also have generated new jobs which require
new sophisticated skills to perform — for example, “computer assisted drafting” and “keyhole”
surgery.
Another workplace issue concerns health and safety. As Forester and Morrison point out,
when information technology is introduced into a workplace, it is important to consider likely
impacts upon health and job satisfaction of workers who will use it. It is possible, for example, that
such workers will feel stressed trying to keep up with high-speed computerized devices — or they
may be injured by repeating the same physical movement over and over — or their health may be
threatened by radiation emanating from computer monitors. These are just a few of the social and
ethical issues that arise when information technology is introduced into the workplace.

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Computer Crime
In this era of computer “viruses” and international spying by “hackers” who are thousands of miles
away, it is clear that computer security is a topic of concern in the field of Computer Ethics. The
problem is not so much the physical security of the hardware (protecting it from theft, fire, flood,
etc.), but rather “logical security”, which Spafford, Heaphy and Ferbrache divide into five aspects:
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Integrity — assuring that data and programs are not modified without proper authority
• Unimpaired service
• Consistency — ensuring that the data and behaviour we see today will be the same tomorrow
• Controlling access to resources
Malicious kinds of software, or “programmed threats”, provide a significant challenge to
computer security. These include “viruses”, which cannot run on their own, but rather are inserted
into other computer programs; “worms” which can move from machine to machine across networks,
and may have parts of themselves running on different machines; “Trojan horses” which appear to be
one sort of program, but actually are doing damage behind the scenes; “logic bombs” which check
for particular conditions and then execute when those conditions arise; and “bacteria” or “rabbits”
which multiply rapidly and fill up the computer's memory.
Computer crimes, such as embezzlement or planting of logic bombs, are normally committed by
trusted personnel who have permission to use the computer system. Computer security, therefore,
must also be concerned with the actions of trusted computer users.
Another major risk to computer security is the so-called “hacker” who breaks into someone's
computer system without permission. Some hackers intentionally steal data or commit vandalism,
while others merely “explore” the system to see how it works and what files it contains. These
“explorers” often claim to be benevolent defenders of freedom and fighters against rip-offs by major
corporations or spying by government agents. These self-appointed vigilantes of cyberspace say they
do no harm, and claim to be helpful to society by exposing security risks. However every act of
hacking is harmful, because any known successful penetration of a computer system requires the
owner to thoroughly check for damaged or lost data and programs. Even if the hacker did indeed
make no changes, the computer's owner must run through a costly and time-consuming investigation
of the compromised system.
Privacy and Anonymity

One of the earliest computer ethics topics to arouse public interest was privacy. For example, in the
mid-1960s the American government already had created large databases of information about
private citizens (census data, tax records, military service records, welfare records, and so on). In the

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US Congress, bills were introduced to assign a personal identification number to every citizen and
then gather all the government's data about each citizen under the corresponding ID number. A
public outcry about “big-brother government” caused Congress to scrap this plan and led the US
President to appoint committees to recommend privacy legislation. In the early 1970s, major
computer privacy laws were passed in the USA. Ever since then, computer-threatened privacy has
remained as a topic of public concern. The ease and efficiency with which computers and computer
networks can be used to gather, store, search, compare, retrieve and share personal information make
computer technology especially threatening to anyone who wishes to keep various kinds of
“sensitive” information (e.g., medical records) out of the public domain or out of the hands of those
who are perceived as potential threats. During the past decade, commercialization and rapid growth
of the internet; the rise of the world-wide-web; increasing “user-friendliness” and processing power
of computers; and decreasing costs of computer technology have led to new privacy issues, such as
data-mining, data matching, recording of “click trails” on the web, and so on.
The variety of privacy-related issues generated by computer technology has led philosophers
and other thinkers to re-examine the concept of privacy itself. Since the mid-1960s, for example, a
number of scholars have elaborated a theory of privacy defined as “control over personal
information”. On the other hand, philosophers Moor and Tavani have argued that control of personal
information is insufficient to establish or protect privacy, and “the concept of privacy itself is best
defined in terms of restricted access, not control”. In addition, Nissenbaum has argued that there is
even a sense of privacy in public spaces, or circumstances “other than the intimate.” An adequate
definition of privacy, therefore, must take account of “privacy in public”. As computer technology
rapidly advances — creating ever new possibilities for compiling, storing, accessing and analyzing
information — philosophical debates about the meaning of “privacy” will likely continue.
Questions of anonymity on the internet are sometimes discussed in the same context with
questions of privacy and the internet, because anonymity can provide many of the same benefits as
privacy. For example, if someone is using the internet to obtain medical or psychological
counselling, or to discuss sensitive topics (for example, AIDS, abortion, gay rights, venereal disease,
and political dissent), anonymity can afford protection similar to that of privacy. Similarly, both
anonymity and privacy on the internet can be helpful in preserving human values such as security,
mental health, self-fulfilment and peace of mind. Unfortunately, privacy and anonymity also can be
exploited to facilitate unwanted and undesirable computer-aided activities in cyberspace, such as
money laundering, drug trading, terrorism, or preying upon the vulnerable.

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One of the more controversial areas of computer ethics concerns the intellectual property rights
connected with software ownership. Some people, like Richard Stallman who started the Free
Software Foundation, believe that software ownership should not be allowed at all. He claims that all
information should be free, and all programs should be available for copying, studying and
modifying by anyone who wishes to do so. Others argue that software companies or programmers
would not invest weeks and months of work and significant funds in the development of software if
they could not get the investment back in the form of license fees or sales. Today's software industry
is a multibillion dollar part of the economy; and software companies claim to lose billions of dollars
per year through illegal copying (“software piracy”). Many people think that software should be
ownable, but “casual copying” of personally owned programs for one's friends should also be
permitted. The software industry claims that millions of dollars in sales are lost because of such
copying. Ownership is a complex matter, since there are several different aspects of software that can
be owned and three different types of ownership: copyrights, trade secrets, and patents. One can own
the following aspects of a program:
• The “source code” which is written by the programmer(s) in a high-level computer language
like Java or C++.
• The “object code”, which is a machine-language translation of the source code.
• The “algorithm”, which is the sequence of machine commands that the source code and
object code represent.
• The “look and feel” of a program, which is the way the program appears on the screen and
interfaces with users.
A very controversial issue today is owning a patent on a computer algorithm. A patent provides
an exclusive monopoly on the use of the patented item, so the owner of an algorithm can deny others
use of the mathematical formulas that are part of the algorithm. Mathematicians and scientists are
outraged, claiming that algorithm patents effectively remove parts of mathematics from the public
domain, and thereby threaten to cripple science. In addition, running a preliminary “patent search” to
make sure that your “new” program does not violate anyone's software patent is a costly and time-
consuming process. As a result, only very large companies with big budgets can afford to run such a
search. This effectively eliminates many small software companies, stifling competition and
decreasing the variety of programs available to the society.
Computer professionals have specialized knowledge and often have positions with authority and
respect in the community. For this reason, they are able to have a significant impact upon the world,

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including many of the things that people value. Along with such power to change the world, comes
the duty to exercise that power responsibly. Computer professionals find themselves in a variety of
professional relationships with other people, including:
employer — employee
client — professional
professional — professional
society — professional
These relationships involve a diversity of interests, and sometimes these interests can come into
conflict with each other. Responsible computer professionals, therefore, will be aware of possible
conflicts of interest and try to avoid them.
Professional organizations in the USA, like the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), have established codes of
ethics, curriculum guidelines and accreditation requirements to help computer professionals
understand and manage ethical responsibilities. For example, in 1991 a Joint Curriculum Task Force
of the ACM and IEEE adopted a set of guidelines for college programmes in Computer Science. The
guidelines say that a significant component of computer ethics (in the broad sense) should be
included in undergraduate education in computer science.
In addition, both the ACM and IEEE have adopted Codes of Ethics for their members. The
most recent ACM Code (1992), for example, includes “general moral imperatives”, such as “avoid
harm to others” and “be honest and trustworthy”. And also included are “more specific professional
responsibilities” like “acquire and maintain professional competence” and “know and respect
existing laws pertaining to professional work.” The IEEE Code of Ethics (1990) includes such
principles as “avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible” and “be honest and
realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data.”
The Accreditation Board for Engineering Technologies (ABET) has long required an ethics
component in the computer engineering curriculum. And in 1991, the Computer Sciences
Accreditation Commission/Computer Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAC/CSAB) also adopted the
requirement that a significant component of computer ethics be included in any computer sciences
degree granting program that is nationally accredited.
It is clear that professional organizations in computer science recognize and insist upon
standards of professional responsibility for their members.

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Globalization
Computer ethics today is rapidly evolving into a broader and even more important field, which might
reasonably be called “global information ethics”. Global networks like the Internet and especially the
world-wide-web are connecting people all over the earth. As Krystyna Gorniak-Kocikowska
perceptively notes in her paper, “The Computer Revolution and the Problem of Global Ethics” for
the first time in history, efforts to develop mutually agreed standards of conduct, and efforts to
advance and defend human values, are being made in a truly global context. So, for the first time in
the history of the earth, ethics and values will be debated and transformed in a context that is not
limited to a particular geographic region, or constrained by a specific religion or culture. This may
very well be one of the most important social developments in history. Consider just a few of the
global issues:
a) Global Laws
If computer users in the United States, for example, wish to protect their freedom of speech on
the internet, whose laws apply? Nearly two hundred countries are already interconnected by the
internet, so the United States Constitution (with its First Amendment protection for freedom of
speech) is just a “local law” on the internet — it does not apply to the rest of the world. How can
issues like freedom of speech, control of “pornography”, protection of intellectual property,
invasions of privacy, and many others to be governed by law when so many countries are involved?
If a citizen in a European country, for example, has internet dealings with someone in a far-away
land, and the government of that land considers those dealings to be illegal, can the European be
tried by the courts in the far-away country?
b) Global Cyberbusiness
The world is very close to having technology that can provide electronic privacy and security on
the internet sufficient to safely conduct international business transactions. Once this technology is in
place, there will be a rapid expansion of global “cyberbusiness”. Nations with a technological
infrastructure already in place will enjoy rapid economic growth, while the rest of the world lags
behind. What will be the political and economic fallout from rapid growth of global cyberbusiness?
Will accepted business practices in one part of the world be perceived as “cheating” or “fraud” in
other parts of the world? Will a few wealthy nations widen the already big gap between rich and
poor? Will political and even military confrontations emerge?
c) Global Education

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If inexpensive access to the global information net is provided to rich and poor alike — to
poverty-stricken people in ghettos, to poor nations in the “third world”, etc. — for the first time in
history, nearly everyone on earth will have access to daily news from a free press; to texts,
documents and art works from great libraries and museums of the world; to political, religious and
social practices of peoples everywhere. What will be the impact of this sudden and profound “global
education” upon political dictatorships, isolated communities, coherent cultures, religious practices,
etc.? As great universities of the world begin to offer degrees and knowledge modules via the
internet, will “lesser” universities be damaged or even forced out of business?
d) Information Rich and Information Poor

The gap between rich and poor nations, and even between rich and poor citizens in industrialized
countries, is already disturbingly wide. As educational opportunities, business and employment
opportunities, medical services and many other necessities of life move more and more into
cyberspace, will gaps between the rich and the poor become even worse?
Intellectual property (IP) is legal property rights over creations of the mind, both artistic and
commercial, and the corresponding fields of law. Under intellectual property law, owners are granted
certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works;
ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of
intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade
secrets. The majority of intellectual property rights provide creators of original works economic
incentive to develop and share ideas through a form of temporary monopoly. While credited with
significant contributions to modern economic growth, some have criticised the expansion in nature
and scope of IP laws. Although many of the legal principles governing intellectual property have
evolved over centuries, it was not until the late 20th century that the term intellectual property began
to be used as a unifying concept.
Intellectual property rights are a bundle of exclusive rights over creations of the mind, both
artistic and commercial. The former is covered by copyright laws, which protect creative works, such
as books, movies, music, paintings, photographs, and software, and gives the copyright holder
exclusive right to control reproduction or adaptation of such works for a certain period of time. The
second category is collectively known as "industrial properties", as they are typically created and
used for industrial or commercial purposes. A patent may be granted for a new, useful, and non-
obvious invention and gives the patent holder a right to prevent others from practicing the invention

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without a license from the inventor for a certain period of time. A trademark is a distinctive sign
which is used to prevent confusion among products in the marketplace.
An industrial design right protects the form of appearance, style or design of an industrial
object from infringement. A trade secret is an item of non-public information concerning the
commercial practices or proprietary knowledge of a business. Public disclosure of trade secrets may
sometimes be illegal.
The term intellectual property denotes the specific legal rights described above, and not the
intellectual work itself.
Objectives
The main objective of intellectual property is to stimulate technological progress, for the benefit of
society.
Financial incentive
Intellectual property rights grant exclusive rights to intellectual creations; they grant ownership over
creations of the mind. These exclusive rights allow owners of intellectual property to reap monopoly
profits. These monopoly profits provide a financial incentive for the creation of intellectual property,
and pay associated research and development costs.[3]
Technology diffusion
Technology diffusion occurs if intellectual property is licensed or sold, conversely technology can
equally be prevented from being shared, should the owner wish not to sell or license.
Economic growth
The legal monopoly granted by IP laws are credited with significant contributions toward economic
growth. Economists estimate that two-thirds of the value of large businesses in the U.S. can be traced
to intangible assets. Likewise, industries which rely on IP protections are estimated to produce 72
percent more value per added employee than non-IP industries.[4] Additionally, a joint research
project of the WIPO and the United Nations University measuring the impact of IP systems on six
Asian countries found "a positive correlation between the strengthening of the IP system and
subsequent economic growth." However, correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
Economics
Intellectual property rights are considered by economists to be a form of temporary monopoly
enforced by the state (or enforced using the legal mechanisms for redress supported by the state).
Intellectual property rights are usually limited to non-rival goods, that is, goods which can be used or

43

enjoyed by many people simultaneously—the use by one person does not exclude use by another.
This is compared to rival goods, such as clothing, which may only be used by one person at a time.
For example, any number of people may make use of a mathematical formula simultaneously. Some
objections to the term intellectual property are based on the argument that property can only
properly be applied to rival goods (or that one cannot "own" property of this sort).
Since a non-rival good may be used (copied, for example) by many simultaneously (produced
with minimal marginal cost), producers would have no incentive to create such works. Monopolies,
by contrast, also have inefficiencies (producers will charge more and produce less than would be
socially desirable). The establishment of intellectual property rights, therefore, represents a trade-off,
to balance the interest of society in the creation of non-rival goods (by encouraging their production)
with the problems of monopoly power. Since the trade-off and the relevant benefits and costs to
society will depend on many factors that may be specific to each product and society, the optimum
period of time during which the temporary monopoly rights exist is unclear.

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Chapter 4
Computer Crime and Fraud
Introduction
Computer crimes encompass unauthorized or illegal activities perpetrated via computer as well as the
theft of computers and other technological hardware. As firms of all sizes, industrial orientation, and
geographic location increasingly rely on computers to operate, concerns about computer crime have
also risen, in part because the practice appears to be thriving despite the concerted efforts of both the
law enforcement and business communities to stop it. But computer experts and business consultants
alike note that both international corporations and modest family-owned businesses can do a great
deal to neutralize computer "viruses" and other manifestations of computer crime.
Many analysts believe, however, that small business owners are less likely to take steps to
address the threat of computer crime than are larger firms. Indeed, many small businesses admit that
they are passive about the threat because of costs associated with implementing safeguards and the
perception that computer "hackers" and other threats are far more likely to pick on bigger companies.
But as Tim McCollum flatly stated in Nation's Business, "companies increasingly are falling prey to
hackers, computer thieves, software viruses, and, in particular, unauthorized and often illegal
activities by their own employees. In fact, chances are that sooner or later most companies will
become victims of high-tech crime [and] when computer criminals strike, small-business victims can
suffer relatively more than large corporations, whose bottom lines are more resistant to damage from
any single theft of equipment or information."
Indeed, computer crime statistics in the United States are sobering. In 2000, for instance, a
study commissioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) indicated that 85 percent of
business respondents” which included companies of all sizes and orientations” said that they had
been victimized by at least one computer-related crime in the previous year. These crimes ranged
from problems of epidemic proportions, such as virus infection, to less prevalent but still serious
problems like Web site defacement, denial of service attacks, financial fraud, sabotage, and network
break-ins. The financial losses associated with computer crime more than doubled between 1999 and
2000 to reach $265 million. Other experts offer similarly grim evaluations of the hardware theft
problem. A computer-insurance company in Ohio called Safeware, for instance, estimated that
American businesses lost $1.4billion in 1996 to the theft of computers.

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Computer Crime
Computer crime, cyber crime, e-crime, hi-tech crime or electronic crime generally refers to
criminal activity where a computer or network is the source, tool, target, or place of a crime. These
categories are not exclusive and many activities can be characterized as falling in one or more
category. Additionally, although the terms computer crime and cybercrime are more properly
restricted to describing criminal activity in which the computer or network is a necessary part of the
crime, these terms are also sometimes used to include traditional crimes, such as fraud, theft,
blackmail, forgery, and embezzlement, in which computers or networks are used to facilitate the
illicit activity. As the use of computers has grown, computer crime has become more important.
Computer crime can broadly be defined as criminal activity involving an information
technology infrastructure, including illegal access (unauthorized access), illegal interception (by
technical means of non-public transmissions of computer data to, from or within a computer system),
data interference (unauthorized damaging, deletion, deterioration, alteration or suppression of
computer data), systems interference (interfering with the functioning of a computer system by
inputting, transmitting, damaging, deleting, deteriorating, altering or suppressing computer data),
misuse of devices, forgery (ID theft), and electronic fraud.
A common example is when a person starts to steal information from sites, or cause damage
to, a computer or computer network. This can be entirely virtual in that the information only exists in
digital form, and the damage, while real, has no physical consequence other than the machine ceases
to function. In some legal systems, intangible property cannot be stolen and the damage must be
visible, e.g. as resulting from a blow from a hammer. Yet denial of service attacks for the purposes of
extortion may result in significant damage both to the system and the profitability of the site targeted.
A further problem is that many definitions have not kept pace with the technology. For example,
where the offence requires proof of a trick or deception as the operative cause of the theft, this may
require the mind of a human being to change and so do or refrain from doing something that causes
the loss. Increasingly, computer systems control access to goods and services. If a criminal
manipulates the system into releasing the goods or authorizing the services, has there been a "trick",
has there been a "deception", does the machine act because it "believes" payment to have been made,
does the machine have "knowledge", does the machine "do" or "refrain from doing" something it has
been programmed to do (or not). Where human-centric terminology is used for crimes relying on
natural language skills and innate gullibility, definitions have to be modified to ensure that fraudulent
behaviour remains criminal no matter how it is committed.
Issues surrounding hacking, copyright infringement through warez, child pornography, and
child grooming, have become high-profile. But this emphasis fails to consider the equally real but
less spectacular issues of obscenity, graffiti appearing on websites and "cyberstalking" or harassment

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that can affect everyday life. There are also problems of privacy when confidential information is
lost, say, when an e-mail is intercepted whether through illegal hacking, legitimate monitoring
(increasingly common in the workplace) or when it is simply read by an unauthorized or unintended
person.
E-mail and Short Message Service SMS messages are regarded as casual communication
including many things that would never be put in a letter. But unlike spoken communication, there is
no intonation and accenting, so the message can be more easily distorted or interpreted as offensive.
Secondly, a computer can be the tool, used, for example, to plan or commit an offense such as
larceny or the distribution of child pornography. The growth of international data communications
and in particular the Internet has made these crimes both more common and more difficult to police.
And using encryption techniques, criminals may [conspire] or exchange data with fewer
opportunities for the police to monitor and intercept. This requires modification to the standard
warrants for search, telephone tapping, etc.
Thirdly, a computer can be a source of evidence. Even though the computer is not directly
used for criminal purposes, it is an excellent device for record keeping, particularly given the power
to encrypt the data. If this evidence can be obtained and decrypted, it can be of great value to
criminal investigators. Shareware - downloading it on the computer, use for a while, but not getting
to keep it. Virus - a computer program that is written to cause corruption of data. Trojan horse -
computer virus that does something different from what it is expected to do. Time bomb - computer
virus that does not cause its damage until the system has been booted a certain number of times.
Software - the illegal copying or use of computer programs. Logic bomb - computer virus triggered
by the appearance or disappearance of specified data.
Types of Computer Crime

• Cyber crime
• Malware and malicious code
• Denial-of-service attack
• Computing virus
• Cyber terrorism
• Information warfare
• Cyber stalking
• Fraud and identity theft
• Phishing
• Virtual crime

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The Birth of "hacking"
Early use of the term "hacker" was applied to computer hobbyists who spent their spare time creating
video games and other basic computer programs. However, this term acquired a negative connotation
in the 1980s when computer experts illegally accessed several high-profile databanks. Databases at
the Los Alamos National Laboratory (a centre of nuclear weapons research) and the Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Centre in New York City were among their targets. The introduction of relatively
inexpensive personal computers and modems helped make this pastime affordable; the use of regular
telephone lines as access ways made it possible. Over time, the designation "hacker" came to be
associated with programmers and disseminators of computer viruses, and the public perception of
hackers continues to be one of lone computer experts with a taste for mischief or mayhem. But
"hacking" has come to encompass a wide range of other computer crimes as well, many of them
primarily grounded in efforts to make money. Indeed, the vital information kept in computers has
made them a target for corporate espionage, fraud, and embezzlement efforts.
Internal and External Threats

As criminologist and computer-insurance executive Ron Hale indicated to Tim McCollum of
Nation's Business, one of the most unsettling facts about computer crime is that the greatest threat to
information security for small businesses is their employees. As McCollum noted, "a company's
employees typically have access to its personal computers and computer networks, and often they
know precisely what business information is valuable and where to find it." The reasons for these
betrayals are many, ranging from workplace dissatisfaction to financial or family difficulties.
Computer crimes perpetrated by outsiders are a major threat too, of course, but whereas
employees often abscond with sensitive information or attempt to benefit financially when engaging
in illegal activities, outsiders are more likely to engage in behaviour that is simply destructive (i.e.,
computer viruses). Some security experts believe that the continued threat of outside "hackers" is due
at least in part to the growing number of employees who engage in "telecommuting" via modem and
the swelling ranks of company networks hooked to the Internet. These connections can be used to
infiltrate computer systems. The damage wreaked by outside intruders can be significant and wide-
ranging. As Scott Charney, chief of the U.S. Justice Department's section on computer crime, told
Nation's Business, many companies never find out that information has been stolen, while other
businesses are heavily damaged by the incursion. Yet many companies do not report thefts and other
security breaches that they do discover because they fear that the publicity will result in a loss of
prestige and/or business.

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Viruses
The most common outside threat to a business's computer network is the virus. Indeed, the National
Computer Security Association (NCSA) estimated that in 1996, two out of three U.S. companies
were affected by one or more of the estimated 16,000 computer viruses that were floating around the
country at that time. "Viruses infect your machine by attaching themselves to programs, files, and
start-up instructions," wrote Cassandra Cavanah in Entrepreneur. "There are two main types of
computer viruses: macro and binary. Macro viruses are written to attack a specific programme.
Binary viruses are either actual programs designed to attack your data or attach themselves to
program files to do similar destruction. Binary viruses are the ones to be concerned with; they can
reformat your hard drive, wipe out data and stop your operating system from working. The best way
to fight these bugs is to avoid them, but in today's word of Internet downloads and e-mail file
exchanges, this is an impossible task. Luckily for small business owners, a wide variety of anti-virus
software programs are available at computer stores and on the Internet (the latter can be
downloaded).
Security Measures
Computer security is concerned with preventing information stored in or used by computers from
being altered, stolen, or used to commit crimes. The field includes the protection of electronic funds
transfers, proprietary information (product designs, client lists, etc.), computer programs, and other
communications, as well as the prevention of computer viruses. It can be difficult to place a dollar
value on these assets, especially when such factors as potential loss of reputation or liability issues
are considered. In some cases (e.g., military and hospital applications) there is a potential for loss of
life due to misplaced or destroyed data; this cannot be adequately conveyed by risk analysis
formulas.
The question most companies face, then, is not whether to practice computer security
measures, but how much time and effort to invest. Fortunately, companies looking to protect
themselves from computer crime can choose from a broad range of security options. Some of these
measures are specifically designed to counter internal threats, while others are shaped to stop outside
dangers. Some are relatively inexpensive to put in place, while others require significant outlays of
money. But many security experts believe that the single greatest defence that any business can bring
to bear is simply a mindset in which issues of security are of paramount concern. "Firewalls, security
scanners, antivirus software, and other types of security technology aren't enough to prevent high-
tech crime," said Nation's Business. "Real prevention begins by formulating a company security
policy that details”among other matters” what information is valuable and how to protect it."

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Protection from Internal Threats
Whereas big corporations typically have entire departments devoted to computer system
management, small businesses often do not have such a luxury. "In a small business, the system
administrator could be anyone from a secretary to the CEO," wrote Lynn Greiner in CMAâ€”The
Management Accounting Magazine. "Whoever it is, you can almost guarantee it'll be a busy person
who has the duties tacked on to his or her job description. And you can also almost guarantee that
this unlucky soul will have few if any resources, and probably no training to help with the burden of
keeping the corporate systems running. Fortunately, the technology has advanced to a level that
allows administrators to ensure the stability and security of their computer systems, without spending
too much time or money."
Common-sense measures that can be taken by managers and/or system administrators to
minimize the danger of internal tampering with computer systems include the following:
• Notify employees that their use of the company's personal computers, computer networks,
and Internet connections will be monitored. Then do it.
• Physical access to computers can be limited in various ways, including imposition of
passwords; magnetic card readers; and biometrics, which verifies the user's identity through
matching patterns in hand geometry, signature or keystroke dynamics, neural networks (the
pattern of nerves in the face), DNA fingerprinting, retinal imaging, or voice recognition.
More traditional site control methods such as sign-in logs and security badges can also be
useful.
• Classify information based on its importance, assigning security clearances to employees as
needed.
• Eliminate nonessential modems that could be used to transmit information.
• Monitor activities of employees who keep odd hours at the office.
• Make certain that the company's hiring process includes extensive background checks,
especially in cases where the employee would be handling sensitive information.
• Stress the importance of confidential passwords to employees.
Protection from External Threats

Small businesses also need to gird themselves against out-side intruders. "As with employee crime,
the best protections against attacks by outsiders are matters of common sense," said McCollum.
"Companies can buy a technological barricade called a firewall and position it between their internal
networks and external ones, but hackers often can get in anyway because the firewall hardware and
software are poorly configured or are not activated. One way to avoid these problems is to pay
outside experts to carry out these complex configuration and installation chores." Of course, good

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firewalls tend to be expensive (some cost $20,000 or more), but lower cost alternatives have made
their way into the marketplace in recent years.
The single greatest scourge from the outside is, of course, the computer virus. But business
owners can do much to minimize the threat from viruses by heeding the following basic steps:
• Install and use anti-virus software programs that scan PCs, computer networks, CDROMs,
tape drives, diskettes, and Internet material, and destroy viruses when found.
• Update anti-virus programs on a regular basis.
• Ensure that all individual computers are equipped with anti-virus programs.
• Forbid employees from putting programs on their office computers without company
approval.
• Make sure that the company has a regular policy of backing up (copying) important files and
storing them in a safe place, so that the impact of corrupted files is minimized. Having a
source of clean (i.e., uninfected by viruses) backup copies for data files and programs is as
important as it is elementary.
A variety of sources exist to assist small business owners with virus protection and Internet
security measures. For example, several Web sites provide free virus warnings and downloadable
antivirus patches for Web browsers. The Computer Security Institute provides annual surveys on
security breaches. Another useful resource is the National Computer Security Association, which
provides tips on Internet security for business owners and supplies definitions of high-tech terms.
Small businesses seeking to establish Internet security policies and procedures might begin by
contacting CERT. This U.S. government organization, formed in 1988, works with the Internet
community to raise awareness of security issues and organize the response to security threats. The
CERT Web site posts the latest security alerts and also provides security-related documents, tools,
and training seminars. Finally, CERT offers 24-hour technical assistance in the event of Internet
security breaches. Small business owners who contact CERT about a security problem will be asked
to provide their company's Internet address, the computer models affected, the types of operating
systems and software used, and the security measures that were in place.
Hardware Theft
Although computer viruses and other high-tech threats cause the most dread within the business
community, the most common type of computer crime actually involves the theft of computer
hardware. Unfortunately, employees are often the culprits with this type of crime as well, especially
if they work shifts after business hours. Other losses are attributed to outsiders who abscond with
computers through elementary breaking-and-entering means. Security experts, though, say that
companies can do a lot to cut down on such losses simply by maintaining accurate and up-to-date

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equipment inventories; locking up hardware that is not in use; locking computers and monitors to
desks; and attaching electronic tags to computers. The latter device emits a radio-frequency signal
that can activate video cameras or set off alarms when the computer is removed from the premises.
Finally, companies should make sure that they purchase adequate insurance.
Business travellers, meanwhile, need to keep a close eye on their notebook and desktop
computers, which are highly coveted by thieves. Indeed, the allure of these portable computers is so
great that thieves sometimes work in teams to get their hands on them. Airports and hotels are
favourite haunts of thieves looking to make off with these valuable items. Security experts thus
counsel business travellers to be especially vigilant in high traffic areas, to carry computer serial
numbers separately from the hardware, and to consider installing locks, alarms, or tracing software.
Non-Criminal Security Threats

Of course, not all threats to computer well-being come from parties with criminal intent. Savvy small
business owners will make sure that their computers ”including data as well as hardware” are
protected from environmental disaster (power surges, floods, blizzards, fires, etc.) and operator
incompetence alike.
Any computer security program should include elements that reflect an understanding of the
basic environmental conditions a computer requires in order to operate properly. Ensuring that the
system receives adequate power is paramount. Drops in voltage or blackouts can occur due to utility
switching problems, stormy weather, or other difficulties at the utility company. In such instances,
computers may lose unsaved data or fall victim to "disk crashes." Computer systems can also be
endangered by sharp increases in voltage, known as "spikes," which can seriously damage hardware.
A variety of voltage regulators, surge protectors, grounding techniques, and filters exist to combat
these problems. In the 1990s, intense activity cantered on the development of uninterruptible power
systems that use storage batteries to ensure a smooth transition between power sources in the event
of power failure. Local area networks as well as individual computers can be protected by these
devices.
Fire is another important threat to computer systems. Their susceptibility to fire damage is
exacerbated by the flammability of paper supplies likely to be stored in close proximity. Plastics used
in the manufacture of computers can produce explosive gases when exposed to high temperatures.
Moreover, common fire prevention measures such as water sprinklers can further damage computers,
especially if the computers are under active power. The use of fire-resistant construction materials,
fire walls, vent closure systems, etc., are standard ways to mitigate the threat of fire. Carbon dioxide
and Halon 1211 gas extinguishers are suitable for use near electronic equipment because they do not
leave a residue.

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Other physical security concerns include protection against excessive heat, humidity, and
water, which can be introduced by flooding, burst pipes, and other unfortunate developments. Of
course, computers and other electronic equipment also suffer damage from less dramatic sources,
such as spilled coffee, airborne particles, and cigarette smoke, so coverings made of plastics and
other materials have become standard in many firms that rely on computers. But these safeguards
will be of little use in the face of more serious situations. Organizations vitally dependent on data
processing facilities should prepare contingency plans for disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes,
or blizzards. Ideally, backup facilities should be located far enough away so that they will not be
damaged along with the original system in the event of catastrophe.
Computer Fraud
Computer fraud is any dishonest misrepresentation of fact intended to induce another to do or refrain
from doing something which causes loss. In this context, the fraud will result in obtaining a benefit
by:
• altering computer input in an unauthorized way. This requires little technical expertise and is
not an uncommon form of theft by employees altering the data before entry or entering false
data, or by entering unauthorized instructions or using unauthorized processes;
• altering, destroying, suppressing, or stealing output, usually to conceal unauthorized
transactions: this is difficult to detect;
• altering or deleting stored data; or
• altering or misusing existing system tools or software packages, or altering or writing code
for fraudulent purposes. This requires real programming skills and is not common.
• Manipulating banking systems to make unauthorized identity theft with reference to ATM
fraud.
Offensive content
The content of websites and other electronic communications may be harmful, distasteful or
offensive for a variety of reasons. Most countries have enacted law that place some limits on the
freedom of speech and ban racist, blasphemous, politically subversive, seditious or inflammatory
material that tends to incite hate crimes. This is a sensitive area in which the courts can become
involved in arbitrating between groups with entrenched beliefs; each convinced that their point of
view has been unreasonably attacked. Therefore, it is equally an offence to show hostility to a person
who practices a particular faith as to a person who has no religious belief or faith.

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Harassment
Whereas content may be offensive in a non-specific way, harassment directs obscenities and
derogatory comments at specific individuals focusing for example on gender, race, religion,
nationality, sexual orientation. This often occurs in chat rooms, through newsgroups, and by sending
hate e-mail to interested parties (see cyber bullying, harassment by computer, stalking, and
cyberstalking).
Drug trafficking
Drug traffickers are increasingly taking advantage of the Internet to sell their illegal substances
through encrypted e-mail and other Internet Technology. Some drug traffickers arrange deals at
internet cafes, use courier Web sites to track illegal packages of pills, and swap recipes for
amphetamines in restricted-access chat rooms. The rise in Internet drug trades could also be
attributed to the lack of face-to-face communication. These virtual exchanges allow more intimidated
individuals to more comfortably purchase illegal drugs. The sketchy effects that are often associated
with drug trades are severely minimized and the filtering process that comes with physical
interaction fades away. Furthermore, traditional drug recipes were carefully kept secrets. But with
modern computer technology, this information is now being made available to anyone with computer
access.
Cyberterrorism
Government officials and IT security specialists have documented a significant increase in Internet
probes and server scans since early 2001. There is a growing concern among federal officials that
such intrusions are part of an organized effort by cyberterrorists, foreign intelligence services, or
other groups to map potential security holes in critical systems. A cyberterrorist is someone who
intimidates or coerces a government or organization to advance his or her political or social
objectives by launching computer-based attack against computers, network, and the information
stored on them.
Cyberterrorism in general, can be defined as an act of terrorism committed through the use of
cyberspace or computer resources. As such, a simple propaganda in the Internet, that there will be
bomb attacks during the holidays can be considered cyberterrorism. At worst, cyberterrorists may
use the Internet or computer resources to carry out an actual attack.
As well there are also hacking activities directed towards individuals, families, organised by groups
within networks, tending to cause fear among people, demonstrate power, collecting information
relevant for ruining peoples' lives, robberies, blackmailing etc.

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Documented cases
• The Yahoo! website was attacked at 10:30 PST on Monday, 7 February 2000. The attack
lasted three hours. Yahoo was pinged at the rate of one gigabyte/second.
• On 3 August 2000, Canadian federal prosecutors charged MafiaBoy with 54 counts of illegal
access to computers, plus a total of ten counts of mischief to data for his attacks on
Amazon.com, eBay, Dell Computer, Outlaw.net, and Yahoo. MafiaBoy had also attacked
other websites, but prosecutors decided that a total of 66 counts was enough. MafiaBoy pled
not guilty.
• About fifty computers at Stanford University, and also computers at the University of
California at Santa Barbara, were amongst the zombie computers sending pings in DoS
attacks.
• In 26 March 1999, the Melissa worm infected a document on a victim's computer, then
automatically sent that document and copy of the virus via e-mail to other people.
Applicable laws
United States
• Access Device Fraud. 18 U.S.C. Â§ 1029. Fraud and related activity in connection with
access devices.
• Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. 18 U.S.C. Â§ 1030. Fraud and related activity in connection
with computers.
• CAN-SPAM ACT. 15 U.S.C. Â§ 7704. Controlling The Assault of Non-Solicited
Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003.
• Extortion and Threats. 18 U.S.C. Â§ 875. EXTORTION and THREATS. Interstate
communications.
• Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998. 18 U.S.C. Â§ 1028. Fraud and
related activity in connection with identification documents, authentication features, and
information.
• Wire Fraud. 18 U.S.C. Â§ 1343. Fraud by wire, radio, or television.
• No Electronic Theft ("NET") Act. 17 U.S.C. Â§ 506. Criminal Offenses. (criminal copyright
infringement)
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA) . 17 U.S.C. Â§ 1201. Circumvention of
copyright protection systems.
• Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. Â§ 2701, et seq. (STORED WIRE AND
ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSACTIONAL RECORDS ACCESS)
• Trade Secrets Act. 18 U.S.C. Â§ 1832. Theft of trade secrets.

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• Economic Espionage Act. 18 U.S.C. Â§ 1831. Economic Espionage.
• US Computer Crime Laws by State
Canada
• Criminal Code of Canada, Section 342. Unauthorized Use of Computer.
• Criminal Code of Canada, Section 184. Interception of Communications
• Computer Crime in Canada
United Kingdom
• The Computer Misuse Act 1990 (chapter 18.)
• The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (chapter 23.)
• The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 (chapter 24.)
• The Data Protection Act 1998 (chapter 29.)
• The Fraud Act 2006 (chapter 35.)
• Potentially the Forgery and Counterfeiting Act 1981 (chapter 45) may also apply in relation
to forgery of electronic payment instruments accepted within the United Kingdom.
• The CMA was recently amended by the Police and Justice Act 2006 (chapter 48)
• The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (Statutory
Instrument 2003 No. 2426.)
• See also the UK Internet Rights web site and the All Party Internet Group report on
recommended amendments to the CMA.
Australia
• Cybercrime Act 2001 (Commonwealth)
• Crimes Act 1900 (NSW): Part 6, ss 308-308I.
• Criminal Code Act Compilation Act 1913 (WA): Section 440a, Unauthorised use of a
computer system
Malaysia
Computer Crimes Act 1997 (Act 563)
Singapore
Computer Misuse Act 1993 (Chapter 50A)

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Venezuela
Special Computer Crimes Act (Ley Especial de Delitos InformÃ¡ticos, In Spanish)
Others
• Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime
• Global Survey of Cybercrime Law
• Unauthorized Access Penal Laws in 44 Countries
• Convention on Cybercrime

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Chapter 5
Professional Issues & Professional
Bodies
Concept of a Profession
A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational training, the purpose of which is to
supply disinterested counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, wholly
apart from expectation of other business gain. According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
professions involve the application of specialised knowledge of a subject, field, or science to fee-
paying clientele. It is axiomatic that "professional activity involves systematic knowledge and
proficiency”. Professions are distinguished from other occupations represented by trade groups due
to their level of legal recognition. Professions include, for example: Surveyors, Social Workers,
Nurses, Pharmacists, Lawyers, Accountants, Veterinarians, Engineers, Teachers, Diplomats,
Commissioned Officers, Professors, Librarians, Archivists, Clergy, Urban Planners, Architects,
Physical Therapists, Dentists, Occupational Therapists, Chiropractors, and Physicians.
Etymology
The term is derived from the Latin: "to swear (an oath)". The oath referred to dictates adherence to
ethical standards, which invariably include practitioner/client confidentiality, truthfulness, and the
striving to be an expert in one's calling, all three of these being practiced above all for the benefit of
the client. There is also a stipulation about upholding the good name of the profession.
History
Classically, there were only three professions: Divinity, Medicine, and Law. The main milestones
which mark an occupation being identified as a profession are:
1. It became a full-time occupation;
2. The first training school was established;
3. The first university school was established;
4. The first local association was established;
5. The first national association was established;
6. The codes of professional ethics were introduced;
7. State licensing laws were established.

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The ranking of established professions in the United States based on the above milestones
shows Surveying first (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were all land
surveyors before entering politics), followed by Medicine, Law, Dentistry, Civil Engineering,
Logistics, Architecture and Accounting. With the rise of technology and occupational specialization
in the 19th century, other bodies began to claim professional status: Pharmacy, Logistics, Veterinary
Medicine, Nursing, Teaching, Librarianship, Optometry and Social Work, all of which could claim
to be professions by 1900 using these milestones.
Just as some professions rise in status and power through various stages, so others may
decline. This is characterized by the red cloaks of bishops giving way to the black cloaks of lawyers
and then to the white cloaks of doctors. With the church having receded in its role in western society,
the remaining classical professions (law and medicine) are both noted by many as requiring not just
study to enter, but extensive study and accreditation above and beyond simply getting a university
degree. Accordingly more recently-formalized disciplines, such as architecture, which now have
equally-long periods of study associated with them.
Although professions enjoy high status and public prestige, all professionals do not earn the
same high salaries. There are hidden inequalities even within professions.
Formation of a Profession
A profession arises when any trade or occupation transforms itself through "the development of
formal qualifications based upon education and examinations, the emergence of regulatory bodies
with powers to admit and discipline members, and some degree of monopoly rights." The process by
which a profession arises from a trade or occupation is often termed professionalization and has been
described as one, "starting with the establishment of the activity as a full-time occupation,
progressing through the establishment of training schools and university links, the formation of a
professional organization, and the struggle to gain legal support for exclusion, and culminating with
the formation of a formal code of ethics."
Regulation
Professions are typically regulated by statute, with the responsibilities of enforcement delegated to
respective professional bodies, whose function is to define, promote, oversee, support and regulate
the affairs of its members. These bodies are responsible for the licensure of professionals, and may
additionally set examinations of competence and enforce adherence to an ethical code of practice.
However, they all require that the individual hold at least a first professional degree before licensure.
There may be several such bodies for one profession in a single country, an example being the ten
accountancy bodies (ACCA, ICAEW, ICAI, ICAS, CIMA, CIPFA, AAPA, CIMA, IFA, CPA) of the

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United Kingdom, all of which have been given a Royal Charter although not necessarily considered
to hold equivalent-level qualifications.
Typically, individuals are required by law to be qualified by a local professional body before
they are permitted to practice in that profession. However, in some countries, individuals may not be
required by law to be qualified by such a professional body in order to practice, as is the case for
accountancy in the United Kingdom (except for auditing and insolvency work which legally require
qualification by a professional body). In such cases, qualification by the professional bodies is
effectively still considered a prerequisite to practice as most employers and clients stipulate that the
individual hold such qualifications before hiring their services.
Autonomy
Professions tend to be autonomous, which means they have a high degree of control of their own
affairs: "professionals are autonomous insofar as they can make independent judgments about their
work". This usually means "the freedom to exercise their professional judgement." However, it has
other meanings. "Professional autonomy is often described as a claim of professionals that has to
serve primarily their own interests...this professional autonomy can only be maintained if members
of the profession subject their activities and decisions to a critical evaluation by other members of
the profession." The concept of autonomy can therefore be seen to embrace not only judgement, but
also self-interest and a continuous process of critical evaluation of ethics and procedures from within
the profession itself.
Status and Prestige

Professions enjoy a high social status, regard and esteem conferred upon them by society. This high
esteem arises primarily from the higher social function of their work, which is regarded as vital to
society as a whole and thus of having a special and valuable nature. All professions involve
technical, specialised and highly skilled work often referred to as "professional expertise." Training
for this work involves obtaining degrees and professional qualifications without which entry to the
profession is barred (occupational closure). Training also requires regular updating of skills through
continuing education.
Power
All professions have power. This power is used to control its own members, and also its area of
expertise and interests. A profession tends to dominate, police and protect its area of expertise and
the conduct of its members, and exercises a dominating influence over its entire field which means
that professions can act monopolist, rebuffing competition from ancillary trades and occupations, as

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[20]
well as subordinating and controlling lesser but related trades. A profession is characterised by
the power and high prestige it has in society as a whole. It is the power, prestige and value that
society confers upon a profession that more clearly defines it.
Gender Inequality
There is a long-standing and well-documented male domination of all professions, even though this
has weakened over the last forty years or so. For example, well-qualified women rarely get the same
pay as men. "There is a 15 per cent pay gap between men and women across Europe. The situation is
particularly bad in Britain. A report by the 'Women and Work Commission' in 2006 found that
women in full-time work are earning 17 per cent less than men on average...significant numbers of
women enter professions such as the law and medicine every year. They are increasingly well
represented as heads of professional bodies and national arts organisations. Overall, since 1975, the
pay gap has narrowed by 12 percentage points."
Although in Britain, "the fulltime gender pay gap has shrunk in the past 30 years, it is still
17%, while for part-time work it is stuck at a shameful 40%....all this is happening when, at school
and college, women are outshining men. In the medical and legal professions, there has been a
'gender-quake,'" which means these professions are gradually becoming female-dominated. Yet their
pay continues to lag behind that of their male colleagues.
This situation is by no means limited to the law and medicine. "Research from the
profession's leading body, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), has
discovered that there is a 23% pay gap between men and women in senior HR positions. This all the
more embarrassing because HR is considered a women's profession....and (although) a professional
qualification is a hallmark of equality...in practice, some professionals are better rewarded than
others, and that the better rewarded tend to be men. This is not solely because men are more likely to
reach the top of their professions. Gender gaps have been found in the starting salaries of newly
qualified solicitors. And there are segregated professions, and occupations."
However, the situation is fluid, and some trends can be detected. For example, in 2007,
women comprised 63% of students enrolled in United States professional pharmaceutical
programmes and 51.3% of PhD candidates in that same field. Similarly, women comprised 47.3% of
those entering United States Law Schools in 2007 and are projected to comprise as much as 49.4% of
law students by the end of the decade. Such shifts seem to indicate a gradual trend toward greater
gender equality in the professions.

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Racial Inequality
Equally qualified blacks get paid less than equivalent whites. "the percentage difference in earnings
between Blacks and Whites was smallest (5%) in the lowest-paid occupations and greatest in the
highest-paid occupations...black dentists and physicians earned 80 cents for every dollar earned by
their White colleagues. Black lawyers earned 79 cents for every dollar earned by White
lawyers...black men have made inroads into the most highly paid occupations, but once they get
there, they find they still don't earn as much as equally qualified White men."
Characteristics of a Profession
The list of characteristics that follows is extensive, but does not claim to include every characteristic
that has ever been attributed to professions, nor do all of these features apply to every profession:
• Skill based on theoretical knowledge: Professionals are assumed to have extensive
theoretical knowledge (e.g. medicine, law, scripture or engineering) and to possess skills
based on that knowledge that they are able to apply in practice.
• Professional association: Professions usually have professional bodies organized by their
members, which are intended to enhance the status of their members and have carefully
controlled entrance requirements.
• Extensive period of education: The most prestigious professions usually require at least
three years at university. Undertaking doctoral research can add a further 4-5 years to this
period of education.
• Testing of competence: Before being admitted to membership of a professional body, there
is a requirement to pass prescribed examinations that are based on mainly theoretical
knowledge.
• Institutional training: In addition to examinations, there is usually a requirement for a long
period of institutionalized training where aspiring professionals acquire specified practical
experience in some sort of trainee role before being recognized as a full member of a
professional body. Continuous upgrading of skills through professional development is also
mandatory these days.
• Licensed practitioners: Professions seek to establish a register or membership so that only
those individuals so licensed are recognized as bona fide.
• Work autonomy: Professionals tend to retain control over their work, even when they are
employed outside the profession in commercial or public organizations. They have also
gained control over their own theoretical knowledge.
• Code of professional conduct or ethics: Professional bodies usually have codes of conduct
or ethics for their members and disciplinary procedures for those who infringe the rules.

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• Self-regulation: Professional bodies tend to insist that they should be self-regulating and
independent from government. Professions tend to be policed and regulated by senior,
respected practitioners and the most highly qualified members of the profession.
• Public service and altruism: The earning of fees for services rendered can be defended
because they are provided in the public interest, e.g. the work of doctors contributes to public
health.
• Exclusion, monopoly and legal recognition: Professions tend to exclude those who have not
met their requirements and joined the appropriate professional body. This is often termed
professional closure, and seeks to bar entry for the unqualified and to sanction or expel
incompetent members.
• Control of remuneration and advertising: Where levels of remuneration are determined by
government, professional bodies are active in negotiating (usually advantageous)
remuneration packages for their members. Some professions set standard scale fees, but
government advocacy of competition means that these are no longer generally enforced.
• High status and rewards: The most successful professions achieve high status, public
prestige and rewards for their members. Some of the factors included in this list contribute to
such success.
• Individual clients: Many professions have individual fee-paying clients. For example, in
accountancy, "the profession" usually refers to accountants who have individual and
corporate clients, rather than accountants who are employees of organizations.
• Middle-class occupations: Traditionally, many professions have been viewed as 'respectable'
occupations for middle and upper classes.
• Male-dominated: The highest status professions have tended to be male dominated although
females are closing this gender gap. Women are now being admitted to the priesthood while
its status has declined relative to other professions. Similar arguments apply to race and class:
ethnic groups and working-class people are no less disadvantaged in most professions than
they are in society generally.
• Offer reassurance: Professionals are able to offer reassurance to their clients that although
there appear to be problems, everything is normal or being dealt with properly, and this
reassurance may be offered rather than solutions to particular problems. For example, sick
people may be reassured that they will probably get better in a few days.
• Ritual: Church ritual and the Court procedure are obviously ritualistic.
• Legitimacy: Professions have clear legal authority over some activities (e.g. certifying the
insane) but are also seen as adding legitimacy to a wide range of related activities.

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• Inaccessible body of knowledge: In some professions, the body of knowledge is relatively
inaccessible to the uninitiated. Medicine and law are typically not school subjects and have
separate faculties and even separate libraries at universities.
• Indeterminacy of knowledge: Professional knowledge contains elements that escape being
mastered and communicated in the form of rules and can only be acquired through
experience.
• Mobility: The skill knowledge and authority of professionals belongs to the professionals as
individuals, not the organizations for which they work. Professionals are therefore relatively
mobile in employment opportunities as they can move to other employers and take their
talents with them. Standardization of professional training and procedures enhances this
mobility.
Concept of a Professional
A professional is a member of a vocation founded upon specialised educational training. The word
professional traditionally means a person who has obtained a professional (doctoral) level degree - a
physician or lawyer or so on. The term professional has also become mainstreamed and used to
imply white collar working person or commercial such as in the case of a commercial athlete
compared to an amateur.
In western nations, such as the United States, the term commonly describes highly educated,
mostly salaried workers, who enjoy considerable work autonomy, economic security, a comfortable
salary, and are commonly engaged in creative and intellectually challenging work. Less technically,
it may also refer to a person having impressive competence in a particular activity.
A 'true' professional must be proficient in all criteria for the field of work they are practising
professionally in. Criteria include following:
• Academic qualifications - a doctoral or law degree - i.e., university college/institute
• Expert and specialised knowledge in field which one is practising professionally
• Excellent manual/practical and literary skills in relation to profession
• High quality work in (examples): creations, products, services, presentations, consultancy,
primary/other research, administrative, marketing or other work endeavours
• A high standard of professional ethics, behaviour and work activities while carrying out one's
profession (as an employee, self-employed person, career, enterprise, business, company, or
partnership/associate/colleague, etc.)
In Britain and elsewhere, professionalism is often designated by Royal Charter.

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Trades
In narrow usage, not all expertise is considered a profession. Although sometimes referred to as
professions, such occupations as skilled construction work are more generally thought of as trades or
crafts. The completion of an apprenticeship is generally associated with skilled labour or trades such
as carpenter, electrician, plumber, bricklayer and other similar occupations. A related (though not
always valid) distinction would be that a professional does mainly mental or administrative work, as
opposed to engaging in physical work. Many companies include the word professional in their
company name to signify the quality of their workmanship or service.
Professional Ethics
Professional ethics concerns the moral issues that arise because of the specialist knowledge that
professionals attain, and how the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service
to the public.
The professional carries additional moral responsibilities to those held by the population in general.
This is because professionals are capable of making and acting on an informed decision in situations
that the general public cannot, because they have not received the relevant training. For example, a
layman member of the public could not be held responsible for failing to act to save a car crash
victim because they could not give an emergency tracheotomy. This is because they do not have the
relevant knowledge. In contrast, a fully trained doctor (with the correct equipment) would be capable
of making the correct diagnosis and carrying out the procedure and we would think it wrong if they
stood by and failed to help in this situation. You cannot be held accountable for failing to do
something that you do not have the ability to do.
This additional knowledge also comes with authority and power. The client places trust in the
professional on the basis that the service provided will be of benefit to them. It would be quite
possible for the professional to use his authority to exploit the client. An obvious example is that of
the dentist who carries out unneeded dental work on his patients in order to gain more money. It is
likely that the patient will not have sufficient knowledge to question what is being done, and so will
undergo and pay for the treatment.
Codes of Practice
Questions arise as to the ethical limits of the professional’s responsibility and how power and
authority should be used in service to the client and society. Most professions have internally
enforced codes of practice that members of the profession must follow, to prevent exploitation of the

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client and preserve the integrity of the profession. This is not only to the benefit of the client but to
the benefit of those belonging to the profession. For example, an American business may approach
an engineer to certify the safety of a project which is not safe. Whilst one engineer may refuse to
certify the project on moral grounds, the business may find a less scrupulous engineer who will be
prepared to certify the project for a bribe, thus saving the business the expense of redesigning.
Disciplinary codes allow the profession to draw a standard of conduct and ensure that individual
practitioners meet this standard, by disciplining them from the professional body if they do not
practice accordingly. This allows those professionals who act with conscience to practice in the
knowledge that they will not be undermined commercially by those who have less ethical qualms. It
also maintains the public’s trust in the profession, meaning that the public will continue to seek their
services.
Problems with Internal Regulation

There are questions surrounding the validity of professional codes of ethics. On a practical level it is
very difficult for those independent of the profession to monitor practice, leaving the possibility that
a code of practice may be self serving. This is because the nature of professions is that they have
almost a complete monopoly on a particular area of knowledge. For example, until recently, the
English courts deferred to the professional consensus on matters relating to their practice that lay
outside case law and legislation.
Separatism
On a theoretical level, there is debate as to whether an ethical code for a profession should be
consistent with the requirements of morality governing the public. Separatists argue that professions
should be allowed to go beyond such confines when they judge it necessary. This is because they are
trained to produce certain outcomes which may take moral precedence over other functions of
society. For example, it could be argued that a doctor may lie to a patient about the severity of their
condition, if there is reason to think that telling the patient could cause them so much distress that it
would be detrimental to their health. This would be a disrespect of the patient’s autonomy, as it
denies them information on something that could have a great impact on their life. This would
generally be seen as morally wrong. However, if the end of improving and maintaining health is
given a moral priority in society, then it may be justifiable to contravene other moral demands in
order to meet this goal. Separatism is based on a relativist conception of morality that there can be
different, equally valid moral codes that apply to different sections of society and differences in
codes between societies. If moral universalism is ascribed to, then this would be inconsistent with the

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view that professions can have a different moral code, as the universalist holds that there is only one
valid moral code for all.
Professional Association
A professional association (also called a professional body, 'professional organization,
professional association or professional society) is a non-profit organization seeking to further a
particular profession, the interests of individuals engaged in that profession, and the public interest.
The roles of these professional associations have been variously defined: "A group of people
in a learned occupation who are entrusted with maintaining control or oversight of the legitimate
practice of the occupation;" also a body acting "to safeguard the public interest;" organizations which
"represent the interest of the professional practitioners," and so "act to maintain their own privileged
and powerful position as a controlling body."
Such bodies generally strive to achieve a balance between these two often conflicting
mandates. Though professional bodies often act to protect the public by maintaining and enforcing
standards of training and ethics in their profession, they often also act like a cartel or a labour union
(trade union) for the members of the profession, though this description is commonly rejected by the
body concerned.
Therefore, in certain dispute situations the balance between these two aims may get tipped
more in favour of protecting and defending the professionals than in protecting the public. An
example can be used to illustrate this. In a dispute between a lawyer and his/her client or between a
patient and his/her doctor, the Law Society of England and Wales or the General Medical Council
will inevitably find itself plunged into a conflict of interest in (a) its wish to defend the interests of
the client, while also (b) wishing to defend the interests, status and privileges of the professional. It is
clearly a tough call for it do both.
Many professional bodies are involved in the development and monitoring of professional
educational programmes, and the updating of skills, and thus perform professional certification to
indicate that a person possesses qualifications in the subject area. Sometimes membership of a
professional body is synonymous with certification, though not always. Membership of a
professional body, as a legal requirement, can in some professions form the primary formal basis for
gaining entry to and setting up practice within the profession.
Many professional bodies also act as learned societies for the academic disciplines underlying
their professions.
The following professional bodies are of particular relevance to Computer Science and Technology:

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• British Computer Society (BCS) - The BCS is the industry body for IT professionals and a
Chartered Engineering Institution for Information Technology (IT).
• British Web Design & Marketing Association - inclusive organisation, open to all
companies and individuals that have an interest in the new media sector. BWDMA is
influence-driven rather than membership-driven.
• E-Skills UK Ltd - The sector skills council for I.T, providing a range of information relevant
to I.T professionals.
• Institute for the Management of Information Systems (IMIS) - The IMIS is the leading
international professional association devoted to the management of information systems
within the business environment.
• National Computing Centre - provides information as well as impartial advice and support,
best practice and standards, personal and professional development.
• The Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers - The IEEE is an innovative
international organisation for electronics, electrical, manufacturing and IT professionals, with
a range of information of relevance to computing students.
Code of Conduct
A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an
individual or organization. Related concepts include ethical codes and honor codes. In its 2007
International Good Practice Guidance, Defining and Developing an Effective Code of Conduct for
Organizations, the International Federation of Accountants provided the following working
definition:
"Principals, values, standards, or rules of behaviour that guide the decisions, procedures and
systems of an organization in a way that (a) contributes to the welfare of its key stakeholders,
and (b) respects the rights of all constituents affected by its operations."
British Computer Society (BCS) - Code of Conduct

This code sets out the professional standards required by the Society as a condition of membership.
Introduction
It applies to members of all grades, including Students, and Affiliates, and also non-members who
offer their expertise as part of the Society's Professional Advice Service.
Within this document, the term "relevant authority" is used to identify the person or organisation
which has authority over your activity as an individual. If you are a practising professional, this is
normally an employer or client. If you are a student, this is normally an academic institution.

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The Code governs your personal conduct as an individual member of the BCS and not the
nature of business or ethics of the relevant authority. It will, therefore, be a matter of your exercising
your personal judgement in meeting the Code's requirements.
Any breach of the Code of Conduct brought to the attention of the Society will be considered
under the Society’s Disciplinary procedures. You should also ensure that you notify the Society
of any significant violation of this Code by another BCS member.
The Public Interest

1. In your professional role you shall have regard for the public health, safety and environment.
• This is a general responsibility, which may be governed by legislation, convention or
protocol.
• If in doubt over the appropriate course of action to take in particular circumstances, you
should seek the counsel of a peer or colleague.
2. You shall have regard to the legitimate rights of third parties.
• The term 'Third Party' includes professional colleagues, or possibly competitors, or
members of 'the public' who might be affected by an IT System without their being
directly aware of its existence.
3. You shall ensure that within your professional field/s you have knowledge and understanding
of relevant legislation, regulations and standards, and that you comply with such
requirements.
• As examples, relevant legislation could, in the UK, include the Public Interest Disclosure
Act, Disability Discrimination Act, Data Protection or Privacy legislation, Computer
Misuse law, legislation concerned with the export or import of technology, possibly for
national security reasons, or law relating to intellectual property. This list is not
exhaustive, and you should ensure that you are aware of any legislation relevant to your
professional responsibilities.
• In the international context, you should be aware of, and understand, the requirements of
law specific to the jurisdiction within which you are working, and, where relevant, to
supranational legislation such as EU law and regulation. You should seek specialist
advice when necessary.
4. You shall conduct your professional activities without discrimination against clients or
colleagues
• Grounds of discrimination include, but are not limited to race, colour, ethnic origin,
gender, sexual orientation, age and disability
• All colleagues have a right to be treated with dignity and respect.

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• You should adhere to the relevant law within the jurisdiction where you are working and,
if appropriate, the European Convention on Human Rights.
• You are encouraged to promote equal access to the benefits of IT by all groups in society,
and to avoid and reduce 'social exclusion' from IT wherever opportunities arise.
5. You shall reject and shall not make any offer of bribery or inducement.
Duty to Relevant Authority

6. You shall carry out work or study with due care and diligence in accordance with the relevant
authority's requirements, and the interests of system users. If your professional judgement is
overruled, you shall indicate the likely risks and consequences.
• The crux of the issue here, familiar to all professionals in whatever field, is the potential
conflict between full and committed compliance with the relevant authority's wishes, and
the independent and considered exercise of your judgement.
• If your judgement is overruled, you are encouraged to seek advice and guidance from a
peer or colleague on how best to respond.
7. You shall avoid any situation that may give rise to a conflict of interest between you and your
relevant authority. You shall make full and immediate disclosure to them if any conflict is
likely to occur or be seen by a third party as likely to occur. You shall endeavour to complete
work undertaken on time to budget and shall advise the relevant authority as soon as
practicable if any overrun is foreseen.
8. You shall not disclose or authorise to be disclosed, or use for personal gain or to benefit a
third party, confidential information except with the permission of your relevant authority, or
at the direction of a court of law.
9. You shall not misrepresent or withhold information on the performance of products, systems
or services, or take advantage of the lack of relevant knowledge or inexperience of others.
Duty to the Profession

10. You shall uphold the reputation and good standing of the BCS in particular, and the
profession in general, and shall seek to improve professional standards through participation
in their development, use and enforcement.
• As a Member of the BCS you also have a wider responsibility to promote public
understanding of IT - its benefits and pitfalls - and, whenever practical, to counter
misinformation that brings or could bring the profession into disrepute.
• You should encourage and support fellow members in their professional development
and, where possible, provide opportunities for the professional development of new

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members, particularly student members. Enlightened mutual assistance between IT
professionals furthers the reputation of the profession, and assists individual members.
11. You shall act with integrity in your relationships with all members of the BCS and with
members of other professions with whom you work in a professional capacity.
12. You shall have due regard for the possible consequences of your statements on others. You
shall not make any public statement in your professional capacity unless you are properly
qualified and, where appropriate, authorised to do so. You shall not purport to represent the
BCS unless authorised to do so.
• The offering of an opinion in public, holding oneself out to be an expert in the subject
in question, is a major personal responsibility and should not be undertaken lightly.
• To give an opinion that subsequently proves ill founded is a disservice to the
profession, and to the BCS.
13. You shall notify the Society if convicted of a criminal offence or upon becoming bankrupt or
disqualified as Company Director
• This does not apply, in the UK, to convictions spent under the Rehabilitation of
Offenders Act 1974, to discharged bankruptcy, or to expired disqualification under
the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.
• Not all convictions are seen as relevant to membership in the Society and each case
will be considered individually.
Professional Competence and Integrity

14. You shall seek to upgrade your professional knowledge and skill, and shall maintain
awareness of technological developments, procedures and standards which are relevant to
your field, and encourage your subordinates to do likewise.
15. You shall not claim any level of competence that you do not possess. You shall only offer to
do work or provide a service that is within your professional competence.
• You can self-assess your professional competence for undertaking a particular job or role
by asking, for example,
(i) am I familiar with the technology involved, or have I worked with similar
technology before?
(ii) have I successfully completed similar assignments or roles in the past?
(iii) can I demonstrate adequate knowledge of the specific business application
and requirements successfully to undertake the work?

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16. In addition to this Code of Conduct, you shall observe whatever clauses you regard as
relevant from the BCS Code of Good Practice and any other relevant standards, and you
shall encourage your colleagues to do likewise.
17. You shall accept professional responsibility for your work and for the work of colleagues
who are defined in a given context as working under your supervision.

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Chapter 6
Information Technology & Society
Introduction
Technology and society or technology and culture refer to the cyclical co-dependence, co-influence,
co-production of technology and society upon the other (technology upon culture, and vice-versa).
This synergistic relationship occurred from the dawn of humankind, with the invention of the simple
tools; and continues into modern technologies such as the printing press and computers. The
academic discipline studying the impacts of science, technology, and society and vice versa is called
Science and technology studies.
Modern examples
There are an extraordinary number of examples how science and technology has helped us that can
be seen in society today. One great example is the mobile phone. Ever since the invention of the
telephone society was in need of a more portable device that they could use to talk to people. This
high demand for a new product led to the invention of the mobile phone, which did, and still does,
greatly influence society and the way people live their lives. Now many people are accessible to talk
to whoever they want no matter where any of the two people are. All these little changes in mobile
phones, like Internet access, are further examples of the cycle of co-production. Society's need for
being able to call on people and be available everywhere resulted in the research and development of
mobile phones. They in turn influenced the way we live our lives. As the populace relies more and
more on mobile phones, additional features were requested. This is also true with today’s modern
media player.
Society also determined the changes that were made to the previous generation media player
that the manufactures developed. Take for example, today’s media players. At the beginning,
cassettes were being used to store data. However, that method was large and cumbersome so the
manufactures developed compact disks, which were smaller and could hold more data. Later,
compact disks were again too large and did not hold enough data that forced today’s manufactures to
create MP3 players which are small and holds large amount of data. Today’s society determined the
course of events that many manufactures took to improving their products so today’s consumers will
purchase their products.

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Economics and Technological Development
Looking back into ancient history, economics can be said to have arrived on the scene when the
occasional, spontaneous exchange of goods and services began to occur on a less occasional, less
spontaneous basis. It probably did not take long for the maker of arrowheads to realize that he could
probably do a lot better by concentrating on the making of arrowheads and barter for his other needs.
Clearly, regardless of the goods and services bartered, some amount of technology was involved—if
no more than in the making of shell and bead jewellery. Even the shaman's potions and sacred
objects can be said to have involved some technology. So, from the very beginnings, technology can
be said to have spurred the development of more elaborate economies.
In the modern world, superior technologies, resources, geography, and history give rise to
robust economies; and in a well-functioning, robust economy, economic excess naturally flows into
greater use of technology. Moreover, because technology is such an inseparable part of human
society, especially in its economic aspects, funding sources for (new) technological endeavours are
virtually illimitable. However, while in the beginning, technological investment involved little more
than the time, efforts, and skills of one or a few men, today, such investment may involve the
collective labour and skills of many millions.
Funding
Consequently, the sources of funding for large technological efforts have dramatically narrowed,
since few have ready access to the collective labour of a whole society, or even a large part. It is
conventional to divide up funding sources into governmental (involving whole, or nearly whole,
social enterprises) and private (involving more limited, but generally more sharply focused) business
or individual enterprises.
Government funding for new technology

The government is a major contributor to the development of new technology in many ways. In the
United States alone, many government agencies specifically invest billions of dollars in new
technology. In 1980, the UK government invested just over 6-million pounds in a four-year program,
later extended to six years, called the Microelectronics Education Programme (MEP), which was
intended to give every school in Britain at least one computer, software, training materials, and
extensive teacher training. Similar programs have been instituted by governments around the world.
Technology has frequently been driven by the military, with many modern applications being
developed for the military before being adapted for civilian use. However, this has always been a
two-way flow, with industry often taking the lead in developing and adopting a technology which is
only later adopted by the military.

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Entire government agencies are specifically dedicated to research, such as America's National
Science Foundation, the United Kingdom's scientific research institutes, America's Small Business
Innovative Research effort. Many other government agencies dedicate a major portion of their
budget to research and development.
Private funding
Research and development is one of the biggest areas of investments made by corporations toward
new and innovative technology. Many foundations and other non-profit organizations contribute to
the development of technology. In the OECD, about two-thirds of research and development in
scientific and technical fields is carried out by industry, and 20 percent and 10 percent respectively
by universities and government. But in poorer countries such as Portugal and Mexico the industry
contribution is significantly less. The U.S. government spends more than other countries on military
research and development, although the proportion has fallen from about 30 percent in the 1980s to
less than 100 percent.
Other economic considerations

• Appropriate technology, sometimes called "intermediate" technology, more of an
economics concern, refers to compromises between central and expensive technologies of
developed nations and those which developing nations find most effective to deploy given an
excess of labour and scarcity of cash.
• Persuasion technology: In economics, definitions or assumptions of progress or growth are
often related to one or more assumptions about technology's economic influence. Challenging
prevailing assumptions about technology and its usefulness has led to alternative ideas like
uneconomic growth or measuring well-being. These, and economics itself, can often be
described as technologies, specifically, as persuasion technology.
• Technocapitalism
• Technological diffusion
• Technology acceptance model
• Technology lifecycle
• Technology transfer
Sociological Factors and Effects

The use of technology has a great many effects; these may be separated into intended effects and
unintended effects. Unintended effects are usually also unanticipated, and often unknown before the
arrival of a new technology. Nevertheless, they are often as important as the intended effect.

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Values
The implementation of technology influences the values of a society by changing expectations and
realities. The implementation of technology is also influenced by values. There are (at least) three
major, interrelated values that inform, and are informed by, technological innovations:
• Mechanistic world view: Viewing the universe as a collection of parts, (like a machine), that
can be individually analyzed and understood. This is a form of reductionism that is rare
nowadays. However, the "neo-mechanistic world view" holds that nothing in the universe
cannot be understood by the human intellect. Also, while all things are greater than the sum
of their parts (e.g., even if we consider nothing more than the information involved in their
combination), in principle, even this excess must eventually be understood by human
intelligence. That is, no divine or vital principle or essence is involved.
• Efficiency: A value, originally applied only to machines, but now applied to all aspects of
society, so that each element is expected to attain a higher and higher percentage of its
maximal possible performance, output, or ability.
• Social progress: The belief that there is such a thing as social progress, and that, in the main,
it is beneficent. Before the Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent explosion of
technology, almost all societies believed in a cyclical theory of social movement and, indeed,
of all history and the universe. This was, obviously, based on the cyclicity of the seasons, and
an agricultural economy's and society's strong ties to that cyclicity. Since much of the world
is closer to their agricultural roots, they are still much more amenable to cyclicity than
progress in history. This may be seen, for example, in Prabhat rainjan sarkar's modern social
cycles theory. For a more westernized version of social cyclicity, see Generations: The
History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 (Paperback) by Neil Howe and William Strauss;
Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (September 30, 1992); ISBN 0-688-11912-3, and
subsequent books by these authors.
Ethics
Winston (2003) provides an excellent summary of the ethical implications of technological
development and deployment. He states there are four major ethical implications:
• Challenges traditional ethical norms. Because technology impacts relationships among
individuals, it challenges how individuals deal with each other, even in ethical ways. One
example of this is challenging the definition of "human life" as embodied by debates in the
areas of abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, etc., which all involve modern
technological developments.

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• Creates an aggregation of effects. One of the greatest problems with technology is that its
detrimental effects are often small, but cumulative. Such is the case with the pollution from
the burning of fossil fuels in automobiles. Each individual automobile creates a very small,
almost negligible, amount of pollution, however the cumulative effect could possibly
contribute to the global warming effect. Other examples include accumulations of chemical
pollutants in the human body, urbanization effects on the environment, etc.
• Changes the distribution of justice. In essence, those with technology tend to have higher
access to justice systems. Or, justice is not distributed equally to those with technology versus
those without.
• Provides great power. Not only does technology amplify the ability, and hence the strength,
of humans, it also provides a great strategic advantage to the human(s) who hold the greatest
amount of technology. Consider the strategic advantage gained by having greater
technological innovations in the military, pharmaceuticals, computers, etc. For example, Bill
Gates has considerable influence (even outside of the computer industry) in the course of
human affairs due to his successful implementation of computer technology.
Lifestyle
In many ways, technology simplifies life.
• The rise of a leisure class
• A more informed society, which can make quicker responses to events and trends
• Sets the stage for more complex learning tasks
• Increases multi-tasking (although this may not be simplifying)
• Global networking
• Creates denser social circles
• Cheaper prices
• Greater specialization in jobs
In other ways, technology complicates life.

• Pollution is a serious problem in a technologically advanced society (from acid rain to
Chernobyl and Bhopal)
• The increase in transportation technology has brought congestion in some areas
• Technicism (although this may not be complicating)
• New forms of danger existing as a consequence of new forms of technology, such as the first
generation of nuclear reactors

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• New forms of entertainment, such as video games and internet access could have possible
social effects on areas such as academic performance
• Increased probability of some diseases and disorders, such as obesity
• Social separation of singular human interaction. Technology has increased the need to talk to
more people faster.
• Structural unemployment
• Anthropocentric climate change
Institutions and groups

Technology often enables organizational and bureaucratic group structures that otherwise and
heretofore were simply not possible. Examples of this might include:
• The rise of very large organizations: e.g., governments, the military, health and social welfare
institutions, supranational corporations.
• The commercialization of leisure: sports events, products, etc. (McGinn)
• The almost instantaneous dispersal of information (especially news) and entertainment
around the world.
International
Technology enables greater knowledge of international issues, values, and cultures. Due mostly to
mass transportation and mass media, the world seems to be a much smaller place, due to the
following, among others:
• Globalization of ideas
• Embeddedness of values
• Population growth and control
• Others
Environment
Technology provides an understanding, and an appreciation for the world around us. Most modern
technological processes produce unwanted by-products in addition to the desired products, which is
known as industrial waste and pollution. While most material waste is re-used in the industrial
process, many forms are released into the environment, with negative environmental side effects,
such as pollution and lack of sustainability. Different social and political systems establish different
balances between the value they place on additional goods versus the disvalues of waste products
and pollution. Some technologies are designed specifically with the environment in mind, but most
are designed first for economic or ergonomic effects. Historically, the value of a clean environment

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and more efficient productive processes has been the result of an increase in the wealth of society,
because once people are able to provide for their basic needs, they are able to focus on less-tangible
goods such as clean air and water.
The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more obvious
effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources (such as petroleum, coal, ores), and
the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include debates over long-term
effects (e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, coastal wetland loss.)
Each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously unknown by humans: toxic waste,
radioactive waste, electronic waste. One of the main problems is the lack of an effective way to
remove these pollutants on a large scale expediently. In nature, organisms "recycle" the wastes of
other organisms, for example, plants produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis, oxygen-
breathing organisms use oxygen to metabolize food, producing carbon dioxide as a by-product,
which plants use in a process to make sugar, with oxygen as a waste in the first place. No such
mechanism exists for the removal of technological wastes.
Humanity at the moment may be compared to a colony of bacteria in a Petri dish with a
constant food supply: with no way to remove the wastes of their metabolism, the bacteria eventually
poison themselves.
Construction and Shaping

Choice
Society also controls technology through the choices it makes. These choices not only include
consumer demands; they also include:
• the channels of distribution, how do products go from raw materials to consumption to
disposal;
• the cultural beliefs regarding style, freedom of choice, consumerism, materialism, etc.;
• the economic values we place on the environment, individual wealth, government control,
capitalism, etc.
According to Williams and Edge (1996), the construction and shaping of technology includes the
concept of choice (and not necessarily conscious choice). Choice is inherent in both the design of
individual artefacts and systems, and in the making of those artefacts and systems. The idea here is
that a single technology may not emerge from the unfolding of a predetermined logic or a single
determinant; technology could be a garden of forking paths, with different paths potentially leading
to different technological outcomes. Therefore, choices could have differing implications for society
and for particular social groups.

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Autonomous Technology
In one line of thought, technology develops autonomously, in other words, technology seems to feed
on itself, moving forward with a force irresistible by humans. To these individuals, technology is
"inherently dynamic and self-augmenting." Jacques Ellul is one proponent of the irresistibleness of
technology to humans. He espouses the idea that humanity cannot resist the temptation of expanding
our knowledge and our technological abilities. However, he does not believe that this seeming
autonomy of technology is inherent. But the perceived autonomy is due to the fact that humans do
not adequately consider the responsibility that is inherent in technological processes. Another
proponent of these ideas is Langdon Winner who believes that technological evolution is essentially
beyond the control of individuals or society.
Government
Individuals rely on governmental assistance to control the side effects and negative consequences of
technology.
• Supposed independence of government. An assumption commonly made about the
government is that their governance role is neutral or independent. However some argue that
governing is a political process, so government will be influenced by political winds of
influence. In addition, because government provides much of the funding for technological
research and development, it has a vested interest in certain outcomes. Other point out that
the world's biggest ecological disasters, such as the Aral Sea, Chernobyl, and Lake Karachay
have been caused by government projects, which are not accountable to consumers.
• Liability. One means for controlling technology is to place responsibility for the harm with
the agent causing the harm. Government can allow more or less legal liability to fall to the
organizations or individuals responsible for damages.
• Legislation. A source of controversy is the role of industry versus that of government in
maintaining a clean environment. While it is generally agreed that industry needs to be held
responsible when pollution harms other people, there is disagreement over whether this
should be prevented by legislation or civil courts, and whether ecological systems as such
should be protected from harm by governments.
Recently the social shaping of technology has had new influence in the fields of e-science and e-
social science in the United Kingdom, which has made centres focusing on the social shaping of
science and technology a central part of their funding programmes.

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Chapter 7
Distributed Systems Issues
(See Enclosed CD for Materials)

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Chapter 8
Quality Management Process
Introduction
Quality control is a method for ensuring that all the activities necessary to design, develop and
implement a product or service are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its
performance. Quality management can be considered to have three main components: quality
control, quality assurance and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not only on
product quality, but also the means to achieve it. Quality management therefore uses quality
assurance and control of processes as well as products to achieve more consistent quality. In the
context of software engineering, software quality measures how well software is designed (quality
of design), and how well the software conforms to that design (quality of conformance), although
there are several different definitions. Whereas quality of conformance is concerned with
implementation, quality of design measures how valid the design and requirements are in creating a
worthwhile product.
Quality Management Evolution

Quality management is a recent phenomenon. Advanced civilizations that supported the arts and
crafts allowed clients to choose goods meeting higher quality standards than normal goods. In
societies where art and craft (and craftsmanship) were valued, one of the responsibilities of a master
craftsman (and similarly for artists) was to lead their studio, train and supervise the work of their
craftsmen and apprentices. The master craftsman set standards, reviewed the work of others and
ordered rework and revision as necessary. One of the limitations of the craft approach was that
relatively few goods could be produced, on the other hand an advantage was that each item produced
could be individually shaped to suit the client. This craft based approach to quality and the practices
used were major inputs when quality management was created as a management science.
During the industrial revolution, the importance of craftsmen was diminished as mass
production and repetitive work practices were instituted. The aim was to produce large numbers of
the same goods. The first proponent in the US for this approach was Eli Whitney who proposed
(interchangeable) parts manufacture for muskets, hence producing the identical components and
creating a musket assembly line. The next step forward was promoted by several people including
Frederick Winslow Taylor a mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is

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sometimes called "the father of scientific management." He was one of the intellectual leaders of the
Efficiency Movement and part of his approach laid a further foundation for quality management,
including aspects like standardization and adopting improved practices. Henry Ford also was
important in bringing process and quality management practices into operation in his assembly lines.
In Germany, Karl Friedrich Benz, often called the inventor of the motor car, was pursuing similar
assembly and production practices, although real mass production was properly initiated in
Volkswagen after world war two. From this period onwards, North American companies focused
predominantly upon production against lower cost with increased efficiency.
Walter A. Shewhart made a major step in the evolution towards quality management by
creating a method for quality control for production, using statistical methods, first proposed in 1924.
This became the foundation for his ongoing work on statistical quality control. W. Edwards Deming
later applied statistical process control methods in the United States during World War II, thereby
successfully improving quality in the manufacture of munitions and other strategically important
products.
Quality leadership from a national perspective has changed over the past five to six decades.
After the Second World War, Japan decided to make quality improvement a national imperative as
part of rebuilding their economy, and sought the help of Shewhart, Deming and Juran, amongst
others. W. Edwards Deming championed Shewhart's ideas in Japan from 1950 onwards. He is
probably best known for his management philosophy establishing quality, productivity, and
competitive position. He has formulated 14 points of attention for managers, which are a high level
abstraction of many of his deep insights. They should be interpreted by learning and understanding
the deeper insights and include:
• Break down barriers between departments
• Management should learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership
• Improve constantly
• Institute a programme of education and self-improvement
In the 1950s and 1960s, Japanese goods were synonymous with cheapness and low quality, but
over time their quality initiatives began to be successful, with Japan achieving very high levels of
quality in products from the 1970s onward. For example, Japanese cars regularly top the J.D. Power
customer satisfaction ratings. In the 1980s Deming was asked by Ford Motor Company to start a
quality initiative after they realized that they were falling behind Japanese manufacturers. A number
of highly successful quality initiatives have been invented by the Japanese (see for example on this
page: Taguchi, QFD, Toyota Production System. Many of the methods not only provide techniques
but also have associated quality culture aspects (i.e. people factors). These methods are now adopted
by the same western countries that decades earlier derided Japanese methods.

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Customers recognize that quality is an important attribute in products and services. Suppliers
recognize that quality can be an important differentiator between their own offerings and those of
competitors (quality differentiation is also called the quality gap). In the past two decades this quality
gap has been greatly reduced between competitive products and services. This is partly due to the
contracting (also called outsourcing) of manufacture to countries like India and China, as well
internationalization of trade and competition. These countries amongst many others have raised their
own standards of quality in order to meet International standards and customer demands. The ISO
9000 series of standards are probably the best known International standards for quality
management.
There are a huge number of books available on quality. In recent times some themes have
become more significant including quality culture, the importance of knowledge management, and
the role of leadership in promoting and achieving high quality. Disciplines like systems thinking are
bringing more holistic approaches to quality so that people, process and products are considered
together rather than independent factors in quality management.
Quality Improvement
There are many methods for quality improvement. These cover product improvement, process
improvement and people based improvement. In the following list are methods of quality
management and techniques that incorporate and drive quality improvement—
1. ISO 9004:2000 — Guidelines for performance improvement.
2. ISO 15504-4: 2005 — Information technology — Process assessment — Part 4: Guidance on
use for process improvement and process capability determination.
3. QFD — Quality Function Deployment, also known as the House of Quality approach.
4. Kaizen — 改善, Japanese for change for the better; the common English usage is continual
improvement.
5. Zero Defect Program — created by NEC Corporation of Japan, based upon Statistical Process
Control and one of the inputs for the inventors of Six Sigma.
6. Six Sigma — 6σ, Six Sigma combines established methods such as Statistical Process
Control, Design of Experiments and FMEA in an overall framework.
7. PDCA — Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle for quality control purposes. (Six Sigma's DMAIC
method (Design, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) may be viewed as a particular
implementation of this.)
8. Quality circle — a group (people oriented) approach to improvement.
9. Taguchi methods — statistical oriented methods including Quality robustness, Quality loss
function and Target specifications.

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10. The Toyota Production System — reworked in the west into Lean Manufacturing.
11. Kansei Engineering — an approach that focuses on capturing customer emotional feedback
about products to drive improvement.
12. TQM — Total Quality Management is a management strategy aimed at embedding
awareness of quality in all organizational processes. First promoted in Japan with the Deming
prize which was adopted and adapted in USA as the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award and in Europe as the European Foundation for Quality Management award (each with
their own variations).
13. TRIZ — meaning "Theory of inventive problem solving"
14. BPR — Business process reengineering, a management approach aiming at 'clean slate'
improvements (That is, ignoring existing practices).
Proponents of each approach have sought to improve them as well as apply them to enterprise types
not originally targeted. For example, Six Sigma was designed for manufacturing but has spread to
service enterprises. Each of these approaches and methods has met with success but also with
failures.
Some of the common differentiators between success and failure include commitment,
knowledge and expertise to guide improvement, scope of change/improvement desired (Big Bang
type changes tend to fail more often compared to smaller changes) and adaption to enterprise
cultures. For example, quality circles do not work well in every enterprise (and are even discouraged
by some managers), and relatively few TQM-participating enterprises have won the national quality
awards.
There have been well publicized failures of BPR, as well as Six Sigma. Enterprises therefore
need to consider carefully which quality improvement methods to adopt, and certainly should not
adopt all those listed here.
It is important not to underestimate the people factors, such as culture, in selecting a quality
improvement approach. Any improvement (change) takes time to implement, gain acceptance and
stabilize as accepted practice. Improvement must allow pauses between implementing new changes
so that the change is stabilized and assessed as a real improvement, before the next improvement is
made (hence continual improvement, not continuous improvement).
Improvements that change the culture take longer as they have to overcome greater resistance to
change. It is easier and often more effective to work within the existing cultural boundaries and make
small improvements (that is Kaizen) than to make major transformational changes. Use of Kaizen in
Japan was a major reason for the creation of Japanese industrial and economic strength.
On the other hand, transformational change works best when an enterprise faces a crisis and
needs to make major changes in order to survive. In Japan, the land of Kaizen, Carlos Ghosn led a

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transformational change at Nissan Motor Company which was in a financial and operational crisis.
Well organized quality improvement programs take all these factors into account when selecting the
quality improvement methods.
Quality standards
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) created the Quality Management System
(QMS) standards in 1987. These were the ISO 9000:1987 series of standards comprising ISO
9001:2008, ISO 9002:1987 and ISO 9003:1987; which were applicable in different types of
industries, based on the type of activity or process: designing, production or service delivery. The
standards have been regularly reviewed every few years by the International Organization for
Standardization. The version in 1994 and was called the ISO 9000:1994 series; comprising of the
ISO 9001:1994, 9002:1994 and 9003:1994 versions. The last revision was in the year 2000 and the
series was called ISO 9000:2000 series. However the ISO 9002 and 9003 standards were integrated
and one single certifiable standard was created under ISO 9001:2000. Since December 2003, ISO
9002 and 9003 standards are not valid, and the organizations previously holding these standards need
to do a transition from the old to the new standards.
The ISO 9004:2000 document gives guidelines for performance improvement over and above
the basic standard (ISO 9001:2000). This standard provides a measurement framework for improved
quality management, similar to and based upon the measurement framework for process assessment.
The Quality Management System standards created by ISO are meant to certify the processes
and the system of an organization and not the product or service itself. ISO 9000 standards do not
certify the quality of the product or service. Recently the International Organization for
Standardization released a new standard, ISO 22000, meant for the food industry. This standard
covers the values and principles of ISO 9000 and the HACCP standards. It gives one single
integrated standard for the food industry and is expected to become more popular in the coming
years in such industry.
ISO has a number of standards that support quality management. One group describes
processes (including ISO 12207 & ISO 15288) and another describes process assessment and
improvement ISO 15504. The Software Engineering Institute has its own process assessment and
improvement methods, called CMMi (Capability Maturity Model — integrated) and IDEAL
respectively.
Quality terms
• Quality Improvement can be distinguished from Quality Control in that Quality
Improvement is the purposeful change of a process to improve the reliability of achieving an
outcome.

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• Quality Control is the ongoing effort to maintain the integrity of a process to maintain the
reliability of achieving an outcome.
• Quality Assurance is the planned or systematic actions necessary to provide enough
confidence that a product or service will satisfy the given requirements for quality.
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance, or QA for short, refers to planned and systematic production processes that
provide confidence in a product's suitability for its intended purpose. It is a set of activities intended
to ensure that products (goods and/or services) satisfy customer requirements in a systematic, reliable
fashion. QA cannot absolutely guarantee the production of quality products, unfortunately, but
makes this more likely. Two key principles characterise QA: "fit for purpose" (the product should
be suitable for the intended purpose) and "right first time" (mistakes should be eliminated). QA
includes regulation of the quality of raw materials, assemblies, products and components; services
related to production; and management, production and inspection processes. It is important to
realize also that quality is determined by the intended users, clients or customers, not by society in
general: it is not the same as 'expensive' or 'high quality'. Even goods with low prices can be
considered quality items if they meet a market need.
Quality Assurance versus Quality Control

Whereas quality control emphasizes testing and blocking the release of defective products, quality
assurance is about improving and stabilizing production and associated processes to avoid or at least
minimize issues that led to the defects in the first place. However, QA does not necessarily eliminate
the need for QC: some product parameters are so critical that testing is still necessary just in case QA
fails.
Failure testing
A valuable process to perform on a whole consumer product is failure testing (also known as stress
testing), the operation of a product until it fails, often under stresses such as increasing vibration,
temperature and humidity. This exposes many unanticipated weaknesses in a product, and the data is
used to drive engineering and manufacturing process improvements. Often quite simple changes can
dramatically improve product service, such as changing to mould-resistant paint or adding lock-
washer placement to the training for new assembly personnel.
Statistical control

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Many organizations use statistical process control to bring the organization to Six Sigma levels of
quality, in other words, so that the likelihood of an unexpected failure is confined to six standard
deviations on the normal distribution. This probability is less than four one-millionths. Items
controlled often include clerical tasks such as order-entry as well as conventional manufacturing
tasks. Traditional statistical process controls in manufacturing operations usually proceed by
randomly sampling and testing a fraction of the output. Variances in critical tolerances are
continuously tracked and where necessary corrected before bad parts are produced.
Total Quality Control

Deep analysis of QA practices and premises used about them is the most necessary inspection
control of all in cases where, despite statistical quality control techniques or quality improvements
implemented, sales decrease. The major problem which leads to a decrease in sales was that the
specifications did not include the most important factor, “What the specifications have to state in
order to satisfy the customer requirements?” The major characteristics, ignored during the search to
improve manufacture and overall business performance were:
• Reliability
• Maintainability
• Safety
• Strength
As the most important factor had been ignored, a few refinements had to be introduced:
• Marketing had to carry out their work properly and define the customer’s specifications.
• Specifications had to be defined to conform to these requirements.
• Conformance to specifications i.e. drawings, standards and other relevant documents, were
introduced during manufacturing, planning and control.
• Management had to confirm all operators are equal to the work imposed on them and
holidays, celebrations and disputes did not affect any of the quality levels.
• Inspections and tests were carried out, and all components and materials, bought in or
otherwise, conformed to the specifications, and the measuring equipment was accurate, this is
the responsibility of the QA/QC department.
• Any complaints received from the customers were satisfactorily dealt with in a timely
manner.
• Feedback from the user/customer is used to review designs.
• Consistent data recording and assessment and documentation integrity.
• Product and/or process change management and notification.

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If the specification does not reflect the true quality requirements, the product's quality cannot be
guaranteed. For instance, the parameters for a pressure vessel should cover not only the material and
dimensions but operating, environmental, safety, reliability and maintainability requirements.
Quality Awareness
Widespread awareness of quality issues throughout the organization increases the probability that
product quality will be taken into account at every stage of the production process.
QA in Software Development
The following are examples of QA models relating to the software development process.
Models and standards
• ISO 17025 is an international standard that specifies the general requirements for the
competence to carry out tests and or calibrations. There are 15 management requirements and
10 technical requirements. These requirements outline what a laboratory must do to become
accredited. Management system refers to the organization's structure for managing its
processes or activities that transform inputs of resources into a product or service which
meets the organization's objectives, such as satisfying the customer's quality requirements,
complying with regulations, or meeting environmental objectives.
• The CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration) model is widely used to implement
Quality Assurance (PPQA) in an organization. The CMMI maturity levels can be divided in
to 5 steps, which a company can achieve by performing specific activities within the
organization.
Company Quality
During the 1980s, the concept of “company quality” with the focus on management and people came
to the fore. It was realized that, if all departments approached quality with an open mind, success was
possible if the management led the quality improvement process.
The company-wide quality approach places an emphasis on four aspects:-
• Elements such as controls, job management, adequate processes, performance and integrity
criteria and identification of records
• Competence such as knowledge, skills, experience, qualifications
• Soft elements, such as personnel integrity, confidence, organizational culture, motivation,
team spirit and quality relationships.
• Infrastructure (as it enhances or limits functionality)

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The quality of the outputs is at risk if any of these aspects is deficient in any way. The approach
to quality management given here is therefore not limited to the manufacturing theatre only but can
be applied to any business or non-business activity:
• Design work
• Administrative Services
• Consulting
• Banking
• Insurance
• Computer Software
• Retailing
• Transportation
• Open Source Development
• Education
It comprises a quality improvement process, which is generic in the sense it can be applied to any of
these activities and it establishes a behaviour pattern, which supports the achievement of quality.
This in turn is supported by quality management practices which can include a number of business
systems and which are usually specific to the activities of the business unit concerned. In
manufacturing and construction activities, these business practices can be equated to the models for
quality assurance defined by the International Standards contained in the ISO 9000 series and the
specified Specifications for quality systems. Still, in the system of Company Quality, the work being
carried out was shop floor inspection which did not reveal the major quality problems. This led to
quality assurance or total quality control, which has come into being recently.
Using contractors and/or Consultants

It has become customary to use consultants and contractors when introducing new quality practices
and methods, particularly where the relevant skills and expertise are not available within the
organization. In addition, when new initiatives and improvements are required to boost the current
quality system, or perhaps improve upon current manufacturing systems, the use of temporary
consultants becomes a viable solution when allocating valuable resources. There are various types of
consultants and contractors available in the market; most will have the skills needed to facilitate
improvement activities such as Quality Management Systems (QMS) auditing and procedural
documentation writing. More experienced consultants are likely to have knowledge of specialized
quality improvement activities such as CMMI, Six Sigma, Measurement Systems Analysis (MSA),
Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), Advance Product Quality Planning (APQP).

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Chapter 9
Emerging Technologies & Current
Issues
Introduction
Emerging Technologies and Converging Technologies are terms used to cover various cutting-
edge developments in the emergence and convergence of technology. Emerging technologies are
those which represent new and significant developments within a field; converging technologies
represent previously distinct fields which are in some way moving towards stronger inter-connection
and similar goals.
Over time, new methods and topics are developed and opened up. Some arise due to
theoretical research, others due to commercial research and development or new tools and
discoveries. Technological growth includes incremental developments, and disruptive technologies.
An example of the former was the gradual roll-out of DVD as a development intended to follow on
from the previous optical technology Compact Disc. By contrast, disruptive technologies are those
where a new method replaces the previous technology and make it redundant, for example the
replacement of horse drawn carriages by automobiles. Emerging technologies is a general term used
to denote significant technological developments that in effect, broach new territory in some
significant way in their field. Examples of currently emerging technologies include nanotechnology,
biotechnology, cognitive science, robotics, and artificial intelligence.
Converging technologies are a related topic, signifying areas where different disciplines are
converging and to an extent merging or developing broad links, towards a common direction. Thus
as computers become more powerful, and media becomes digitized, computing and media are
described as being converging technologies.
Debate over Emerging Technologies

Many writers, including computer scientist Bill Joy, have identified clusters of technologies that they
consider critical to humanity's future. Advocates of the benefits of technological change typically see
emerging and converging technologies as offering hope for the betterment of the human condition.
However, critics of the risks of technological change, and even some advocates such as
transhumanist philosopher Nick Bostrom, warn that some of these technologies could pose dangers,
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perhaps even contribute to the extinction of humanity itself; i.e., some of them could involve
existential risks.
Much ethical debate centres on issues of distributive justice in allocating access to beneficial
forms of technology. Some thinkers, such as environmental ethicist Bill McKibben, oppose the
continuing development of advanced technology partly out of fear that its benefits will be distributed
unequally in ways that could worsen the plight of the poor. By contrast, inventor Ray Kurzweil is
among techno-utopians who believe that emerging and converging technologies could and will
eliminate poverty and abolish suffering.
Acronyms
NBIC, an acronym standing for Nanotechnology, Biotechnology, Information technology and
Cognitive science, is currently the most popular term for emerging and converging technologies, and
was introduced into public discourse through the publication of Converging Technologies for
Improving Human Performance, a report sponsored in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Various other acronyms have been offered for essentially the same concept such as GNR
(Genetics, Nanotechnology and Robotics). Journalist Joel Garreau in Radical Evolution: The
Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies — and What It Means to Be Human uses
"GRIN", for Genetic, Robotic, Information, and Nano processes, while science journalist Douglas
Mulhall in Our Molecular Future: How Nanotechnology, Robotics, Genetics and Artificial
Intelligence Will Transform Our World uses "GRAIN", for Genetics, Robotics, Artificial
Intelligence, and Nanotechnology. Another acronym coined by the appropriate technology
organization ETC Group is "BANG" for "Bits, Atoms, Neurons, Genes".
List of Emerging Technologies

This is a list of emerging technologies. Emerging Technologies are new and potentially disruptive
technologies, which may marginalize an existing dominant technology. Only new and potentially
disruptive technologies can be included in the list. Information technology, for example, has already
proven disruptive, whereas artificial intelligence is a subset of information technology with the
potential of becoming disruptive in its own right. Controversy exists over the degree of impact and
economic viability of some emerging technologies. There is an ongoing public policy debate over
emerging technologies and their implications for society.
Energy Technologies
Emerging Potentially Marginalized
Status Potential Applications
Technology Technologies
Nuclear fusion Theory and experiments Fossil fuels, renewable Electric power generation
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power energy, nuclear fission

power
Energy storage, particularly
Bio fuels Diffusion Fossil fuels
for transportation
Diffusion (of hydrogen
Other technologies for
fuel cells); Theory and
Hydrogen storing energy
experiments for less Storage of energy
economy (conventional batteries,
expensive production of
fossil fuels)
hydrogen
Other technologies for Laptops, cell phones and
Nanowire storing energy (hydrogen, long-range electric cars.
Working prototypes
battery conventional batteries and Storing power for electric
in some cases fossil fuels) grid
Regenerative braking;
generally faster-charging,
Diffusion and continued
Ultracapacitor conventional batteries longer lasting, more
development
flexible, and/or greener
energy storage
WiTricity Working prototypes Electrical cables Wireless energy transfer
Transportation
Small scale
production,
Electric cars Internal combustion engine Greener transportation
infrastructure
investment
Conventional rail/bus public
Personal rapid Working prototypes
transport; would reduce need for Greener transportation
transit (and models)
everyone to own their own car
Personal Commercial
Aircraft production
Crower six Working Prototypes Conventional Four-stroke engine
Greener transportation
stroke engine (and models) and Two-stroke engine
Very fast, long distance,
Precooled jet Laboratory verified
subsonic jets hydrogen powered air
engines precooler
travel, space travel
Working Mach 10
Scramjet Jet engines, Rocket engines Very fast air travel
Prototype
Launch loop
Non-rocket Theory and some launch track
Rocket
spacelaunch experiments Space gun
Space elevator
Information Technology
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Theory and
experiments;
Creation of intelligent
Artificial intelligence limited application Human Brain
devices
in specialized
domains
Human translation of
natural languages, in areas
Easier cross-cultural
Machine translation where misunderstanding is
communication
non-critical and language is
formalized
Biometrics, Controlling
processes (e.g. a
Driverless car, or an
Automated Guided
Vehicle)), Detecting
Prototyping and biological vision, the visual
Machine vision events (e.g. for visual
research perception of humans
surveillance), Interaction
(e.g. for Human-
computer interaction),
Vision for Robots, Robot
Vision
Diffusion of
primitive
amplifications;
working
Machine augmented Libraries, schools, training,
prototypes of
cognition/exocortices pocket calculators
more; theory and
experiments on
more substantial
amplification
Making the web machine-
Semantic Web or readable by linking data
Search engines
Answers Machine on the web based on its
meaning
General-purpose
Diffusion of non Order of magnitude faster
computing on CPU for a few specialized
standardized processing of
graphics processing applications
methods parallelizable algorithms.
units
Diffusion; Less delicate, smaller,
Solid-state drive development of Hard disk drive faster, quieter, lower
larger capacity power consuming storage
3D optical data All other optical data Storage and archiving of
storage or Prototyping and storage solutions, magnetic data that was previously
Holographic data research tape data storage, and other erased for economic
storage mass storage devices. reasons
Working Mechanical magnetic hard
Spintronics Data storage
prototypes disk drives
Theory and Many integrated circuits Smaller, faster, lower
Optical computing
experiments - and other electronics power consuming
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some components devices computing

of integrated
circuits have been
developed
Much faster computing,
for certain kinds of
problems, chemical
modeling, new materials
Theory and Electronic computing,
Quantum computing with programmed
experiments optical computing
properties, theory of high
temperature
superconductivity and
superfluidity
Quantum
Commercialization Secure communications
cryptography
Wireless Ubiquitous network
Diffusion Wired communication
communication connectivity
Theory and Augmented reality,
Screenless display displays
experiments virtual reality
Theory and
CRT, LCD, and other Television, Computer
3D displays experiments,
display technologies interfaces, cinemas
Commercialization
first commercial
OLED OLED TV in LCD and plasma displays Displays; lighting
2008, Sony XEL-1
Non-emissive displays
CRT, LCD, plasma, e- with fast response times
Commercialization
IMOD paper and other display and potentially the most
and development
technologies realistic colors of all
display technologies
first commercial
Laser TV in 2008, Displays with very wide
Laser displays LCD and plasma displays
Mitsubishi colour gamut prowess
LaserVue TV
Conventional displays (e.g., Mass production of 3
Phased array optics Theory
Television) Dimensional imagery
Holography Diffusion Display Technologies
Smaller, faster, lower
Some current integrated power consuming
Memristor Working prototype circuits, many other storage, analogue
electronics devices electronics, Artificial
intelligence
Rapid prototyping and
Manual creation of production of not only
prototypes and also some plastic objects but multi-
In commercial
3D printing mass production methods material items, with the
production
that lack the ability for potential to significantly
customization customize products for
individual consumers
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Electric circuit cooling;

Working Conventional thermal micro-fluidic actuators;
Thermal copper pillar
prototypes in solutions, heat sinks, bulk small-device
bump
discrete devices thermoelectrics thermoelectric power
generation
Biotechnology
Potentially
Emerging
Status Marginalized Potential Applications
Technology
Technologies
Commercialization;
Genetic Animal husbandry, Creation and modification of
ongoing research &
engineering Plant breeding species
development
Creation of infinitely scalable
Synthetic biology, Chemical industry,
production processes based on
Synthetic Research & development Petroleum industry,
programmable species of
genomics Process industries
bacteria and other life forms
Drugs that improve memory or
Nootropics Available Now cognition in healthy or aged
populations.
Anti-aging drugs: Existing treatments
resveratrol, Animal testing for age-related Life extension
SRT1720 diseases
Vitrification or Theory and some
Ischemic Damages Organ transplant, Cryonics
Cryoprotectant experiments
Personalized Cancer management and
Theory Orphan drug
medicine Preventive treatment
Robotics
distributed computing,
Theory and
Swarm Robotics Complexity in behavior by
experiments
simplicity in architecture,
Molecular Desktop devices that can make
Theory and Small products and parts
nanotechnology, anything given the materials,
experiments production & retail
Nanorobotics cheap planetary terraforming
Material science
Potentially
Emerging
Technology
Technologies
Cryogenic Receiver Front-End No loss conductors,
(CRFE) RF and microwave filter frictionless bearings,
High-temperature
systems for mobile phone base Copper wire magnetic levitation,
superconductivity
stations; Working prototypes in lossless high-capacity
dry ice; theory and experiments accumulators, electric
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for higher temperatures cars

Stronger, lighter, and
Nanomaterials: Diffusion and theory and Structural steel
more intelligent materials,
carbon nanotubes experiments and aluminium
space elevator
Microscopes, cameras,
Metamaterials Diffusion Classical optics
cloaking devices
Others
Potentially
Emerging
Technology
Technologies
Incandescent and
LED lamp Diffusion Illumination
Fluorescent Lighting
Reliable Global
System currently Various custom built
Navigation Satellite Mission critical navigation
being produced systems
System
Heavy lifting, paralysis, muscle
Prototyping and Electric wheelchairs,
Powered exoskeleton related diseases, warfare,
Diffusion forklifts.
construction
Regardless of which technologies are being described as emerging in this chapter, it is important for
the reader to learn about them so as to determine how best to use them. Hence the focus of this
chapter is to know what they are, how they are being used, and how they may be used in the future.
To facilitate our discussion, these technologies are grouped into four categories:
• Emerging technologies for all the senses. These include applications that incorporate one or
more of the following features: three dimensional images automatic speech recognition,
virtual reality and/or biometrics. These emerging technologies enhance the presentation of
information to you and allow you to interact with your computer being just using the mouse
and the keyboard.
• Emerging technologies for the Internet explosion. It is a fact that the Internet is a standard
technology, but many new technologies using the Internet are emerging. These include
electronic cash, Internet telephones, high-speed Internet access, and Internet appliances.
• Internet technologies for the wireless revolution. These include global positioning systems
and wireless local area networks.
• Emerging technologies for your personal life and home. These include smart cards,
intelligent home appliances, and a completely Internet-connected home. These will surely
change the way you live.
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EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR ALL THE SENSES

Throughout this text we have described information technology as a set of tools that helps you work
with information and perform tasks related to information processing. It’s simply and accurate
description, but some people forget that there are many types of information and that information can
be presented in numerous different form. Until recently, people working with technology have been
content to work with information in traditional ways - entering text on a keyboard, viewing a graph
on the screen, printing a document, and so on. But several technologies are emerging that promise to
radically change that and allow you to work with information that appeals to the senses, three-
dimensional imaging, automatic speech recognition, virtual reality, and biometrics.
3D
Traditionally, we have viewed information displays in two dimensions or pseudo three dimensions.
In two dimensions, you see only length and width- for example, the first graph in figure 9.2 is two-
dimensional. In pseudo three dimensions, shades and shadows are added to create a display that is
some what realistic (second graph in figure 9.2). Because it’s not truly three-dimensional, it’s called
“pseudo”. Most personal productivity software packages available today are capable of producing
pseudo three-dimensional views of graphs, photos, and art work. But what they can’t do is generate
real three-dimensional images.
Real three-dimensional (3-D) technology presentations of information give you the illusion that the
object you have viewing is actually in the room with you. You can see the depth of the image, turn it
to reflect different angles to see its various perspectives, and in some ways understand the density of
the object. Although 3-D technology is still in its infancy, it’s already turning up in a number of
areas- medicine, movies, video games, data visualization, science, education, and many others (see
figure 9.3).
3-D technology is not really a stand alone technology; instead, it’s incorporated into other types of
technology and IT systems. For example, a number of Websites include 3-D representation of
photos. The number is growing to the extent that many people believe we’ll all be surfing the
Internet in 3-D in just a few short years. This, of course, would increase the allure of the Internet for
electronic commerce. 3-D will allow consumers to get a great real-life view of products before they
buy them. 3-D technologies are also showing up in multimedia and virtual reality applications.
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Figure 9.1 – Emerging Technologies Figure 9.2 – Two dimensions and Pseudo-
Three Dimensions
Figure 9.3 – Three-Dimensional Applications
The Future of 3-D Technologies

It’s really only a matter of time before 3-D technologies become commonplace. In the past, capacity
and speed constraints of other technologies (hard disks, internal memory, CPUs, and monitors) made
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3-D very expensive and slow. As Dan Mapes, president of Synergy-Labs, explains, “3-D was always
seen as a very specialized, high-cost option, like an expensive spice from China. That day is passing
fast.” Even today’s inexpensive home computers have sufficient capacity and speed to generate 3-D
images. It’s just a matter of time before 3-D becomes a standard technology.
Automatic Speech Recognition

People and computers have been engaging in normal conversation for many years now- in the
movies. First, the computer captures and understands the words of the person; second, the computer
generates speech in response to the words spoken by the person. For this to occur, two IT systems are
needed, one for each phase. We refer to the first phase as automatic speech recognition and the
second phase as speech synthesization. Of the two, automatic speech recognition is the real emerging
technology that promises to forever change how people enter information and commands.
An automatic speech recognition (ASR) system not only captures spoken words but also
distinguishes word groupings to form sentences. We refer to ASR as a system because it contains a
number of IT components that work together. For example, an ASR system contains an input device
(a microphone), software to distinguish words, and databases containing words to which your spoken
words are matched. To distinguish words and sentences and match them to those in a database, an
ASR system follows three steps (see figure 9.4).
• Step 1: Features analysis: The first step of ASR is called feature analysis. Feature analysis
captures your words as you speak into a microphone, eliminates any background noise, and
actually coverts the digital signals of your speech into phonemes. A phoneme is simple the
smallest unit of speech, something most people equate with syllables. In figure 9.4, you can
see that the ASR system distinguished tow phonemes in the word “tonight”: “te” and “nit”.
This is exactly what you would see if you looked up the word “tonight” in the dictionary to
determine how to pronounce it. The feature analysis step then passes the phonemes to step 2.
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Figure 9.4: The Three Steps in Automatic Speech Recognition
• Step 2 Pattern Classification: The second step is called pattern classification. In it, the ASR
system attempts to recognize your spoken phonemes by locating a matching phoneme
sequence among the words stored in an acoustic model database. The acoustic model
database is essentially the ASR system’s vocabulary. In doing so, the ASR system is
attempting to determine if it recognizes the words you spoke. Figure 9.4 shows that the
system found two possible matches for “du”, the words “do” and “due”. It also found
multiple matches for “ti”, “her” and for”. So, it sends all these possibilities to language
processing step 3.
• Step 3: Language Processing: The third step is called language processing. In it, the ASR
system attempts to make sense of what you’re saying by comparing the possible word
phonemes (generated in step 2) with a language model database. The language model
database includes grammatical rules, task-specific words, phrases, and sentences you might
frequently use. If a match is found, what you said is stored in digital form.
Step 3- language processing - is by far the most complicated step, because the ASR system must
attempt to determine your exact words. For example, did you begin your sentence with the word
“do” or due”, was your second work “you” or “ewe”, and so on. This is definitely not a simple
process for a computer; it may before you, but it’s not for a computer. Throughout this process, the
ASR system must perform a number of tasks, including evaluating the inflection of your voice. In
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our example, you’re asking a question. So the ASR system recognizes the inflection for a question
and, thus, determines that your first word is “do”, rather than “due”.
Our example illustrates why ASR system are called “recognition” systems instead of
“understanding” systems. While conversing with another person, you can easily distinguish “do”
from “due”, “you” from “ewe”, and so on, according to the context of the sentence in which the word
is used. However, a computer has a difficult time with this because it possess limited interpretative
capabilities. Consider this sentence: “fruit files like banana”. What does it mean? Well, in the context
of gardening Olympics, it implies that if you were to toss a piece of fruit into the air, it would “fly”
through the air in the same way a banana would if you were to throw it. More realistically, though, it
means that a winged insect called a fruit fly is particularly fond of the taste of a banana. So, while an
ASR system would be able to correctly recognize your words, it certainly couldn’t determine
whether you were talking about the gardening Olympics or the taste preferences of certain insects.
Types of Automatic Speech Recognition Systems

If you survey the current ASR systems that are available today, you’ll find four different types-
discrete, continuous, speaker-independent, and speaker-dependent. Discrete ASR systems require
you to pause between each spoken word. This may seem a bit cumbersome, but even with pauses,
speaking is faster than typing and most people adapt quickly to providing a pause between each
word. Continuous ASR systems can process continuous streams of words-that is, normal speech
patterns. Of these two, discrete ASR systems are the most prevalent. Continuous ASR systems have
a long way to go before they can distinguish individual words in rapid, continuous speech.
Speaker-independent ASR systems can be used by anyone, but their vocabularies are often limited,
and some lack expansion capabilities. For example, a number of speaker-independent ASR systems
work in conjunction with personal productivity software such as word processing applications. They
allow you to speak, rather than type or point at, certain commands (such as file, save, print, and so
on). However, you can’t use these systems to actually enter text by speaking. Finally, a speaker-
dependent ASR system lets you “train” it to recognize your voice. You train these systems by
reading a lengthy text, such as a Mark Twain novel, into a microphone. As you read, the system
begins to recognize your voice and build its vocabulary. However, a speaker-dependent system
recognizes only the speech of the person who trained it.
Ultimately, everyone would like ASR systems to be continuous and a combination of both speaker-
dependent and speaker-independent. That is, the best ASR system would allow you to speak
normally (continuous), allow you to expand its vocabulary (speaker-dependent), and allow multiple
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users (speaker-independent). Such a system is in the future - perhaps five years - but ASR system are
definitely moving in the direction.
Uses of Automatic Speech Recognition

Can you imagine that one day you’ll sit in front of a computer to type a term paper, and instead of
typing, you’ll actually speak your paper? That possibility is just around the corner. In fact, many
people believe that ASR systems will be standard technology on home computers within the next
few years. That’s only a small portion of the real potential of ASR systems. Imagine driving in your
car and adjusting the temperature by simply saying, “make it hotter”, or watching television and
saying “ESPN,” to switch the channel. This will become a reality in your lifetime. Not to be outdone,
businesses are seeking innovation ASR implementations to gain advantage in the marketplace. Some
of those organizations are listed below;
• Sprint, US West, Southwestern Bell, and many other telephone service providers already
offer voice dialling to their customers. By simply saying “dad” or “pizza” your telephone will
automatically dial the number from a list of predefined numbers.
• Kitchen Aid recently demonstrated voice-controlled refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers,

washing machines, and dryers. With a voice controlled oven, for example, all you have to say
is “prime rib, 8 pounds,” and the oven will automatically set the temperature and notify you
when dinner is ready.
• Thomas Cook Travel is working on a voice-controlled travel agency system that you can use
over the phone. When you call for plane reservations, a computer will ask you for your
destination and decipher your response to determine where and when you want to go and
when you want to return.
Many organizations are even exploring “interviewerless interviews”. With this type of system,
marketing research firms will be able to perform telemarketing activities without human operations.
The possibilities really are limitless-anything you can communication by typing pointing, or
speaking can probably benefit from an ASR system.
The Future of Automatic Speech Recognition

ASR is an emerging technology because it has a long way to go before it becomes a standard
business application. Nonetheless, the ASR market was expected to exceed $751 million in revenue
by the end of 1997, up from $189.3 million in 1992. ASR will not become a standard business
technology until the following conditions are met.
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• Greater storage for an expandable vocabulary: Sounds, even when phonetically digitized,
require more storage space than a word in text form. If you need an ASR system with a large
vocabulary, you’ll need more storage for an acoustic model.
• Better feature analysis to support continuous speech: The most notable drawback to
continuous ASR systems is their limited ability to distinguish words that are quickly and
continuously spoken. One of the problems is that we tend to drop consonants when we speak.
It therefore makes it difficult for an ASR system to determine where one word ends and
another begins. This process is handled by feature analysis (step1), which must become more
sophisticated, because some people don’t want to pause between each spoken word (as a
discrete ASR system requires).
• More dynamic language models to support speech understanding: Speech recognition is

great, but true speech understanding would be much better. For this is happen, language
models that understand words in context must become more dynamic, understanding your
words not only within the context of a sentence, but also in a paragraph or even in an entire
conversation.
• More flexible pattern classification to support many people: For ASR to become truly
viable in the workplace, a given system must be usable by anyone, in the same sense that
anyone can use a keyboard or mouse. With the exception of speaker-independent systems,
which usually have a limited vocabulary, ASR systems lack this quality. The proliferation of
ASR systems that can interpret the speech of anyone-even those suffering from a head cold or
speaking in dialect-will define the true success of automatic speech recognition in business.
Virtual Reality
Imagine a time when you can experience a roller coaster ride, snow skiing, and sky diving without
ever going to a theme park, visiting the slopes of Colorado, or getting in an airplane. Sound too good
to be true? Not actually. On the horizon is a new technology that will virtually place you in any
experience you desire. That new technology is virtual reality a three-dimensional computer
simulation in which you actively and physically participate. Let’s look again at that definition and
note several key features of virtual reality.
• Virtual reality incorporates 3-D technologies to give you a real-life illusion.
• Virtual reality creates a simulation of a real-life situation.
• In virtual reality, special input devices capture your physical movements and special output
devices send physical responses back to you.
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That last feature is what truly distinguishes virtual reality from other types of technology. For
example, multi-media incorporates many media such as sound, video, and animation. So does virtual
reality. But virtual reality goes one step further by incorporating physiological input and output (the
sense of touch). In fact, taste and smell are the only senses that aren’t usually represented in virtual
reality; and even those might one day be incorporated.
To incorporate physiological input and output, virtual reality makes use of several special input and
output devices-most commonly gloves, headsets, and walkers (see figure 9.5). A glove is an input
device that captures and records the shape and movement of your hand and fingers and the strength
of your hand and finger movements. A headset is a combined input and output device that serves two
purposes. As an input device, a headset captures and records the movement of your head-side to side,
up and down. As an output device, a headset contains a screen that covers your entire field of vision
and displays various views of an environment, based on your movements. Finally, a walker is an
input device that captures and records the movement of your feet as you walk or turn in different
directions. In some virtual reality systems, walkers also act as out devices by changing the tension of
the rollers, to simulate walking through sand or mud, or even changing their angle, to simulate
walking up or down a hill.
Figure 9.5: Input and Output Devices in Virtual Reality
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To illustrate how these work, consider a virtual reality environment in which you’re trying to shoot
monsters in a swamp. When you put on your headset, you see the swamp in front of you. As you
move your head, you see different views of the swamp. Don’t forget your views of the swamp would
be in 3-D, giving you the illusion that you’re really in a swamp. As you begin to walk on the walker,
the headset adjusts your view so that it looks as if you’re walking into the swamp. And, as your
processed into a marshy bog, the walker adjusts its tension to make it more difficult for you to walk.
There’s a glove on your hand and a gun in the glove. As you move your hand, the headset adjusts its
view so you can virtually see your hand and the direction in which you’re pointing the gun. So, when
you finally see a monster, you move your hand in the appropriate direction and squeeze the trigger.
On your screen you see the gun fire and, you hope, vaporize the monster.
Applications of Virtual Reality

In 1995 revenues for virtual reality were estimated at $275.8 million, which is not really that much.
Nonetheless, virtual reality applications are popping up everywhere, sometimes in odd places. One of
the more common applications of virtual reality is found in the entertainment industry. There are a
number of virtual reality games on the market, including downhill Olympic skiing, race car driving,
golfing, air combat, and marksmanship (similar to our example of monsters in a swamp). Some
require special input and output devices (more than just gloves, headsets, and walkers). For example,
virtual reality race car driving uses a clutch, brake, gas pedal, and gear shift; and virtual reality skiing
uses a huge fan to give you the illusion of wide blowing in your face as you race down a ski slope.
Also in the area of entertainment, virtual reality is appearing in many movies. In Disclosure Michael
Douglas enters a virtual reality environment that simulates a large room with filing cabinets full of
information. In virtuosity virtual reality gets so real that Denzel Washington must track down a
virtual reality killer who figured out how to exit the virtual environment and enter the real world.
And, if you saw the movie Congo, you might have noticed that Amy (the gorilla) uses sign language
and virtual reality gloves to communicate with humans.
In business, many organizations are exploring virtual reality to create numerous simulated
environments. Consider these examples:
• Matsushita Electric works has devised a virtual reality system to help you select new kitchen
appliances. You simply provide Matsushita with the layout of your kitchen, which is scanned
into a virtual reality system. Once you enter the virtual reality environment, you can change
your refrigerator or dish washer; see how they fit, and even request colour changes.
• Volvo has a virtual reality system to demonstrate the safety features of its cars. In this virtual
reality system, you virtually experience a car wreck to learn how air bags work.
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• Many airlines use virtual reality to train pilots how to react effectively in adverse conditions.
In this environment, pilots are faced with bad weather, defective engines, and malfunctioning
landing gear.
Think about the last example. Is it really possible for airlines to provide anything but a simulation of
real-life conditions? Not really-and that’s one of the greatest advantages of virtual reality. It can
create simulations of environments without the presence or incorporation of physical objectives.
Thus pilots can virtually crash a plane while they learn to cope with adverse conditions. Yet no one
is injured, no planes are lost.
Motorola discovered this benefit of virtual reality when training assembly line workers.
Traditionally, Motorola had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to build replica assembly lines to
facilitate training. With virtual reality assembly line training, however, Motorola simply created a
“virtual” assembly line that presents different situations to each worker with the press of a button. By
using virtual reality, Motorola has realized a tenfold increase in savings. But it doesn’t stop there-
Motorola has found that virtual reality-trained employees learn more efficiently than employees who
were trained on real assembly lines. As Art Paton, instructional design manager at Motorola,
explained, “They (employees) become totally immersed in the virtual environment and seem to
absorb concepts much faster”. That, coupled with cost savings, is a substantial advantage of virtual
reality training.
The health care industry, likewise, is exploring virtual reality for a variety of applications. Using
virtual reality, doctors can now practice surgery, explore the human body, and diagnose diseases, all
without touching a cadaver. Some doctors are even using virtual reality to perform long-distance
triage. In this instance, a doctor in one location slips into virtual reality gloves and a special head-
mounted camera to examine a patient. Another doctor - who can be located halfway around the
world - also wears virtual reality gloves and headset. Whatever the first doctor sees and feels is
electronically communicated to the second doctor who, in turn, sees and feels the same thing. This
health care application of virtual reality will soon be widely used for disaster area triage when it’s
impossible to transport doctors quickly to the location.
Cybersickness – the downside of virtual reality

Every coin has two sides. Virtual reality, like all technologies, has associated disadvantages as well
as advantages. People who participate in virtual reality environments sometimes experience
cybersickness, including eyestrain, simulator sickness, and flashbacks. You may experience
eyestrain if you remain too long in a virtual reality system that uses a low-resolution headset for
displaying views. Because of the low resolution, your eyes must work harder to distinguish images.
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Some people experience simulator sickness when the physiological inputs and outputs of the system
are out of sync. For example, if you move your head and the headset takes an extra second to adjust
your view, you may experience nausea or dizziness. Finally, some people experience virtual reality
flashbacks several hours after using virtual reality. This occurs because virtual reality systems cannot
yet provide you with a wholly “virtual” physical experience. So your brain must compensate for this
while you use virtual reality. Later, your brain may also try to compensate while you’re experiencing
real life. This may cause you to experience dejavu or a temporary disassociation with reality.
The Future of Virtual Reality

Virtual reality is part of your future, regardless of its disadvantages. Researchers are working daily to
solve the problems that produce cybersickness. Further, researchers are suggesting innovative uses
for virtual reality some that may dramatically alter both your business and personal life. In business,
for example, some people are exploring virtual reality as a tool to illustrate corporate downsizing. In
this instance, a CEO can define the new structure of an organization (fewer employees, new business
processes, and less building space) in virtual reality. Other top managers can the virtually view and
experience the effects of the proposed organizational changes. One day, virtual reality may be the
first tool individuals and groups reach for when they want to create or recognize a business and it
may simulate the fact that you no longer have a job.
On the home front, you may soon be able to experience the company of friends and family members
through virtual reality piped over the Internet. These types of virtual reality applications make use of
Cave automatic virtual environments (CAVEs), which are special 3-D rooms spread across the
world. You enter a CAVE, as would your friends or family members in another location. One inside,
your image (including sound and movement) would be projected into the other CAVE; likewise, the
images of the people in the other CAVE would be projected into your CAVE. All of you would
simply have the illusion of carrying on a conversation while sitting in the same room. Someday,
grandparents may be able to enjoy their distant grand-children in a playground through the use of
CAVEs.
BIOMETRICS
Today, the standard security mechanism is a password. You have to create it, you have to remember
it, and you need to change it frequently. But that will soon change with the emerging technology of
biometrics. Biometrics is the use of physical characteristics such as your fingerprint, the blood
vessels in the retina of your eye, the sound of your voice, or perhaps even your breath to provide
identification. Already, biometrics is widely used in high-security environments such as military
installations.
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The concept is quite simple. You can copy someone’s password, but you can’t copy a fingerprint or
retina scan. The banking industry, in the developed countries, is currently converting all its ATMs to
use biometrics, specially a retina scan. When you open an account and request ATM use, the bank
doesn’t issue you an ATM card. Instead, the bank scans your retina and captures a copy of it. To use
an ATM, you allow the machine to scan your retina and it matches you to your account. You can
then perform whatever transaction you want.
Figure 9.6: Fingerprint Scanning on a Keyboard
Home computers may someday be devices that commonly use biometrics. You can already find
keyboards that have a special scanning device for your fingerprint (see Figures 9.6). You can’t turn
on and use your machine until you provide a fingerprint scan. Apple’s latest operating system also
uses voice recognition as a password mechanism. When you turn on your apple, you must speak your
password. The system will then verify not only your password but also your voice. It makes a lot of
sense when you think about it.
SUMMARY ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR ALL THE SENSES

Emerging technologies such as automatic speech recognition and virtual reality encompass most of
the senses expect taste and smell. Smell may be incorporated sooner than you think. Researchers are
already working on special aroma-producing systems that use combinations of perfume like
substances to create virtually any smell. Just think about it-while using virtual reality to surf the
waves of the Atlantic Ocean, the system may also produce a salt smell (and splash water in your face
when you fall).
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR INTERNET EXPLOSION

Undoubtedly, the Internet is the most visible, rapidly changing, dynamic, mind-boggling, and
exciting emerging technology. Perhaps we shouldn’t just say “the Internet”. More appropriately,
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what’s really most exciting and emerging about the Internet is the way in which the business world
and individuals are exploiting it.
In this section, we will look at four more emerging aspects of the Internet: (1) electronic cash, which
you can use to purchase products on the Internet, (2) using the Internet to make free long-distance
phone calls, (3) high-speed Internet access, and (4) Internet appliances.
Electronic Cash
Currently, we have three major methods of paying for products and service - cash, debit card or
cheque, and credit card. For every purchase you make, you use one of these methods of payment.
The same will be true when you make purchases over the Internet. Let’s briefly explore these
methods of payment, and then we’ll see how they’ll work on the Internet, especially Internet cash
transactions. Everyone is familiar with cash transactions. You buy a product or service in exchange
for real cash, either folding or coins. Cash is a tender backed by the federal government. So w all
know that we can accept a N10 bill from someone today and that it will be worth N10 tomorrow
when we use it to make purchases.
Debit and credit transactions are different. Like cash, debit transactions require that you
gather money in advance and then spend it. When you make a purchase using a personal cheque or
your cheque account debit card, you complete a debit transaction. That is, you build up a pool of
money in your cheque account, and then you spend it. Credit transactions, on the other hand, give
you the ability to make purchases first and pay for them later. When you charge products on a store
charge account or your credit card, for example, you’re creating a balance that you must later pay.
On the Internet, debit and credit transactions occur similarly. For example, you can use your
checking account debit card or credit card to make purchases on the Internet. When you locate a
product you’d like to purchase, you simply provide the merchant with your account number. If you
use a debit card, the merchant will notify your bank of the transaction. Your bank simply debits your
account and credits the account of the merchant. If you use a credit card, the merchant will notify
your credit card issuer of the transaction. The credit card issuer will pay the merchant for the
transaction and bill you for the transaction amount.
Internet cash transactions, however, are very different from real-life cash transactions. When
you cruise the Internet in search of products to buy, you can’t carry around or use hard cash-you
need electronic cash. Electronics cash (also called e-cash or digital cash) is exactly what its name
implies-an electronic representation of cash. This electronic representation of cash is nothing more
than a file (similar to a word processing or spreadsheet file) that says you have a certain
denomination of money in electronic form. You can then buy products and services on the Internet
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by sending the e-cash file to a merchant. It may sound simple (and it is in theory), buy e-cash is the
subject of much debate.
Figure 9.7: How Electronic Cash Will Work on the Internet

Figure 9.7 demonstrates how e-cash will someday work on the Internet. To use e-cash to
make purchases on the Internet, the first thing you have to do is obtain e-cash from an electronic
bank on the Internet. You can buy e-cash in a variety of ways - you can send real cash through the
mail, provide your debit or credit card through the email, provide your debit or credit card number as
if you were making a regular product purchase, or actually open an account with an electronic bank
and request that an amount of e-cash be deducted from your account balance and sent to you.
Whatever the case, the electronic bank will electronically send you e-cash files. For example, you
could request N100 in e-cash in N20 increments. What you would end up with is 5 e-cash files, each
representing N20 on your hard disk.
Once you have your e-cash, all you have to do is find a product to purchase on the Internet
and send the appropriate number of e-cash files to the merchant (for example, a N40 purchase would
require two e-cash files). In turn, the merchant can use the e-cash to purchase products and services
from other merchants or return it to the electronic bank for real money.
What’s Holding up Electronic Cash?

E-cash is deceptively simple - instead of using real money, you simply use an electronic form of
money. And indeed, someday it will be simple and common-place. First, however, there are many
hurdles to overcome. We describe some of these below:
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• Anyone can be an electronic bank. Currently, there are no governmental regulations

defining who can become an electronic bank. In fact, you as an individual can open your own
electronic bank on the Internet. You don’t need the government’s permission, and you don’t
need to be backed by a regulation or policy.
• There are no standards for how e-cash should look. Many electronic banks are surfacing
on the Internet, and none of them agree on what an e-cash file should look like. So e-cash
from one electronic bank doesn’t necessarily look like e-cash from another electronic bank.
This has many merchants wary - dealing with different forms of e-cash is almost like
accepting different forms of international currency.
• Merchants must have accounts with electronic banks. Most electronic banks require that
merchants establish accounts with them to facilitate real-money and e-cash exchange.
• E-cash makes money laundering easy. E-cash is completely anonymous. It contains no
information about you - only about the denomination and electronic bank provider. Thus e-
cash can easily be used for money laundering. Illegally obtained real cash can easily be
traded in for e-cash; the owner of the e-cash can then spend it without anyone knowing its
origination.
• E-cash is easy to lose. E-cash is simply an electronic file on your hard disk; so, if your hard
disk crashes, you may lose your money, and it is unlikely that your electronic bank will
replace it. Likewise, you could accidentally erase your e-cash files, or they could be
destroyed by some glitch that occurs while you transmit them to an Internet merchant.
What will it take for Electronic Cash to become a Reality?

In spite of its drawbacks, e-cash is coming and it will be widely used in a matter of a few years. For
e-cash to become a reality, two major things must happen. First, standards are needed to define how
e-cash will look and work. One organization working on these standards is the Joint Electronic
Payments Initiative (JEPI), headed by such businesses as Cybercash, IBM, and Microsoft. Several
other organizations are also working on standards. All these organizations will have to unite and
agree on a common standard. Second, the federal government must become involved in developing
regulations for electronic banks. Most merchants are wary of electronic banks because there are no
formal rules governing their operation or liquidity. You should be wary as well. Research an
electronic bank before you send it money; you may be sending your money to a “mom and pop”
shop that runs away with it.
Once these two problems are solved, e-cash will become a standard Internet technology. As
merchants gain confidence in and begin accepting e-cash, more consumers will use it. Acceptance of
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e-cash will follow the same pattern as the recent and increasing acceptance of non-Visa or non-
MasterCard credit cards; as more merchants accept them, more consumers will use them.
Free Internet Telephone use

One of the greatest advantages of the Internet is world-wide connectivity, which allows you to access
information resources and communicate with people all over the world (for example, through e-mail
or in chat rooms). What’s even better, these communications are paid to the Internet Service Provider
(ISP), such as America Online. In other words, these connections are made without long-distance
charges accruing to your monthly phone bill. If these world-wide connections are basically free, then
why not use them to make long-distance phones for free? This emerging technology of making free
long-distance phone calls over the Internet requires a few basic technology tools, which your
computer probably already has. You need:
1. Access to the Internet through an Internet service provider
2. A set of speakers
3. A microphone
Let’s consider using DialPad (http://www.dialpad.com), an Internet provider of free long-
distance phone calls (see Figure 9.8). When you connect to DialPad the first time, you’ll have to
register yourself as a user (the registration is free too) and download some software.
When you want to make a phone call over the Internet, you go through a series of simple
steps. First, you connect to the Internet and DialPad. At DialPad, you then browse through a listing
of people who are currently on the Internet and also have Internet phone calling capabilities through
DialPad. From the list, you click on the name of the person you want to speak with. DialPad will call
that person for you. Then, it’s just a regular conversation - you speak into your microphone and hear
the other person through your speakers.
And it gets even better. Some Internet phone providers even allow you to call regular phone
numbers. So, the person you want to speak to doesn’t have to be connected to the Internet. In short,
you call that person’s regular phone number and he or she answers using a regular phone (which can
be a cell phone).
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Figure 9.8: Making an Internet Phone Call
High-Speed Internet Access

Most cable TV service providers and telephone service providers aren’t content just to offer you
standard services at standard speeds. Indeed, most can now offer you high-speed access to the
Internet. To do this, these companies are bringing DSL and ISDN lines into your home. DSL and
ISDN connections give you the ability to access and use the Internet at speeds up to 100 times faster
than a traditional phone line. With most of these types of connections, you can establish local area
networks (LANs) in your home and connect all your computers to the one high-speed line.
Many cable TV providers are also offering you the ability to use these high-speed lines and
use your TV as your monitor (see Figure 9.9). In this instance, you don’t even need a computer to
access the Internet. If your cable TV service provider does offer you this ability, it will also provide
you with a wireless mouse and keyboard. So, you can sit across the room in the comfort of your
favourite chair and cruise the Internet on your TV.
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Figure 9.9: Connecting to the Internet through a Cable Modem
This type of service may come to you in the form of a cable modem. In this instance, your
cable modem connects your television to a cable TV service provider. But it isn’t anything like your
cable TV box. Traditional cable boxes support only a one-direction flow of information from your
cable TV service provider to you. Cable modems, on the other hand, are bidirectional. This simply
means that you can enter information and commands (using your wireless mouse and keyboard) and
the information and commands will flow back to your cable TV service provider, who passes them
on to the Internet.
Internet Appliances
Some people today want Internet access but not a fully functional computer. That is, they want a
device that includes just the basics of Internet use- a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, and a monitor.
These people don’t really care about storage devices, a large amount of RAM, or a fast CPU; they
simply want to cruise the Internet and gather whatever information they need.
For these people, an Internet appliance may be just the answer. An Internet appliance (or
Web appliance) is a scaled-down computer or newly developed device that supports access to the
Internet and possibly a few other basic functions such as note taking and maintaining an address
book. Internet appliances truly are emerging, so who knows how they’ll shake out over the next few
years.
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Internet appliances range from scaled-down tower PCs that do include disk drives to Web-
enabled cell phones that allow you to view Web sites on their small display screens. They can be
broken down into four categories:
1. Scaled-down PCs
2. Internet-only appliances
3. Web-enabled personal digital assistants
4. Web-enabled cell phones
In the first category, almost every computer manufacturer, Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP,
IBM, is offering a scaled-down, cheaper version of its PC line. Compaq has created the iPAQ a
500Mhz machine with CD-ROM and hard drive and Internet-connection capabilities for about $600.
IBM offers its Net Vista 566Mhz machine for $1,100, and HP its e-pc 600Mhz machine for about
$1,000.
All these are scaled-down versions of previously fully functional PCs offered by the
manufacturers, who are attempting to reach a market of people who want Internet access but also
basic processing capabilities. For example, on each of these machines you can load Microsoft Office
XP and perform tasks related to word processing, spreadsheet, database, Web development, and task
management. What you can’t do with them is power-intensive tasks such as video editing and
production. These machines are cheaper than their counterparts and attract a large market.
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Figure 9.10: Different choices of Internet Appliances
The second category of Internet appliances is the Internet-only Appliances designed basically
to help you access the Internet and use e-mail. Beyond that, they may include some limited
capabilities such as task management and maintaining an address book. But they are really designed
just to help you access the Internet. When you purchase one of these devices, you must also purchase
Internet access, the same as you would through a typical Internet service provider such as America
Online. So, the devices themselves may be cheap, but the monthly Internet access fee makes them
more expensive.
The third category of Internet appliances includes Web-enabled personal digital assistants. A
personal digital assistant (PDA) is a small hand-held computer that supports note taking, maintaining
an address book, and managing finances and tasks. A PDA comes equipped with a unique writing
stylus and touch-sensitive screen. You use the writing stylus to write and select icons on the touch-
sensitive screen. So, basically you don’t have a traditional keyboard on a PDA.
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Today’s PDAs also come equipped with a wireless modem that allows you to access the
Internet. However, only a small percentage of Web sites are PDA-enabled. The reason is simple. If
you want your Web site to be viewed on a PDA, you must “recast” your content so that it can be
displayed on a small PDA screen (not a typical large monitor). Nonetheless, more and more Web
sites every day are recasting their content so it can be displayed on PDAs.
Finally, many cell phones are Web-enabled, and we call them Web phones. A Web phone is
a special type of cell phone that allows you to access the Internet. Right now, these are not the cell
phones you get free with a calling plan. Many of today’s better Web phones can cost as much as
$500. Most important, Web phones include a microbrowser. A micorbrowser is Web browser
software for Web phones that can display text information and a limited amount of graphics in small
space.
Don’t buy a Web phone if you want to enjoy hours of Internet surfing with graphics,
animation, and sound. Web phones are ideal for fast access to bits and pieces of information-flight
schedules, weather reports, sports scores, and news. This information will come to you mainly in
text form only (but expect that to change soon).
The Wireless Revolution

Wireless communications media are unguided communications media used to connect people and
technology without physical cables - what you might refer to as “virtual connectivity”. For the most
part, these types of communications media are fairly well established, but the business world has yet
to truly exploit their full potential or use them in innovative ways. In the future, however, you can
expect organisations and people everywhere to join the wireless revolution, using wireless
technologies for virtually all their connectivity needs. Indeed, as you just read in the previous
section, many people are beginning to use PDAs and cell phones to access the Internet. These
devices are wireless and do provide virtual connectivity, literally anywhere in the world. In this
section, we will explore two more aspects of the wireless revolution: (1) the global positioning
system and (2) wireless local area networks.
Global Positioning System

Wireless technologies, such as digital pagers, smart phones, and laptop computers with cellular
modems, indeed seem to solve many problems. These technologies allow you to contact friends,
family members, and offices, regardless of your proximity to a phone line. But “where you are”
could still present problems. You’ve undoubtedly encountered this problem while travelling a lonely
stretch of highway- what highway you are on, where the nearest town is, and many other questions
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have probably crossed your mind. You’ve got a road map, but it doesn’t show farm-to-market road
358 near Ughelli, Delta State.
Well, fortunately, a new technology - the global positioning system- is available that will help
you always know where you are. The global positioning system (GPS) is a collection of 24 earth-
orbiting satellites that continuously transmit radio signals you can use to determine where you are
(see Figure 9.11). A GPS receiver - a small hand –held device- picks up the radio signals from four
of the satellites and can pinpoint your exact position within a few hundred feet. The GPS receiver
also contains maps that you can then use to determine where that nearest town is or on what road
you’re travelling.
For many years, GPS receivers have been used commercially. Airplane pilots, sea captains,
and military personnel constantly use GPS to determine their location and the distance to certain
destinations. That same technology is also available to you. A personal GPS receiver costs only
about $300. If you’re an airplane pilot, you can order a special GPS receiver that includes maps of air
spaces and airports. Many organisations have found interesting and innovative applications of GPS
receivers, including OnStar.
Figure 9.11: Knowing where you are with the Global Positioning System
Wireless Local Area Networks

Wireless technologies such as GPSs, cell phones, PDAs, and wireless keyboards and mice can do
more than just make people mobile; they can make technology itself mobile. One such wireless
technology that’s emerging is a wireless local area network. A wireless local area network (wireless
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LAN) is a network that covers a limited distance in which all components or computers are
connected without physical cables.
Figure 9.12: A Wireless Local Area Network (LAN)
In a wireless LAN, a central access point is established through which all wireless communications
travel (see Figure 9.12). This access point is usually where ever you are, your GPS receiver will pick
up the transmissions from foru of the satellites to determine your exact location. Physical connected
to a LAN server that provides information and software to all the wireless clients. The wireless
clients can include computers and peripheral devices such as scanners and printers. What’s really
significant about wireless LANs is that they allow computers and peripheral devices to move easily
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without moving a cable (puling cable for a network is a major business expense). So, if you were to
rearrange your office, you could move your computers without concern for cables and cable outlets.
Listed below are several organisations that have realized benefits from wireless networks.
• IBM has developed a new wireless service for real estate agents. For less than $200 a month,
real estate agents gain wireless access to a multiple listing Service (MLS) database.
• Karolinski Hospital (Stockholm, Sweden) is using a wireless LAN to mobilize nurses to
increase the efficiency of patient prescription distribution. Nurses move through the hospital
with a wireless laptop, dispensing prescription drugs.
• At Stanford University, students no longer go to labs to use computers. Instead, they can
access them wirelessly, regardless of whether they’re in the student union building, sitting on
the lawn, or eating in a cafeteria. Stanford’s students can access
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR YOUR PERSONAL LIFE

Many of the emerging technologies we’ve discussed will significantly affect not only your personal
life, but also your internal business operations and market interactions. The business world is also
producing technologies that simplify your personal life. And where’s the competitive advantage in
developing emerging technologies that make your personal life easier? Think about it for a moment.
You’ve probably purchased such items as an answering machine, a digital alarm clock, and a
microwave oven just because they make your life easier. These purchases generate revenues for the
product manufacturer. Of the many emerging technologies that will make your personal life easier,
we highlight three in this section - smart cards, intelligent home appliances, and your Internet-
connected home.
Smart Cards
Many people are predicting that paper currency and metal coins will become obsolete with the
growing acceptance and use of electronic versions of money. In the previous section, we explored
the use of electronic cash on the Internet. Another form of electronic cash is the smart card – a
small plastic card (about the size of a credit card) that contains a memory chip on which a sum of
money can be recorded and updated. It’s really just a simple matter of buying a smartcard for a
certain denomination and then using it for buying clothes, paying for gas, making long-distance calls
on pay phones, or even riding on public transportation.
To make a purchase with a smart card, you insert the card into a card reader device that (1)
reads the amount of money you have stored on your card, (2) deducts the amount of your purchase,
and (3) tells you your balance. When you’ve spent the balance, you can take the smart card back to
where you bought it and purchase more electronic money to replenish it.
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Smart cards have been around for several years in a variety of forms. For example, toll road
administrators have made them available to commuters in an effort to relieve congestion at
tollbooths. And the sponsors of the 1996 Summer Olympics experimented with smart cards, allowing
people to use them for purchasing soft drinks, food, and Olympics-related items such as clothing.
The Trans$cash Consortium is even developing a public transportation smart card that can be read
while still in your wallet. The Tran$cash system uses a wireless technology that will communicate
with your smart card when you board the bus. The wireless technology emits a signal that locates
your card, deducts the fare, and updates your balance - you never have to present your card to the
driver.
Intelligent Home Appliances

Wouldn’t it be great to have a full-time maid to cook your meals, wash the dishes, and launder your
clothes? You’d probably pay dearly for such a service; unfortunately, your budget probably won’t
allow such expenditure. And don’t expect a computer robot to show up at your doorstep that will
perform all those functions. There is a growing number of home appliances that can ease your
burden. These appliances are called intelligent home appliances – appliances that contain an
embedded IT system that controls numerous functions and is capable of making some decisions.
Consider these examples:
• Smart vacuum cleaners that automatically adjust settings based on naps or densities of your
carpet, varying densities and weights of dirt, and collection bag fullness.
• Hand-held camcorders that make sure your movie never jumps around. For example,
Matsushita has developed a camcorder that compares each frame to the previous one,
determines if the movement of objects is caused by hand movement jitters, and, if so,
eliminates the problems.
• Gas ranges that detect when water is about to boil, regulating simmering, and adjust
temperature settings for a variety of cookware and foods.
• Clothes washers that automatically balance loads to avoid stoppage, determine dirt content to
add detergent, determine type of clothes for the appropriate cycle, and determine clothes
weight for the amount of water.
• Dishwashers that can save you as much as $44 annually in electricity and water consumption
by evaluating dirt content and shutting off the wash cycle when your dishes are clean.
You may be using many intelligent appliances and not even know it. As each day passes, home
appliances with embedded IT systems are becoming more commonplace. Many of these intelligent
appliances make use of automatic speech recognition. So, when you say “boil water”, an intelligent
gas range will adjust its settings based on the amount of water you have to boil and the type of
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cookware you’re using. You may even be able to tell your microwave oven to “pop popcorn”. It will
adjust the settings and even shut itself off when all the kernels are popped - no more burned popcorn
in the microwave.
Behind these new types of intelligent home appliances is an emerging technology called
fuzzy logic. Fuzzy logic is a method of working with “fuzzy” information; that is, information that is
incomplete, ambiguous, or imprecise. For example, fuzzy logic can analyze information such as hot,
cold, tall, short, medium, reasonable, or even somewhat. As opposed to most types of IT systems
that require crisp, discrete information (such as a specific number or measurement), fuzzy logic
systems work with information that is often a matter of interpretation. For example, if you were
describing professional basketball players, would you describe a 6-foot 5-inch player as “tall”? What
about a 6-foot 4.5-inch player-would that person be “short”?
Fuzzy logic is actually a subfield of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI is the science of making
machines imitates human thinking and behaviour. Human thinking and behaviour almost always deal
with a type of fuzzy information. Intelligent home appliances must incorporate fuzzy logic (such as
determining the boiling point of water) to make decisions.
Internet Connection at Home

As we close this chapter, you should consider the “big picture” and how your home life will change.
Someday, your home will be completely connected and connected to the Internet. First, that is, every
electronic device in your home will be connected to all others. From anywhere in your home, using
wireless speech recognition, you’ll be able to start and stop any device, lower the lights, play music,
and a host of other activities.
Second, your home will be completely connected to the Internet. So, you may have an
intelligent toilet that can take your blood pressure and pulse and evaluate your bodily wastes to see if
you’re getting sick. This information will be sent-via the Internet-to your doctor’s office. Your
doctor will have an AI-based computer that can determine your health and perhaps even send you an
e-mail message that your vitamin C is getting low.
These are not far-fetched ideas. You can probably expect to see them on a widespread basis
by the year 2015. The Internet will be the driving force behind all this. The Internet is becoming
important and ubiquitous to the point that in the not too distant future our entire society and business
world will depend on it completely every day. Think about electricity - we depend on it completely
every day. Someday, we will depend on the Internet in the same way.
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Chapter 10
Principles of Team Work
Introduction
In the beginning, God made an individual - and then he made a pair. The pair formed a group,
together they begat others and thus the group grew. Unfortunately, working in a group led to friction,
the group disintegrated in conflict and Cain settled in the land of Nod - there has been trouble with
groups ever since. When people work in groups, there are two quite separate issues involved. The
first is the task and the problems involved in getting the job done. Frequently this is the only issue
which the group considers. The second is the process of the group work itself: the mechanisms by
which the group acts as a unit and not as a loose rabble. However, without due attention to this
process the value of the group can be diminished or even destroyed; yet with a little explicit
management of the process, it can enhance the worth of the group to be many times the sum of the
worth of its individuals. It is this synergy which makes group work attractive in corporate
organization despite the possible problems (and time spent) in group formation. This chapter
examines the group process and how it can best be utilized. The key is that the group should be
viewed as an important resource whose maintenance must be managed just like any other resource
and that this management should be undertaken by the group itself so that it forms a normal part of
the group's activities.
What is a Group?
A group of people working in the same room, or even on a common project, does not necessarily
invoke the group process. If the group is managed in a totally autocratic manner, there may be little
opportunity for interaction relating to the work; if there is faction within the group, the process may
never evolve. On the other hand, the group process may be utilized by normally distant individuals
working on different projects; for instance, at IEE colloquia.
In simple terms, the group process leads to a spirit of cooperation, coordination and
commonly understood procedures and mores. If this is present within a group of people, then their
performance will be enhanced by their mutual support (both practical and moral). If you think this is
a nebulous concept when applied to the world of industry, consider the opposite effect that a self-
opinionated, cantankerous loud-mouth would have on your performance and then contrast that to
working with a friendly, open, helpful associate.

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Why a Group?
Groups are particularly good at combining talents and providing innovative solutions to possible
unfamiliar problems; in cases where there is no well established approach/procedure, the wider skill
and knowledge set of the group has a distinct advantage over that of the individual. In general,
however, there is an overriding advantage in a group-based work force which makes it attractive to
Management: that it engenders a fuller utilization of the work force.
A group can be seen as a self managing unit. The range of skills provided by its members and
the self monitoring which each group performs makes it a reasonably safe recipient for delegated
responsibility. Even if a problem could be decided by a single person, there are two main benefits in
involving the people who will carry out the decision. Firstly, the motivational aspect of participating
in the decision will clearly enhance its implementation. Secondly, there may well be factors which
the implementer understands better than the single person who could supposedly have decided alone.
More indirectly, if the lowest echelons of the workforce each become trained, through
participation in group decision making, in an understanding of the companies objectives and work
practices, then each will be better able to solve work-related problems in general. Further, they will
also individually become a safe recipient for delegated authority which is exemplified in the
celebrated right of Japanese car workers to halt the production line.
From the individual's point of view, there is the added incentive that through belonging to a
group each can participate in achievements well beyond his/her own individual potential. Less
idealistically, the group provides an environment where the individual's self-perceived level of
responsibility and authority is enhanced, in an environment where accountability is shared: thus
providing a perfect motivator through enhanced self-esteem coupled with low stress.
Finally, a word about the much vaunted "recognition of the worth of the individual" which is
often given as the reason for delegating responsibility to groups of subordinates. While I agree with
the sentiment, I am dubious that this is a prime motivator - the bottom line is that the individual's
talents are better utilized in a group, not that they are wonderful human beings.
Group Development
It is common to view the development of a group as having four stages:
• Forming
• Storming
• Norming
• Performing

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Forming is the stage when the group first comes together. Everybody is very polite and very
dull. Conflict is seldom voiced directly, mainly personal and definitely destructive. Since the
grouping is new, the individuals will be guarded in their own opinions and generally reserved. This is
particularly so in terms of the more nervous and/or subordinate members who may never recover.
The group tends to defer to a large extent to those who emerge as leaders (poor fools!).
Storming is the next stage, when all Hell breaks loose and the leaders are lynched. Factions
form, personalities clash, no-one concedes a single point without first fighting tooth and nail. Most
importantly, very little communication occurs since no one is listening and some are still unwilling to
talk openly. True, this battle ground may seem a little extreme for the groups to which you belong -
but if you look beneath the veil of civility at the seething sarcasm, invective and innuendo, perhaps
the picture come more into focus.
Norming. At this stage the sub-groups begin to recognize the merits of working together and the
in-fighting subsides. Since a new spirit of co-operation is evident, every member begins to feel
secure in expressing their own view points and these are discussed openly with the whole group. The
most significant improvement is that people start to listen to each other. Work methods become
established and recognized by the group as a whole.
Performing. This is the culmination, when the group has settled on a system which allows free
and frank exchange of views and a high degree of support by the group for each other and its own
decisions.
Ten years after first describing the four stages, Bruce Tuckman revisited his original work and
described another, final, stage: Adjourning. This is about completion and disengagement, both from
the tasks and the group members. Individuals will be proud of having achieved much and glad to
have been part of such an enjoyable group. They need to recognise what they've done, and
consciously move on. Some authors describe stage 5 as "Deforming and Mourning", recognising the
sense of loss felt by group members.
Tuckman's original work simply described the way he had observed groups evolve, whether they
were conscious of it or not. But for us the real value is in recognising where a group is in the
process, and helping it to move to the Perform stage. In the real world, groups are often forming and
changing, and each time that happens, they can move to a different Tuckman Stage. A group might
be happily Norming or Performing, but a new member might force them back into Storming.
Seasoned leaders will be ready for this, and will help the group get back to Performing as quickly as
possible.
Many work groups live in the comfort of Norming, and are fearful of moving back into Storming,
or forward into Performing. This will govern their behaviour towards each other, and especially their
reaction to change.

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In terms of performance, the group starts at a level slightly below the sum of the individuals'
levels and then drops abruptly to its nadir until it climbs during Norming to a new level of
Performing which is (hopefully) well above the start. It is this elevated level of performance which is
the main justification for using the group process rather than a simple group of staff.
Group Skills
The group process is a series of changes which occur as a group of individuals form into a
cohesive and effective operating unit. If the process is understood, it can be accelerated.
There are two main sets of skills which a group must acquire:
• Managerial Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
The acceleration of the group process is simply the accelerated acquisition of these.
As a self-managing unit, a group has to undertake most of the functions of a Group Leader -
collectively. For instance, meetings must be organized, budgets decided, strategic planning
undertaken, goals set, performance monitored, reviews scheduled, etc. It is increasingly recognized
that it is a fallacy to expect an individual to suddenly assume managerial responsibility without
assistance; in the group it is even more so. Even if there are practiced managers in the group, they
must first agree on a method, and then convince and train the remainder of the group.
As a collection of people, a group needs to relearn some basic manners and people-
management skills. Again, think of that self-opinionated, cantankerous loud-mouth; he/she should
learn good manners, and the group must learn to enforce these manners without destructive
confrontation.
Accelerating Development
It is common practice in accelerating group development to appoint, and if necessary train, a
"group facilitator". The role of this person is to continually draw the groups' attention to the group
process and to suggest structures and practices to support and enhance the group skills. This must be
only a short-term training strategy, however, since the existence of a single facilitator may prevent
the group from assuming collective responsibility for the group process. The aim of any group
should be that facilitation is performed by every member equally and constantly. If this responsibility
is recognised and undertaken from the beginning by all, then the Storming phase may be avoided and
the group development passed straight into Norming.
The following is a set of suggestions which may help in group formation. They are offered as
suggestions, no more; a group will work towards its own practices and norms.

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Focus
The two basic foci should be the group and the task.
If something is to be decided, it is the group that decides it. If there is a problem, the group solves it.
If a member is performing badly, it is the group who asks for change.
If individual conflicts arise, review them in terms of the task. If there is initially a lack of structure
and purpose in the deliberations, impose both in terms of the task. If there are disputes between
alternative courses of action, negotiate in terms of the task.
Clarification
In any project management, the clarity of the specification is of paramount importance - in
group work it is exponentially so. Suppose that there is a 0.8 chance of an individual understanding
the task correctly (which is very high). If there are 8 members in the group then the chance of the
group all working towards that same task is 0.17. And the same reasoning hold for every decision
and action taken throughout the life of the group. It is the first responsibility of the group to clarify
its own task, and to record this understanding so that it can be constantly seen. This mission
statement may be revised or replaced, but it should always act as a focus for the groups deliberations
and actions.
The mouse
In any group, there is always the quiet one in the corner who doesn't say much. That
individual is the most under utilized resource in the whole group, and so represents the best return for
minimal effort by the group as a whole. It is the responsibility of that individual to speak out and to
contribute. It is the responsibility of the group to encourage and develop that person, to include
him/her in the discussion and actions, and to provide positive reinforcement each time that happens.
The loud-mouth
In any group, there is always a dominant member whose opinions form a disproportionate
share of the discussion. It is the responsibility of each individual to consider whether they are that
person. It is the responsibility of the group to ask whether the loud-mouth might like to summarize
briefly, and then ask for other views.
The written record

Often a decision which is not recorded will become clouded and have to be re-discussed. This
can be avoided simply by recording on a large display (where the group can clearly see) each

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decision as it is made. This has the further advantage that each decision must be expressed in a clear
and concise form which ensures that it is clarified.
Feedback (negative)
All criticism must be neutral: focused on the task and not the personality. So rather than
calling Johnie an innumerate moron, point out the error and offer him a calculator. It is wise to adopt
the policy of giving feedback frequently, especially for small things - this can be couched as mutual
coaching, and it reduces the destructive impact of criticism when things go badly wrong. Every
criticism must be accompanied by a positive suggestion for improvement.
Feedback (positive)
If anyone does something well, praise it. Not only does this reenforce commendable actions,
but it also mollifies the negative feedback which may come later. Progress in the task should be
emphasised.
Handling failure
The long term success of a group depends upon how it deals with failure. It is a very British
tendency to brush off failure and to get on with the next stage with no more than a mention - it is a
very foolish tendency. Any failure should be explored by the group. This is not to attribute blame
(for that is shared by the whole group as an individual only acts with delegated responsibility), but
rather to examine the causes and to devise a mechanism which either monitors against or prevents
repetition. A mistake should only happen once if it is treated correctly.
One practise which is particularly useful is to delegate the agreed solution to the individual or sub-
group who made the original error. This allows the group to demonstrate its continuing trust and the
penitent to make amends.
Handling deadlock
If two opposing points of view are held in the group then some action must be taken. Several
possibly strategies exist. Each sub-group could debate from the other sub-group's view-point in order
to better understand it. Common ground could be emphasised, and the differences viewed for a
possible middle or alternative strategy. Each could be debated in the light of the original task. But
firstly the group should decide how much time the debate actually merits and then guillotine it after
that time - then, if the issue is not critical, toss a coin.

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Sign posting
As each small point is discussed, the larger picture can be obscured. Thus it is useful frequently to
remind the group: this is where we came from, this is where we got to, this is where we should be
going.
Avoid single solutions

First ideas are not always best. For any given problem, the group should generate alternatives,
evaluate these in terms of the task, pick one and implement it. But most importantly, they must also
monitor the outcome, schedule a review and be prepared to change the plan.
Active communication
Communication is the responsibility of both the speaker and the listener. The speaker must actively
seek to express the ideas in a clear and concise manner - the listener must actively seek to understand
what has been said and to ask for clarification if unsure. Finally, both parties must be sure that the
ideas have been correctly communicated perhaps by the listener summarizing what was said in a
different way.
Conclusion
Groups are like relationships - you have to work at them. In the work place, they constitute an
important unit of activity but one whose support needs is only recently becoming understood. By
making the group itself responsible for its own support, the responsibility becomes an accelerator for
the group process. What is vital is that these needs are recognized and explicitly dealt with by the
group. Time and resources must be allocated to this by the group and by Management, and the group
process must be planned, monitored and reviewed just like any other managed process.
Dynamics of Informal Groups

Jeff Lane was at his wits end. As a newly appointed production manager, he had tried virtually
everything to get his work group to come up to production standard. The equipment was operating
properly, and the group had the training and experience to meet expectations, yet it was not
performing well. What was wrong? And what could he do to correct the situation? Managers and
supervisors frequently face such a dilemma-standards that should be met but aren't for what seems
like no apparent reason.
What Jeff Lane and other managers/ supervisors sometimes fail to realize is that within every
organization there are often informal group pressures that influence and regulate individual

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behaviour. Informal groups formulate an implicit code of ethics or an unspoken set of standards
establishing acceptable behaviour In Jeff's department, the informal group may have established a
norm below that set by the organization, subtly exercising control over its members regarding the
amount of output.
Informal groups almost always arise if opportunities exist. Often, these groups serve a
counter organizational function, attempting to counteract the coercive tendencies in an organization.
If management prescribes production norms that the group considers unfair, for instance, the group's
recourse is to adopt less demanding norms and to use its ingenuity to discover ways in which it can
sabotage management's imposed standards.
Informal groups have a powerful influence on the effectiveness of an organization, and can
even subvert its formal goals. But the informal group's role is not limited to resistance. The impact of
the informal group upon the larger formal group depends on the norms that the informal group sets.
So the informal group can make the formal organization more effective, too.
A norm is an implied agreement among the group's membership regarding how members in
the group should behave. From the perspective of the formal group, norms generally fall into three
categories - positive, negative, and neutral. In other words, norms support, obstruct, or have no effect
on the aims of the larger organization.
For example, if the informal group in Jeff's shop set a norm supporting high output, that norm
would have been more potent than any attempt by Jeff to coerce compliance with the standard. The
reason is simple, yet profound. The norm is of the group members own making, and is not one
imposed upon them. There is a big motivational difference between being told what to do and being
anxious to do it.
If Jeff had been aware of group dynamics, he might have realized that informal groups can be
either his best friend or his worst enemy. He should have been sensitive to the informal groups
within his area and he should have cultivated their goodwill and cooperation and made use of the
informal group leadership. That is, he should have wooed the leadership of the informal group and
enlisted the support of its membership to achieve the formal organization's aims. The final effect of
his actions might have been positive or negative, depending upon the agreement or lack of it between
the informal group and him.
Harnessing the power of informal groups is no easy task. The requirements include:
• an understanding of group dynamics and,
• an ability to bring about changes in informal group norms that positively reinforce the formal
organization's goals.
As a starting point, managers and supervisors should at least be aware of the reasons behind informal
group formation and the properties and characteristics of these groups.

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Formation of Informal Work Groups

Individuals are employed by an organization to perform specific functions. Although the whole
person joins an organization, attention is usually focused on the partial person, the part of the
individual doing the job. Because people have needs that extend beyond the work itself, informal
groups develop to fill certain emotional, social, and psychological needs.
The degree to which a group satisfies its members’ needs determines the limits within which
individual members of the group will allow their behaviour to be controlled by the group.
Sense of belonging
Several major functions are served by informal groups. For example, the group serves as a means of
satisfying the affiliation needs of its members for friendship and support. People need to belong, to
be liked, to feel a part of something. Because the informal group can withhold this attractive reward,
it has a tool of its own to coerce compliance with its norms.
Identity and self esteem

Groups also provide a means of developing, enhancing, and confirming a person's sense of identity
and self-esteem. Although many organizations attempt to recognize these higher needs, the nature of
some jobs-their technology and environment-precludes this from happening. The long assembly line
or endless rows of desks reinforce a feeling of depersonalization.
Stress reduction
Another function of groups is to serve as an agent for establishing and testing social reality. For
instance, several individuals may share the feeling that their supervisor is a slave driver or that their
working conditions are inadequate. By developing a consensus about these feelings, group members
are able to reduce the anxiety associated with their jobs.
All for one, one for all

Finally, the informal group serves as a defence mechanism against forces that group members could
not resist on their own. Joining forces in a small group makes the members feel stronger, less
anxious, and less insecure in the face of a perceived threat.
As long as needs exist that are not served by the formal organization, informal groups will form to
fill the gap. Since the group fills many important needs for its members, it influences member
behaviour.

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Leadership of Informal Work Groups
Informal groups possess certain characteristics that, if understood, can be used to advantage. While
many of these characteristics are similar to those of formal organizations, others are unique. One
attribute of informal groups is rotational leadership. The informal leader emerges as the individual
possessing qualities that the other members perceive as critical to the satisfaction of their specific
needs at the moment; as the needs change so does the leader. Only rarely does a single individual
possess all of the leadership characteristics needed to fill the various needs of the group.
Unlike the formally appointed leader who has a defined position from which to influence
others, the informal leader does not possess formal power. If the informal leader fails to meet the
group's expectations, he or she is deposed and replaced by another. The informal group's judgment of
its leaders tends to be quicker and more cold-blooded than that of most formal groups.
Supervisory Strategies
The supervisor can use several strategies to affect the leadership and harness the power of informal
groups. One quick and sure method of changing a group is to cause the leader to change one or more
of his or her characteristics. Another is to replace the leader with another person.
One common ploy is to systematically rotate out of the group its leaders and its key members.
Considering the rotational nature of leadership, a leader may emerge who has aims similar to the
formal goals of the organization. There are problems with this approach, however. Besides the
practical difficulties of this, this strategy is blunted by the fact that group norms often persist long
after the leader has left the group.
A less Machiavellian approach is for the supervisor to be alert to leaders sympathetic to the
supervisor's objectives and to use them toward the betterment of the formal group's effectiveness.
Still another method is to attempt to 'co-opt' informal leaders by absorbing them into the leadership
or the decision-making structure of the formal group. Co-opting the informal leader often serves as a
means of averting threats to the stability of the formal organization.
Remember, though, a leader may lose favour with the group because of this association with
management, and group members will most likely select another leader.
Communications Network
The Grapevine
Another characteristic of the informal group is its communications network. The informal group has
communications processes that are smoother and less cumbersome than those of the formal
organization. Thus its procedures are easily changed to meet the communication needs of the group.
In the informal group, a person who possesses information vital to the group's functioning or well-

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being is frequently afforded leadership status by its members. Also, the centrally located person in
the group is in the best position to facilitate the smooth flow of information among group members.
Knowing about informal group communication the supervisor can provide a strategically
placed individual with information needed by the group. This not only enhances the stature of this
individual perhaps elevating him or her to a leadership position but also provides an efficient means
of distributing information.
Providing relevant information to the group will also help foster harmony between the
supervisor and the informal group. By winning the cooperation of informal group leaders the
supervisor will most likely experience fewer grievances and better relationships.
Group Cohesiveness
A third characteristic of informal groups is group cohesiveness-the force that holds a group together.
Group cohesiveness varies widely based on numerous factors-including the:
• size of the group
• dependence of members upon the group
• achievement of goals
• status of the group and
• management demands and pressures.
For example group cohesiveness increases strongly whenever the membership perceives a threat
from the outside. This threat produces the high anxiety that strong group cohesiveness can help
reduce.
If the supervisor presses the group to conform to a new organizational norm that Is viewed as
a threat to the security needs of group members The group will become more unified in order to
withstand the perceived threat. Thus management can limit its own effectiveness by helping to
increase the group's cohesiveness. With the passing of the threat the group tends to lose its
cohesiveness.
Perhaps paradoxically the most dangerous time for group cohesion is when things are going
well. Supervisors can use the factors that affect group cohesiveness to increase their own
effectiveness.
Decision Making Process Involvement

For instance a supervisor can involve the informal group members in the decision-making process.
Input from group members will not only reduce their feeling of alienation but also improve
communication between the supervisor and subordinates thereby reducing potential conflict.

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Where group participation in decision making is not practical the supervisor should carefully
explain the reasons to play down what might be seen as a threat to the group. In some cases the
supervisor may want to increase the group’s cohesiveness deliberately devising situations that put
one group into competition with another. If this gambit is carefully controlled the solidarity that
results may bring a higher level of performance. The danger of this strategy is that the supervisor
may be unable to control the reaction of the group. The ploy could back-fire bringing competition
and dissension within the group.
Informal Group Norms or Values

Unspoken rules
The final characteristic of informal groups is the establishment of the group’s norms (values). As we
discussed earlier, norms keep a group functioning as a system instead of a collection of individuals.
Norms are of great importance to the informal group in controlling behaviour and measuring the
performance of members. Because norm (values) violations threaten a group's existence, departures
from the norm usually carry severe sanctions. The members must either conform or sever their group
affiliation. The latter action is unlikely, especially if the individual values group membership to
satisfy certain needs.
Two points are important to note about the norms of informal groups. First, where both
formal and informal norms exist, the informal norms transcend the formal. At moments when norms
conflict with organizational objectives, organizational effectiveness suffers. Second, members of an
informal group may be unaware that the norms of the group influence their behaviour. Norms are
particularly potent because without knowing it members would not even think of acting otherwise-
norms are that ingrained into their behaviour pattern.
Changing Group Norms

A supervisor should attempt to encourage norms that positively affect the formal organization's
goals, and to alter those that are negative. If this is accomplished, the informal group/ team will
direct its energies toward desired goals. How can a supervisor bring about a positive change in a
group / team's norms? Once a group / team has developed its norms, they are strictly enforced until
changed. But norms change frequently because the group / team must be responsive to changes in its
environment for self-protection. When a perceived change occurs in the environment that affects the
group / team, it tightens, eases, or changes its norms. There are three stages to fostering group / team
/ team norms that are congenial to the organization.

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First Stage
The first stage involves determining what the group/ team/ norms are, and then getting group/ team
members to recognize their existence and influence. This can often be accomplished by observing
the behaviour patterns of the group / team, interviewing group / team members, or asking the group/
team to identify its own norms. As noted earlier, people frequently respect and follow norms
unconsciously.
An employee survey carried out by a group has ten predetermined dimensions; these are
(together with definitions,) as follows.
• Organizational / Personal Pride. Satisfaction or pleasure taken in attaining personal or
organizational achievements.
• Performance / Excellence. Manner or quality of functioning when striving to meet or beat
standards of performance. This includes setting personal standards when none are set/
defined.
• Teamwork / Communication. The perception that organizational goals and objectives are
communicated to and shared by members of the group. The organization has effectively
shared its' vision or sense of purpose so that all employees can articulate and subscribe to.
• Leadership / Supervision. The style of management / supervision in engaging employees to
deliver willingly their best efforts towards organizational goals.
• Profitability / Cost Effectiveness. Awareness of employees of their roles and actions to the
organizations 'bottom line'.
• Colleague / Associate Relations. Personal connections or dealings between or among
individuals and groups.
• Customer / Client Relations. Personal and group attitude towards clients, both internal (i.e.
other departments in the case of service departments) and external suppliers and customers.
• Innovation / Creativity. To be aware of, appreciate the need for and strive for new ways of
performing a function, process, procedure or the organization's business model in terms of the
need flowing from constant changes in the external environment, the need to be competitive
and the need to retain customer loyalty and confidence.
• Training / Development. The opportunities within the organization and the climate set that
promote personal growth and development.
• Candour / Openness. The willingness to promote open, honest and direct dialog by all
employees at all levels on issues that affect individuals, groups and the organization as a
whole. This includes the sharing of information, respect for the diverse backgrounds and
experiences of members, the absence of 'competition over territory' and the agreement of
goals and levels of performance/ quality.

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Helping define norms is useful because it assists the group / team in clarifying its thinking and frees
members from behaviour patterns that they may not really wish to follow in the first place. When
group / team members actually become aware of negative norms, they commonly reject them and
seek alternative modes of behaviour. And the supervisor can't begin to change negative norms to
positive ones until group / team members first become aware of their existence.
Second Stage
Having identified the team's norms, the next stage is to measure the norms and establish a norm
profile. Using the Team Building - Informal Group Organizational Norms Employee Survey
instrument, each team member is posed a set of questions, related to the 10 dimensions. The
difference between where the group / team is versus where the desired norms of the group should be,
denotes the normative "gap." These gaps provide the starting point for determining where changes
should occur.
Third Stage
The final stage is to bring about normative change. A systematic change process consists of six steps:
• Demonstrate the importance of norms in achieving organizational and group/ team
effectiveness.
• Create positive norm goals through cooperative effort.
• Establish normative change priorities.
• Determine a plan of action to bring about change.
• Implement and monitor the change strategy.
• Review the effectiveness of the strategy periodically and modify where necessary.
o This process emphasizes the creation of positive norms through cooperative effort that
benefits the supervisor and the group/ team. Positive group/ team norms -increase the
effectiveness of the supervisor while providing an environment in which group/ team
members can satisfy their own needs.
o The process also improves team communications and trust, reducing the anxiety
sometimes created by perceived threats from management.
o If the informal group / team's norms are negative, they can negate the interests of an
organization many times the group / team's size. The process of change is a tool by
which a supervisor can deal with the informal group/ team stresses that exist within
the organization and that tend to de-motivate employees.

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o By fostering positive group norms, a supervisor can harness the power of informal
groups and release the energies of such groups to work together as a team to achieve
desired goals.
Guidelines of Group Working

Getting work done in a group is not like having a chat; it needs structure and a degree of formality
(but not too much). We have put together some suggestions for you to consider; guidelines for
behaviour when working in a group (what is reasonably expected of you and what you would expect
from others), a model agenda and an action plan proforma.
9 Ensuring your group work runs smoothly

• Hold regular meetings. Make sure everybody knows when and where the next meeting will
take place.
• You might want to appoint someone to co-ordinate each meeting and to book the room etc.
• We recommend that you have an agenda for each meeting and each member should attend
unless there are good reasons why they can’t, e.g., illness.
During meetings
In meetings, try to:
• Appoint someone to take notes of important decisions and actions the group has agreed
together and make sure that everybody is clear and understands what has been decided, who
will be doing what and by when. This helps minimise disagreement later and to ensure that
tasks are completed on time.
• You may want to appoint someone to lead the meeting
• As a group, set an agenda for the meeting. This is a list of topics you want to discuss during
the meeting. Try to stick to this agenda (see example below) during the meeting. The group
leader could ensure this if you have appointed one.
• Be constructive.
• Don’t be afraid to contribute, but also listen to others. Try to ensure that everybody gets a
chance to put across their point: say by asking each person in turn for their view. The group
leader could do this if you have appointed one. You may want to appoint a different co-
ordinator, note-taker and leader each meeting so that everybody takes a turn.
• Don’t forget, part of developing your skills includes demonstrating that you as a group have
held meetings which have set realistic actions.

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9 Key Characteristics of Effective Group Working

Comfort, Constructiveness, Positivism
The climate is constructive, helpful, positive and supportive.
Togetherness
• Everybody contributes.
• Everybody feels involved.
• Everybody feels included listened to and appreciated.
• All ideas are welcomed and considered.
Openness
• Feelings as well as ideas are openly expressed
• Disagreements are worked through openly
Fairness
• Nobody dominates, nobody freeloads.
• Tasks are allocated fairly to team members.
• Decisions are made by general agreement.
Commitment
• All members are committed to the task, the group and the other members.
• The group meets regularly and everybody tries to attend.
Clarity
• The aims and objectives of the group are clear and understood by all members.
• When tasks require them, clear roles and objectives are allocated.
Differences
• People’s different life-values, opinions, styles of working and skills are accepted and
valued.
• Differences are capitalised upon - to the benefit of the group and the task.
It’s up to the group to ensure that you work well together, however, if you find that difficulties do
occur with individual group members there are measures the whole group can take to alleviate
this. Seek advice from the module leaders if difficulties occur.
9 Model Agenda
You don’t have to follow this structure to the letter, but if you follow this model you can’t go far
wrong.

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Agenda
• Date of meeting.
• Apologies (To note who is absent from the meeting).
• Actions (tasks or problems to be dealt with - see Action Plan for more detail) from last
meeting.
• Items for discussion (in priority order if possible) tasks, problems, time allocation, deadlines,
which members of the team will carry out specific tasks etc.
• Any other business.
• Actions to be set.
• Time and place of next meeting.
9 Sample Action Plan

Sample Action Plan which you can use – however, you may like to devise your own if you wish.
• Group Members Names: Oliver Ugwu, Effiong John, Ifeoluwa Dide, and Ibrahim Abdullahi
• Contact Tel:
• Email:
Sample Action Plan
MAIN POINTS AND TASKS WHEN (TASK) WHO (TASK)

For example, Agree a topic between you 11th of October Whole Group
Create list of each group members skills (Skills Audit) 11th of October Individual members
Review Skills Audits and decide on action 20th of October Whole Group
Initial Research 11th of November Oliver Ugwu

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Chapter 12
Making a Successful Presentation
Introduction
Presentations can be nerve-wracking for some people, even for those who have done several
already throughout their careers. After all, standing in front of a crowd that will determine the next
step, whether it’s approving the business plan, agreeing with the advertising communications, or
buying the product concept, can give a person nervous jitters. Here are some helpful reminders a
person should keep in mind when making a presentation.
Before beginning any presentation, the first thing the presenter should take note of is who the
audience will be. Knowing the audience will determine what they will be expecting or wanting to
hear from the presentation. In turn, this affects the way the presentation should be made, from the
design elements to the flow. For older, more traditional businessmen, a more straightforward
presentation in a muted colour template is more apt. When pitching business that caters to a younger
market, the feel of presentation should reflect a youthful vibe as well. When a presentation appeals or
talks directly to the audience, they will become more attentive and responsive to the communication.
When making a presentation, the speaker should also know if a presentation or a slide show
is necessary. There are times when presentations fail to become a visual aid and acts more like a
distraction, so this must be avoided. Make sure that the content is timely and powerful, with all
visuals supporting the intended message in its true context. Photos should not distract people from
the points you are trying to make, but help the audience understand it more. Furthermore, when it
comes to using visuals, always use good quality images—clip art pictures can sometimes make a
presentation look cheap and dated.
Length of the presentation should also be considered. Avoid long bullet points and reading
them, as this proves to be boring and very ineffective. Messages should read as headline, not a
sentence, and elaborated by the presenter. Only use key phrases in presentations to make it easier to
remember and get the point across.
To prepare for any presentation, presenters should always memorize the key message or the
main idea. This will help him or her internalize the whole feel of the presentation, and this, along
with powerful visual themes and emotional evidence, can make the presentation more cinematic,
interactive, and most importantly, memorable. It is almost always obvious when a presenter is not

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prepared—he or she does not fully understand what the presentation is all about, and will probably
end up looking like a complete fool.
When presenting, always remember to look your audience in the eye. Nobody would want to
stare at someone’s back while listening to him or her read a list of bullet points from a slide. This
makes the presenter look lazy and stupid. Presenters have to gain the trust of the audience, especially
when he or she is trying to convince them, and this will not be possible if he or she looks doubtful,
uncertain, and lacking in conviction. Make sure to look them straight in the eye with confidence that
you know what you are talking about.
Making Effective Talk

The process of preparing a talk can be separated into a series of stages. They include Planning;
Preparation; Outlining; Important Elements; Practice; Presentation; Moment of Truth; and
Handling questions. Moreover, the process of developing a talk can also be likened to that of
preparing for a backpacking expedition. Plan ahead, review your goals, and plan for emergencies. At
some point after you are fully prepared, open the backpack and remove between 1/3 (one third) to ½
(half) of its contents. Then shoulder the pack and head for the hills - there will be more spring in
your step, and it will be easier to recover if you stumble.
Initial Planning
This is where you begin to tailor the talk to the situation, and for that reason this stage is very
important for a successful presentation. Talk to your host and clarify these points before you spend
much preparation time. If the environment and audience are unfamiliar to you, this is a critical stage.
You may even want to do a literature search on potential audience members to identify areas of
common interest or potential questions which may arise. Begin this stage early - the more lead time
you allow yourself, the more time you will have to think up novel approaches to the topic and the
more interesting and substantial your presentation will be.
Before you begin preparing the presentation, you'll need to determine:

1. The type of talk you will be expected to give
• will this be an informal chat, a seminar discussion, or a more formal presentation?
• different talks have different purposes; the intent of a conference presentation is not
the same as a job talk. When in doubt, ask for guidance from your host.
2. The composition of the audience
• will you be speaking to a general audience or specialists?
• how many people are expected to attend?

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• is this likely to be a friendly audience? An interactive audience?
3. The time allotted for the talk
• the longer the talk, the more freedom you will have to explore the topic
• a short talk needs to be very clear and to address the topic directly
• is question time included?
4. Expectations for information content
• is there a specific purpose for having you give a talk? Clarify the expectations
beforehand and plan to address them during the presentation.
• will you be presenting novel concepts to this audience, or building upon their prior
knowledge? Either way, make sure you cover the basics clearly, and early in the talk,
to avoid loosing the audience.
Preparation
Once you have a general idea of what you want to say, you'll have to decide how to say it. Unlike a
conversation or a written document, a talk is a one-shot attempt to make a point. By contrast, a
conversation consists of repetitions and clarification's based on questions and immediate feedback,
while a written paper allows a reader to puzzle through its contents as often as necessary. It is
essential that your talk be well-constructed and tidy, and that your points be presented to the
audience both a logical sequence and unambiguously. This all takes a fair amount of preparation.
Start early!
Here are a few pointers to get you started:

1. Start preparing far in advance by thinking through what needs to be said. Collect material
which may relate to the topic from unusual sources, and sleep on these ideas. The final
product will be more fully-developed and interesting.
2. Using big letters and a bold pen, write a clear statement of the problem and its importance,
and then pin that statement on the wall above your desk.
3. Develop this theme into one jargon-free sentence that will catch the attention of the audience.
Next, identify the issues you plan to address (brainstorm, then trim back; see the portion of
this chapter on outlining).
4. Arrange these issues in a logical sequence (which may change as you develop the talk). This
process is easier if you use index cards to organize your talk, with one idea per card.
5. Computer-based presentation programs (PowerPoint, Persuasion, etc.) can be wonderful
time-savers. The time invested in learning to use these programs is rewarded by the speed
with which a presentation can be created, even by a moderately-skilled user. These programs

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are good tools for organizing your presentation (an electronic version of the index cards
idea), they can be used to create visuals for the presentation (e.g., slides and transparencies),
and even project those visuals during the presentation.
6. Avoid using lists (First ..., Second ...); you may confuse listing systems (First ..., Point B...,
and another thing ...), or you may discover later in the talk that you've missed a point entirely,
and then you'll be forced to backtrack. Both of these problems tend to distract your audience
away from the points you are trying to make, and both give the appearance of poor
organizational skills.
7. Retention of information by the audience is reduced as a talk proceeds, so if you do want to
make a series of points, organize them from the most to the least important. That way, the
audience is more likely to remember the important points later. You may even find that the
less important points become irrelevant to the focus of the talk as you practice.
8. Determine transition elements which will help your audience to follow the link from one
issue to the next. These should be logical, and may be presented by posing a question, or
explaining your own discovery of the link's existence.
9. Use short sentences with simple constructions. The concept will be made clearer, and the
sentence structure is more similar to conversational styles.
10. Run through the talk once, early. Go back and re-think the sequencing. Discard non-essential
elements.
11. Don't assume the audience will be familiar with basic concepts that form the foundation of
your talk. Outline these concepts briefly but clearly early in the talk to avoid confusion.
12. Attempt to identify problems or questions the audience may have and address them in the
talk, before the audience has a chance to think of these things themselves.
13. Determine which elements would benefit by being presented with visual aids. Spend time
working out the best way to present the material.
14. Prepare thumbnails sketches of these visual aids, and then run through the talk again. Re-
work the most appropriate and essential visual aids and discard the rest. Don't forget to proof-
read your visuals! Do so while there is plenty of time to re-print that critical slide with the
glaring typo.
15. The earlier you start on the visuals, the better they will be. On the other hand, avoid fine
tuning each visual endlessly; if you find yourself diddling the details, go on to do something
more productive instead.
16. When in doubt about which presentation medium to use (transparencies, slides, videos,
multimedia, etc.), choose the format which is the least complex which remains consistent
with both clarity and content of the presentation. Keep in mind that the more technology you

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use, the more things there will be which can go wrong. These technological difficulties may
develop into a gruesome presentation experience, particularly if you are giving the talk in an
unfamiliar setting!
17. If you do need to use multimedia technology in your presentation, call ahead to make sure the
technology you require is supported in the room where you'll be talking!
18. The most important preparation factor is to REHEARSE! Do so in private at first. Then
for a real acid test, videotape yourself and watch the results with a critical eye. It's often a
painful and humbling experience, but the results will be worth it.
19. You can then try the presentation out in front of a few colleagues. Ask for feedback, then act
on that information. Select those who know a little about your topic, and not those who know
a lot. This will focus your attention on attempting to explain why you did what you did in
simple terms, rather than encouraging attention to details only specialists care about.
20. If you start preparing early, you'll have plenty of time to refine the presentation based on your
colleagues' feedback. This is always a useful process.
21. Don't waste your colleagues' time; if you are sincere about wanting that feedback, don't wait
until the night before the presentation to ask for other people's input.
22. Remember, the shorter the talk, the more difficult it will be to cover the material clearly and
completely. Be strict about including only what is essential information for the presentation,
and removing all the non-essential titbits.
Outlining
The primary purpose of a presentation is to provide information which the audience will then
remember at a later date. Detailed referencing of material or extensive review of data won't be
remembered - and may put the audience to sleep!
One way to maintain interest is to organize and present the material in a novel manner. Using
a non-standard ordering of material will help to keep the audience interested. Similarly, organizing
your material in a new way (rather than re-working an old talk) will help to keep your own interest in
the topic, and will result in a talk which is more fresh and exciting.
The importance of outlining is often stressed in preparing written and oral presentations, but
an outline following a linear format (headings, subheadings, etc.) may be restrictive. A list of terms
and ideas can be daunting, and tends to focus attention on the final items. Consider creating an 'idea
network' as an alternative approach for organizing your presentation (or your written paper).
A question that often is asked at this stage is "Is this enough material for the talk?”
Actually, you'll probably find that you have far too much material. It is important to develop a
realistic view of how much material is appropriate, and the ability to be ruthless in eliminating non-

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essential material. These abilities vary widely among presenters, and are important factors in
determining the quality of the presentation
Important Elements
Keeping these elements in mind as you prepare and practice the presentation will reduce the
amount of re-working you'll have to do as it evolves, and will result in a more streamlined and
effective end product.
1. Rate: The optimal rate for a scientific talk is about 100 words per minute. Any faster and the
audience can't absorb the additional information. Use pauses, and repeat critical information.
2. Opening: The opening should catch the interest and attention of the audience immediately,
while avoiding trite filler phrases (Thank you for having me . . .) and technical jargon.
3. Transitions: The link between successive elements of the talk should be planned carefully,
smooth, and logical. You should make the relation between successive elements clear to the
audience.
4. Conclusion: Summarize the main concepts you've discussed, and how your work relates to
issues you've raised. Aim to help your audience achieve high retention of this final
information. Signal that the summary is beginning ("In summary, ..."), but don't begin the
summary too soon or else the audience will start to leave before you finish!
5. Length: Don't run over! Ever! Shorten your talk by removing details, concepts, and
information, not by eliminating words. If it becomes absolutely essential to supply details,
supplement your presentation with a handout. Make about 10% more handouts than you think
you'll need. Always leave time for a few questions at the end of the talk.
Remember that there is no point in giving a presentation if the audience isn't listening. You should
make a big effort to help them be interested in what you have to say. It is therefore appropriate to use
techniques to retain audience interest, provided these techniques don't detract from the content or
professionalism of the talk.
Practice
You've probably heard this before, but that doesn't diminish its importance. Practice is the
single most important factor contributing to a good presentation. No matter how rushed you
might be, make time for at least a few practice runs. The effects of practice will be apparent, and a
poorly presented talk reflects upon both you and your attitude towards the material and audience.
Don't be fooled by people who claim to be able to throw together a talk at a moment's notice.
Generally, their talks fall into two categories - talks which are disjointed and awkward, and talks
which have had the rough edges removed by numerous prior presentations (i.e., dull and unexciting).

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One problem is that you can waste a tremendous amount of time by practicing all the wrong
parts of your talk. It is necessary to run through the talk a few times to get an idea of how the talk
will flow. After that, seek some outside feedback to make sure you are on the right track. Finally,
practice all parts of the talk equally. If you always start at the beginning and work until you run into
problems, the beginning of the talk will be great, but the final portion of the talk will be relatively
weaker. Begin one out of every few practice runs in the middle or at the end of the talk.
Yes, that means running through the talk once or twice isn't enough, particularly if the
material is new to you. If the presentation is important, treat it that way. My own rule of thumb is a
minimum of 10 practice runs for any one presentation.
Presentation
Having spent all that time preparing the talk itself, there are still a few things you can do at the last
minute which will help ensure a successful presentation.
1. Before the day begins, or last thing the night before, run through your talk once more. Use a
mirror or visualize standing in front of an audience as you practice. If you've brought a slide
carousel with you (a good idea), check their arrangement. You probably won't have time to
do this later. Remember to seat the locking ring properly!
2. If possible, take a tour the room you'll use for the presentation early in the day. Look for
potential problems with line of sight due to furniture, dark spots due to dead overhead lights,
intruding sound from ventilation - these all can be fixed with a bit of prior warning and a
polite request.
3. If you need specialized equipment, make sure it is available ahead of time - don't spring that
information on your host at the last minute.
4. Check again to see that your slides are oriented properly in the carousel. Lock that ring!
5. Make sure the focus switch works, and determine who will be controlling the slide advance.
Do the slide advance, reverse, and focus features all work?
6. It's your show, so ask for help with the equipment if you need it; it's better to ask for help
then fumble around during the presentation. Determine who will be controlling equipment for
you.
7. Computer presentations introduce a whole host of potential issues - here are a few to
consider:
• Is the host software compatible with your presentation? Are the fonts, bullets, colours,
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• Is there a sound card in the host computer? Is the sound system operational - but not too
painfully loud?
• Back-up your presentation before you leave using an alternate medium, then bring it with
you separately from the one you plan to use (e.g., packed in a different suitcase), or e-
mail it to yourself as an attachment - you may be able to access it from your destination if
needed.
• Alternatively, e-mail it to your host and ask that her or she download the file and test it on
the computer you'll be using - BEFORE you depart for the trip!
• Did you include all the required files and resources for your presentation?
• You might consider making a set of 35mm presentation slides from your electronic
presentation, then bringing the stack of slides along as your fail-safe backup - this
strategy may depend upon your degree of compulsiveness and/or paranoia, or how
important the presentation is to you.
• Keep in mind that failures of technology can be devastating, but that 1) the
embarrassment is greater on the part of the host if their equipment is at fault, and 2) the
host is usually impressed if you provide an alternate solution to the problem - suggesting
you are a proactive and prepared person.
8. Irrespective of what your presentation medium might be, letting your presentation slides,
disk, CD, etc. out of your sight before the presentation begins can lead to disaster.
9. If the room is large, or your voice small, use a microphone. Try it out before the audience
arrives (blowing into the mike or counting '1-2-3' they have arrived is tacky, so don't do it).
10. Check to see that accessories are present; chalk, eraser, markers, and especially a pointer. If it
is a laser pointer, does it have fresh batteries loaded? Keep in mind that green wavelength
lasers DEVOUR batteries!
11. Avoid standing behind a lectern or desk during the presentation. Stand to one side of the
projection screen or blackboard, and closer to the audience if possible.
12. Moderate movement and hand gestures are OK, but avoid pacing and flapping.
13. Don't be afraid to insist on a few minutes to yourself prior to the talk; 15 to 30 minutes is
standard. If you have an itinerary, check to see that you've had time allotted for preparation.
If you are running behind, see if someone is willing to meet with you after the talk, and then
use that time to prepare instead. Use this time to double-check your materials, and your
introductory and summary statements. Don't allow yourself to be distracted by audience
members coming up to chat.

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14. Don't wait until the very last minute to make that run to the bathroom, and remember to check
carefully your appearance - including zippers, buttons and other closures - before you
reappear.
The Moment of Truth

As you about to be introduced, the following could be very helpful:
1. Take several deep breaths as you are being introduced (but don't sigh!). Visualize your
rehearsed opening statement; don't improvise at the last moment.
2. State your objectives at start of your talk, then restate them again at the end of the talk. In
between, discuss how your material relates to these objectives.
3. Unless you intentionally have had experience as a stand-up comic, avoid making jokes. The
results can be disappointing, and may suggest an unprofessional attitude.
4. Choose a natural, moderate rate of speech and use automatic, moderate gestures.
5. Monitor your behaviour, and avoid habitual behaviours (pacing, fumbling change in pocket,
twirling hair).
6. Laser pointers are wonderful pointing devices, but remember not to point them at the
audience. They are best used by flashing the pointer on and off, so that the place you are
indicating is illuminated briefly. Don't swirl the laser around and around one place on the
projection screen, or sweep it from place to place across the screen. This is very distracting
for the audience, and they will end up watching the pointer and not listening to what you are
saying.
7. Likewise, and for the same reasons, avoid using the cursor as in pointer in your computer
presentations.
8. Also try to avoid pointing things out on the computer's monitor at the podium - although the
presenter's natural tendency is to concentrate on the monitor's screen, the audience will be
looking over your shoulder at the projection screen and won't be able to see where your finger
is pointing. If you find yourself doing this, power-off or disable the monitor to force yourself
to concentrate on the projection screen!
9. Enthusiasm for your topic is contagious, but don't overdo it - you'll alienate the audience.
10. Converse with your audience. Involve them in the process of the presentation by posing
questions and making eye contact. Be patient if you ask a question - answers sometimes take
time to formulate.
11. Keep an eye on your time, and don't run over your limit. Ever.
12. Be prepared for interruptions (late arrivals, cell phones or pagers, burned out projector bulbs,
fire drills, etc.).

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13. If you must turn down the room lights, don't turn them off entirely. Don't leave the lights
down any longer than necessary - remember to turn them back up! Of course, the snores from
the sleeping audience may remind you to turn the lights back on if you've forgotten.
14. Don't apologize for any aspect of your presentation. This should be your very best effort; if
you have to apologize, you haven't done your job properly.
15. Don't criticize aspects of the trip, city, facilities, etc. during your talk. This is another way to
alienate your audience quickly. For instance, they may or may not have chosen to live in this
horrible climate, but it isn't your place to remind them how horrible it is. Remember that you
are a guest and it is impolite to exhibit your prejudices publically.
16. Strive to have a prepared and memorable summary. If nothing else, the take home message is
what the audience will remember after you leave.
17. When you reach the summary and are about to finish, resist the temptation to add a few last
impromptu words. They will be unpractised, and will be the last thing many of your audience
will hear you say. End your talk with the insightful, firm summary statement you have
prepared.
18. Don't be afraid to give yourself credit for your own work, but do remember to give others
credit where due. I prefer to do this early, others may prefer doing it later in the talk. If
planned for later in the talk, don't forget to acknowledge these people's efforts, even if you
have to skip a statement or two to remain within your time frame. The best friend of one of
these contributors may be in your audience! If you include slides borrowed from other
people, or slides which include other people's data or figures, always give credit to these
people right on that slide. This shows a professional attitude, and (better yet) can save you
many words of explanation.
Handling Questions
Your presentation doesn't end once you've finished what you have to say. The question period often
is the part of the talk which influences the audience the most. After all, you've had time to practice
the rest of the talk. This is the part of the presentation where your ability to interact with the audience
will be evaluated. Since you can't always predict what you'll be asked, how can you prepare for the
questioning? Here are a few guidelines:
1. Always repeat each question so the entire audience knows what you've been asked.
2. Before you answer, take a moment to reflect on the question. By not rushing to give an
answer, you show a degree of respect for the questioner, and you give yourself time to be
sure you are answering the question that actually was asked. If you are unsure, restate the
question or ask for a clarification.

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3. Above all, wait for the questioner to finish asking the question before you begin your answer!
The only exception is when it becomes necessary to break in on a vague, rambling question;
this is your show, and you have only a limited time to make your presentation. It is essential,
however, that you break in tactfully. Say something like "So, are you asking ....?" This will
focus the question and give you a place to begin an answer. Remember that your ability to
interact with an audience also is being evaluated.
4. If a question is asked during the talk, and it will clarify an ambiguity, answer it immediately.
5. Postpone questions aimed at resolving specific problems (or arcane knowledge) until the end
of the talk, or private discussion. This is particularly important if the answer will distract
either you or the audience away from the flow of your presentation.
6. Avoid prolonged discussions with one person, extended answers, and especially arguments.
7. If you can't answer a question, just say so. Don't apologize. You then may:
• Offer to research an answer, and then get back to the questioner later.
• Suggest resources which would help the questioner to address the question
themselves.
• Ask for suggestions from the audience.
8. Finish your answer by asking the person who asked that question whether or not you
answered the question sufficiently for them. This acknowledges and thanks the questioner, it
lets the rest of the audience feel comfortable asking questions (because it shows you are
genuinely interested in addressing audience issues, not just in lecturing to them), and it gives
you a chance to more fully answer the question if your first effort was not quite on target. If
the questioner says you didn't answer it and you believe you did, either ask them to clarity the
question or suggest that the two of you go into more detail at a break or after the presentation.
Elements of Presentation
There has been significant good work on ensuring both the expressiveness and the effectiveness of
multimedia presentations -and this work is far from complete- but most of it has ignored a third,
important aspect of communication: Attention. Most of the work to date not unreasonably assumes
that the user's attention has already been engaged, that the user somehow has a vested interest in the
interaction in the first place. When intelligent multimodal interfaces make it into the real world, they
will have to compete with TVs and telephones, with heavy equipment and crying children, and of
course, with a host of other multimodal interfaces. To get the Good Housekeeping seal of approval,
interfaces will certainly need to ensure expressiveness and effectiveness, but these will take a back
seat to attention.

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Attention effects like perceptual implication will certainly occur in multimodal systems, whether
they are intended or not. We take this notion seriously, when we claim that it is better to attempt to
control these effects, than to attempt (and fail) to ignore them. Other work distinguishes between
communicative acts which are of high importance and therefore require high attention
characteristics, and mundane communication which does not require particular attention effects. We
do not believe these assumptions are valid; we have to pay attention to attention! Multimodal
perceptual effects are the tools available to a presentation system for getting and directing the user's
attention, as well as for ensuring expressiveness and effectiveness of the presentation.
Expressiveness: What to say

A high level presentation planner may decide that a user needs or wants to know how to, for
instance, make espresso with a particular coffee maker. It makes this decision on the basis of input
from a variety of sources, including perhaps, a model of the user and of the world around it. It
decides that a presentation designed to illustrate the use of the coffee machine is in order, subject to a
set of constraints and to be elaborated by other qualified agents.
The presentation must contain enough information for the user to clearly comprehend its intent.
Logical formalisms have been brought to bear upon the problem of ensuring this kind of pragmatic
coherence or thickness. On the other hand, to avoid unwanted implication it is important that the
presentation adhere to conventions of cooperative communication, and present only what -to the best
of the system's reasoning ability- needs to be presented.
Effectiveness and Perceptual Difficulty: How Best To Say It

There may be equally expressive alternate presentations of the information; a multimodal
presentation would be able to choose between at least text-only, graphics-only, text-and-graphics,
and perhaps animated presentations of the same information. The actual form of the presentation
should depend at least in part upon knowledge of the human perceptual processor as revealed by up-
to-date psychophysical investigations.
Several on-going projects seek to establish a ranking of perceptual tasks. These efforts capture the
notion that perception is not passive, that users are not just sponges at which to throw presentations,
and that different kinds of presentations differ in the degree of difficulty for the user. When faced
with a choice in the presentation of a set of relational data, for instance, the presentation system
should choose the approach with the lowest perceptual cost; a presentation may be composed of
many inter-related sets of data, and the final result will be a composition of many presentations of
different perceptual costs, optimized along a cost-benefit trade-off continuum.

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Attention: Getting It and Keeping It

There are different, conventionalized ways of getting, directing and holding people's attention in
different presentation media. Type setters have long relied upon the use of alternate fonts, varying in
size and style in relation with the nature and importance of the information they are being used to
convey. Newspapers regularly employ colour to highlight important stories in spite of the significant
additional dollar cost over single-tone print. Good speakers are marked by their ability to highlight
important parts of their verbal presentations with carefully timed emphases: judicious application of
pitch, timbre, volume, etc., makes the difference between a roomful of sleepy people looking for the
door, and a group of listeners. ``The lighting designer uses elements like colour, intensity and
direction to illuminate the action and its environment and to focus our attention on key areas and
events.'' All these techniques anticipate the ranking of perceptual tasks referred to above, and
represent an alternate, ecological source of data for design, in the absence of a mature neuroscience.
These approaches work and go mostly unnoticed because the intended listeners are engaged in a
mutual interchange, a discourse, a context which permits the speaker to make certain assumptions
about their beliefs. For instance, it is legitimate most of the time for a speaker to assume that his
listeners have a certain interest in the subject matter, or they would not have bothered to come, and
the author or designer of a book may make similar assumptions which license the use of the
attention-getting and attention-directing (highlighting) approaches referred to above. Conventions in
natural language discourse as well as in pictorial presentations are powerful design and recognition
guidelines, but these assumptions should not be taken too far: people leave lectures and readers do
put down technical reports from time to time.
The Key Steps to an Effective Presentation

The central purpose of any presentation, written, oral or visual, is communication. To communicate
effectively, you must state your facts in a simple, concise and interesting manner. It is proven that
the people learn more readily and retain more information when learning is reinforced by
visualization. You can entertain, inform, excite and even shock an audience by the proper integration
of visual images into virtually any exchange of information. Meetings which might normally be
considered dull, or a chore to be avoided, can be transformed into exciting productions that grab the
attention of the viewers. This kind of presentation maximizes the audience retention of the subject
matter. The phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" has existed since the New York Post
discovered the value of visuals in the news business. This remains true to this day. Simple, clear,
concise visual images, briskly paced and sprinkled with attention-grabbing graphics will lend support

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to your spoken words. This leaves your audience with a positive attitude toward you and your
product, service or proposal. Visuals in business should be used in support of the spoken or written
word, and not in lieu of it. A well-developed concept and effective script are the essential elements
of any presentation. Regardless of their form, they should be the first and most important phase of its
development. When the concept begins to take final form, the visuals are developed around it.
This is not to imply that A-V design should be placed near the end of the project. You must begin
mentally planning your visuals at the beginning of the design process. Hastily designed and produced
visuals can doom a presentation (and a presenter,) where well planned and executed images add
tremendous strength. Concepts that are difficult to grasp can be communicated quickly and easily
through the intelligent use of professionally produced visuals. This allows you the freedom to
communicate more complex subject matter in a more efficient manner, adding support and impact to
your script.
Finally, your presentation should be entertaining. Leave the audience feeling better and more relaxed
when they leave and that impression will carry over to both your subject matter and yourself. There
is no logical reason that the presentation of routine sales figures and financial reports should not be
as exciting as the unveiling of a new product or a first rate service proposal.
1. Know Your Subject Matter

While this first point may seem obvious, it is very important that you research every nuance of your
subject. Read reports and look up information about the subject with the specific purpose of writing a
presentation script. When examined in this light, new ideas and alternative ways of thinking often
develop. The ability to present a subject with confidence directly affects your audience's impressions
and will help keep their attention.
This is especially important when giving a design presentation or proposal since you are in effect
“selling” your ideas to the audience. This applies whether the audience is a potential client or your
own board of directors.
2. Know Your Audience

A small amount of research into the makeup of your audience will reap large benefits on presentation
day. If you were travelling about speaking on behalf of a new construction project you would tailor
vastly different presentations to an audience of engineers and a city council. You should also have a

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couple of other versions for local community activist groups. (depending on whether they're for or
against the project)
3. Know Yourself (And Your Limits)

We all must push our limits and willingly bite off more than we may be comfortable swallowing on
occasion -- this is how we learn and grow. Knowing a few of your limits, however, might avert
disaster, or at least embarrassment. Intimately related to Know Your Audience above, your 'limits' are
just where you may or may not tread, depending on the makeup of your audience and your
relationship with them.
4. Develop A Theme
All presentations, regardless of their complexity, are designed with a single purpose. Whether that
purpose is to sell, educate, or for pure entertainment, state that purpose to yourself at the beginning
of the development process. Keep this purpose in mind always.
5. Prepare Your Script

The script does not necessarily have to be a work of literary excellence. For some, simple notes on 3
x 5 file cards are sufficient. Other presenters and presentations require a carefully composed,
professionally developed script. The exact form of the script depends on the formality of the
presentation, the make up of the audience and who will be presenting it. Any presentation script,
regardless of complexity is like any other business correspondence. It should consist of the same four
basic parts, an opening, body, summary and closing.
• THE OPENING: - The opening of the presentation sets the stage for what is to follow.
Participants are introduced and the purpose of the presentation is stated. You should also
present a VERY BRIEF summary or outline of the points to be covered. This helps keep
your audience oriented properly within the framework of your script.
• BODY: - This is the part of the script in which the bulk of the subject matter is presented.
The body of a long presentation should be separated into smaller, easily assimilated
modules. Each module or sub-section should make a single point or convey one idea.
These sub-sections should each have their own simple opening, body and summary.
• SUMMARY: - This portion should be very brief and simple. Here is your chance to
reinforce the central theme and purpose of your presentation. Briefly emphasize the key
points and main ideas of your script in this section.
Question and answer sessions often follow a final summary and are very productive if
managed properly. You should encourage questions from the audience if time or format permits, but

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be prepared to answer them. If you do not know the correct answer to a question, don't try to fake it.
You should refer the question to someone who can answer it correctly or make a note to yourself to
obtain the answer later. When you do, contact the person or persons who asked it as soon as possible.
This makes an excellent door opener for follow up calls.
• CLOSING: - In a well structured closing, points raised during the question and answer
session (if any) are summarized and any handout material that was not required during the
presentation is distributed. Handout material which emphasizes each key point or idea
permits your audience to review the subject and assures that your words will remain fresh
in their minds. Handout material should not be distributed before a presentation unless it
is critical to the theme since it invariably leads to audience distraction.
6. Select The Proper Visual Aids

With the script developed and the audience research completed, this decision should be simple. A
five minute presentation to a three person audience is probably best made with handout material
alone, or even simple flip charts. Larger audiences might be effectively reached by using a few
simple overhead transparencies. Major presentations at annual meetings, trade shows, sales
conferences, and presentations to stockholders or client proposals might still dictate an all out effort
with professionally produced special effects, video and all manner of glitz and expense.
Good presentation visuals, however, do not have to be expensive. When properly planned and
produced, simple, well designed graphics add professionalism and impact to virtually any show. The
proper use of text images, charts and graphs as well as the correct type of chart or graph to use in
various circumstances is the subject of another article in this series. I will, however, touch on a few
of the deadly design sins of presentation visuals a bit later.
7. Prepare A Story Board

A story board does not have to be complicated or time consuming to prepare. Its main purpose is to
give a general view of the presentation and communicate the important items to the technicians and
artists who are creating and assembling the images.
You can make your story board using file cards and post- it notes, or opt for a comprehensive colour
story board, prepared by professional designers. Changes at the story board level are relatively
inexpensive since no images have been produced. During the story board phase you can rehearse the
script and easily rearrange, revise, delete from and add to your presentation. When your story board

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reaches final form it becomes the finished draft for your presentation. This is one of the most
important design tools used to produce your graphics.
The final story board should consist of a sketch of each individual image, in sufficient detail to
convey its approximate finished appearance. If more detailed instructions are needed to create an
image than can be clearly conveyed on the story board, individual layout sheets should be prepared.
These sheets should specify colours, formats, fonts and values for graphs and charts. If specific
artwork or photographs must be used in an image, they should be clearly indicated on the story board
or layout sheet for that image.
8. Produce The Visuals

If the previous steps have been carefully followed, this can be the easiest part of preparing your
presentation. With careful, timely planning, the only task remaining is mechanical process of
production. The complete and accurate planning that you have done to this point assures a smooth
production cycle without the need for unnecessary last minute changes. This is true whether you use
Magic Markers to prepare flip charts on a newsprint pad or require a nine projector slide presentation
with live video. Today's computer graphics products permit you to make changes and alterations that
could not be accomplished using any other method of production. While last minute changes are
possible, avoiding them can still help cut the cost of your presentation by eliminating revision and
rush fees.
9. Rehearse--Rehearse--Rehearse
Your final script and outline or story board permit you to rehearse your presentation even before the
visuals are completed. This assures that when your final images are prepared and ready, you will be
as well. If you'd like to really test your mettle, drag out the camcorder and tape your rehearsal. Just
keep in mind, no one expects you to be Winston Churchill.
10. Presentation Day

On the day of the presentation, arrive and set up early. Have spare projector bulbs and extra copies of
the handout material close at hand. You have your visuals, you are well rehearsed, the room is set up
and the participants are all prepared. Speak clearly and with authority. A little humour if tastefully
added can help break the tension of the moment. There should be no surprises. Make certain that the
audience questions have been addressed, and of course, thank everyone for attending.

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11. Follow Up
Check back with the attendants and participants to assure that your presentation goals were met. A
questionnaire distributed at the end of your presentation can be a source of critical information for
follow up calls or future presentations. Encourage the attendants to call or write with any questions
that they did not get answered during the presentation.
Deadly Sins of Visual Presentation

The Illegible Image: Images not clearly seen by the entire audience add confusion and distraction. If
you have to say "I know you can't read this but.....," why include the visual at all? The more eagle-
eyed viewers may take exception to this attack on their literacy while others are attempting to see
what is on the screen. While straining to read the visual, they cannot be expected to be paying full
attention to what is being said.
One popular rule of thumb is the "8H" rule of legibility. In a nutshell, if you can read an image from
eight times its height, odds are your audience will be able to read it when projected. As an
example.... You have a flip chart which is 2 feet high. If you can read the chart from 16 feet away,
that chart will probably be legible when converted to a slide or overhead transparency. 35 millimetre
slides are about an inch in height. If you can read a slide from 8 inches distance, that slide will be
legible under most presentation conditions.
The Useless Image: Images should be designed to please the mind as well as the eye of the viewer.
If an image has no specific place or purpose in a presentation other than "it is pretty", it should
probably be removed.
The Overly Complex Image: More images with fewer ideas on each are better than a few images
which are complicated or difficult to understand. A single idea or set of facts per image, timed to the
speaker's pace will add punch and emphasis to each important idea assuring maximum retention.
Most people are easily bored, and one generally accepted rule of thumb states that if an image
remains on the screen longer than 7 to 10 seconds, you begin to lose viewer attention.
Chartjunk: Closely related to the previous deadly sin, "chartjunk" is a phrase coined to identify
confusing elements which really have no place on the image. Many presenters insist on having a
glaring coloured logo in the corner of every image. While a common element can add continuity to a

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presentation, blazing logos and distracting objects can detract from the message -- after all, isn't the
message what it's all about?
Chartoons: A first cousin to chartjunk, "chartoons" are overly cute attempts to make a presentation
appear more professional by adding lots of distracting, tacky, aggravating symbols and such. These
usually appear right after a presenter has discovered a clip art library.
Ransom Note Design: Just because you have access to 35 fonts does not mean that you are required
to use them. A single font throughout an entire presentation is usually quite sufficient. Use bold,
italic, underline, quotations and/or colour changes to emphasize or subdue key points or words.
Calico or Crazy Quilt Graphics: Keep the colours to a minimum. A single background colour
throughout a presentation lends an air of continuity. You can separate broad sections of a
presentation by changing background colours, but keep the changes to a minimum. Unless your
purpose is to shock or grab serious attention, try to keep all background colours within the same
colour family.
Mixed Visual Metaphors: You should not mix your metaphors when you speak, so please don't mix
them in your graphics without specific purpose. You would not use warm colours in an image whose
subject was ice hockey unless you wanted to emphasize the warm comfortable environment of the
arena.
How to Make a Good Presentation

• Do use PowerPoint if the facilities are available. Although some speakers seem to have taken an
aversion to PowerPoint, it is so convenient and ensures that your presentation has a clear
structure and something for your listeners to take away.
• Be very clear about how much time you have - and stick to that time in preparing your
presentation. It's very difficult to 'cut' a PowerPoint presentation at the event itself, so it's a great
mistake to run out of time. Most presenters prepare too much material; but nobody ever
complains that a presentation was too short (it always allows more time for questions).
• Be very clear about your key message - and ensure that everything in your presentation is both
consistent with, and supportive of, that key message. You should be able to articulate the
message in a phrase or a sentence and indeed you might want to use that phrase or sentence in
one of your first slides, or one of your last, or even both.

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• E-mail your presentation to the event organisers in advance. Ask them to load it onto a
laptop, run it through, check that it looks fine, and confirm that with you. Then you don't have to
worry about the technology when you arrive at the venue; you can concentrate on the delivery of
your material. Also it enables the event's organisers to run off copies of your slides, so that they
are available to them in good time.
• The first slide should announce the title of your presentation, the event and date, and your
name and position. This may seem terribly obvious, but many speakers miss off some of this
basic information and then weeks later listeners (or their colleagues back at the organisation) are
not clear who made the presentation or when. You should try to make the title catchy, so that you
immediately have the interest of your audience. A challenging question works well - for instance,
a presentation on the global economic crisis might ask: "Is this the end of capitalism as we've
known it?" Or a play on words works too - for example, a presentation on next generation
broadband could be titled "The Slow Arrival Of Fast Broadband".
• The second slide should seize the attention of your audience for your presentation. It could be
the central proposition of your presentation or a conventional wisdom that you wish to challenge
or a relevant or witty quote from a leader in your field. If it is amusing or controversial or both,
so much the better.
• The third slide should set out the structure of your presentation. The default structure should
consist of three themes that you intend to examine. For a very short presentation, there might
only be time for two; if you want to look at more than five areas, write a book instead.
• Each theme should be the subject of a small number of slides. Again, a good working
assumption is that three slides for each theme is about right. Less than two and it isn't substantive
enough to be a separate theme; more than five and it should probably be broken up into two
themes.
• Each slide should have clear heading. A question is often a good way of winning attention -
but, in that case, make sure you answer the question in the body of the slide.
• Each slide should normally contain around 25-35 words, unless it is a quote (when you might
use more) or contains an illustration (when you will probably use less). Too many words and
your audience will have trouble reading the material; too few words and you're likely to be
flashing through the slides and spending too much time clicking the mouse.
• Each bullet point should consist of an intelligible phrase, rather than merely a word or two
that is meaningless on its own or conversely a complete sentence that is better delivered orally.
So, for instance, do use "Focus on profitable and growing markets" rather than simply "Focus"
or "Markets" or "It is necessary to focus on those markets which are profitable and growing

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rather than those which are loss-making and declining". Consider this test: your slides should
make sense and be useful to someone who was not present at your presentation.
• Make appropriate use of pictures. It's a good idea to break up text with illustrations and it is
true that a picture is worth a thousand words.
• The last slide should set out all appropriate contact details: certainly e-mail address and
possibly snail mail address, the web site of your organisation, and any personal website or web
log if you have one.
• Make copies of your slides available. It is a matter of preference whether you do this at the
beginning of your presentation or at the end. If your listeners have copies at the beginning, they
can take notes simply by annotating the slides, instead of having to note down all the information
on the slides. On the other hand, you might feel that, if they can see in advance the slides you are
going to use, you lose the element of control or surprise. It might depend on the content of the
presentation: if you are going to show detailed tables or graphs with lots of figures, your
audience will probably find it easier to have a copy on their lap. It might depend on the
circumstances of the presentation: if there is a large audience, people at the back may not be able
to see the screen clearly and would really appreciate having copies of the slides.
Most Common Presentation Mistakes

What presentation mistakes are sure-fire ways to put your audience to sleep or send them running for
the doors? Even the best presentation can be destroyed by a bad presenter -- from the person who
mumbles, to the one who talks too fast, to the one who just wasn’t prepared. But perhaps nothing is
as irritating as the person who misuses and abuses presentation software.
1. Presentation Mistake #1 - You Don't Know Your Topic!

You memorized the content (and it shows, by the way). Someone has a question. Panic sets in. You
never prepared for questions and all you know about this topic is what is written on the slides.
A better scenario
Know your material so well, that you could easily do the presentation without an electronic
enhancement such as PowerPoint. Nothing will ruin your credibility as a presenter faster, than not
knowing everything about your topic. Use key words and phrases and include only essential
information to keep the audience focused and interested. Be prepared for questions and know the
answers.
2. Presentation Mistake #2 - The Slides Are NOT Your Presentation

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An audience member says that she can't read the slides. You graciously tell her you will be reading
them and proceed to do so, while looking up at the screen. Each of your slides in filled with the text
of your speech. Why do they need you?
A better scenario
Always remember that you are the presentation. The slide show should only be used as an
accompaniment to your talk. Simplify the content, by using bullet points for key information. Keep
the most important points near the top of the slide for easy reading in the back rows. Focus on a
single topic area for this presentation and use no more than four bullets per slide. Speak to the
audience, not to the screen.
3. Presentation Mistake #3 - T. M. I. (Too Much Information)

You know so much about the topic, that you jump from here to there and back again talking about
everything there is to know about your brand new widget, and no one can follow the thread of the
presentation.
A better scenario
Use the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Silly Simple) when designing a presentation. Stick to three, or at
the most, four points about your topic and expound on them. The audience will be more likely to
retain the information.
4. Presentation Mistake #4 - Poorly Chosen Design Template or Design Theme

You heard blue was a good color for a design template or design theme. You found a really cool
template/theme on the internet, with a beach scene. Water is blue, right? Unfortunately, your
presentation is about some nifty new tools to show at a Woodcarvers’ convention.
A better scenario
Choose a design that is appropriate for the audience. A clean, straightforward layout is best for
business presentations. Young children respond to presentations that are full of color and contain a
variety of shapes.
5. Presentation Mistake #5 - Electrifying Color Choices

Audiences don't like unusual color combinations. Some are unsettling and red and green combos
can't be differentiated by those with color blindness.

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A better scenario
Good contrast with the background is essential to make your text easy to read.
• Dark text on a light background is best. Off white or light beige is easier on the eyes than the
typical white. Dark backgrounds are very effective, if the text is light for easy reading.
• Patterned or textured backgrounds make text hard to read.
• Keep the color scheme consistent.
6. Presentation Mistake #6 - Poor Font Choices

Small, script type fonts might look great when you are sitting 18 inches away from the monitor. You
didn't consider the lady sitting 200 feet away from the screen who can't read them.
A better scenario
Stick to easy to read fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman. Avoid script type fonts which are
hard to read on screen. Use no more than two different fonts – one for headings, another for content
and no less than a 30 pt font so that people at the back of the room can read them easily.
7. Presentation Mistake #7 - Extraneous Photos and Graphs

You figured no one will notice that you didn't do much research on your topic if you add lots of
photos and complicated looking graphs.
A better scenario
“Time is Money” is really true in today's world. No one wants to waste their time sitting through a
presentation with no substance. Use photos, charts and diagrams only to emphasize key points of
your presentation. They add a nice break to the material, and when used correctly, can only enhance
your oral presentation. Illustrate, don't decorate.
8. Presentation Mistake #8 - W-A-Y Too Many Slides

Your vacation cruise was so fantastic that you took 500 photos, and put them all in a digital photo
album to impress your friends. After the first 100 slides, snores were heard in the room.
A better scenario
Ensure your audience stays focused by keeping the number of slides to a minimum. 10 to 12 is
plenty. Some concessions can be made for a photo album, since most pictures will be on screen for
only a short time. Be kind though. Think how much you enjoy everyone else’s vacation pictures!

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9. Presentation Mistake #9 - Different Animations on Every Slide
You found all the really cool animations and sounds and used 85% of them in your presentation, to
impress everyone with your flair. Except -- the audience doesn’t know where to look, and have
totally lost the message of your presentation.
A better scenario
Animations and sounds, used well, can heighten interest, but don't distract the audience with too
much of a good thing. Design your presentation with the "less is more” philosophy. Don't let your
audience suffer from animation overload.
10. Presentation Mistake #10 - Hardware Malfunctions

The audience is settled. You are all set to start your presentation and - guess what? The projector
doesn't work. You didn’t bother to check it out earlier.
A better scenario
Check all the equipment and rehearse your presentation, using this projector long before your time to
present. Carry an extra projector bulb. If possible, check the lighting in the room you will be
presenting in, prior to your time in the limelight. Make sure you know how to dim the lights if the
room is too bright.
How to Design a Bad Presentation

If you've ever prepared a presentation, chances are you've used (or considered using) a slideshow.
Whether conducted via old-fashioned slides, transparencies, or on software such as OpenOffice
Impress or Microsoft PowerPoint, a good slideshow can enhance your presentations, allowing you to
underscore key points and support your statements with visual aids such as charts and graphs. A
poorly created slideshow presentation, however, can often have the opposite effect, leaving your
audience confused, apathetic, or even frustrated with the topic at hand. Fortunately, designing a
compelling, understandable slide presentation isn't rocket science — if you recognize what elements
to include and which to leave out. The next time you need to whip up a compelling presentation,
remember to avoid the following common (but easily remedied) blunders.
1. Jam As Much Information Into The Slides As Possible

If you don't have a lot of experience creating presentations, you may assume that the more
information you include, the more your audience will learn and retain. This is often not the case.

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Taking a less-is-more approach when deciding how much information to include is frequently
the most effective choice, according to Andy Goodman, author of the book “Why Bad Presentations
Happen to Good Causes”. "Most people walking out of a presentation are only going to remember a
handful of things," said Goodman. "If you overwhelm them, they're going to tune out and turn off,
and you've lost them."
Goodman suggests focusing a presentation's information on three to five main points. He also
recommends that each slide focus on one primary idea, along with key supporting points. "I don't
like to overburden the slides with too much content," said Goodman. "And really, the whole point of
a slide is to be a support for the presenter."
2. Avoid The Use Of Visuals

When creating your presentation, taking an all-text, all-the-time approach causes your
audience's attention to wander. Instead, spice up your presentation by including a few judiciously
placed photos or graphics.
Images can lend an element of visual appeal, but avoid using them gratuitously. Select only
those graphics that relate to or support your main points. If you're giving a presentation on homeless
people's rights, for example, photos of your constituents will be a much more powerful visual aid
than clip art of flowers.
Also avoid adding too many images to a single slide or placing them haphazardly.
PowerPoint and Impress come with a number of pre-designed templates with well-placed slots for
photos, charts, and other graphics. If you have limited design experience, you may wish to use these
templates to create your presentation or as reference guides for a custom design.
3. Use Plenty Of Animations — Just Because You Can

While animations can be fun, too many flashing icons may overwhelm your audience or steal
the spotlight from key information. As with images, use animations sparingly and judiciously.
Animations are useful to a presentation when they help control the flow of information, said
Goodman. For example, an animation could reveal the contents of a diagram or chart bit by bit,
helping your audience focus on how information has changed over time.
Animations can also be an effective tool when they help add context, adds Goodman. "If you
have a quote from a book and you [use an animation to] show the book cover, then the quote literally
slides out of the book to suggest that the quote comes from the book. That's animation to convey
meaning."
4. Use Transitions Arbitrarily

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Though audiences are most accustomed to straight cuts between slides, Goodman says, the
use of transitions can sometimes help an audience better understand a presentation's structure. For
example, PowerPoint's "Fade Through Black" transition, which dissolves a slide to black before
bringing up another, can be used to denote the introduction of a new topic, Goodman said. "[The
Fade Through Black transition] gives a sense to the room that one subject has ended and another
subject is beginning," Goodman noted.
5. Use Tiny, Hard-To-Read Fonts

Because your audience will most likely be viewing your presentation from a distance, make
sure that the text size is large enough for them to read. As a general rule of thumb, Goodman
suggests using font sizes of 20 points and larger, though he explains that the size of your audience,
room, and projection screen should be taken into consideration.
Slides may also be easier to read from a distance if you use sans serif rather than serif
typefaces, which are more ornamental. Sans serif fonts found in PowerPoint and Impress includes
Arial (the default font for both programs), Century Gothic, and Verdana.
6. Choose Colour Schemes At Random

Hot pink and baby blue might be your two personal favourites, but that doesn't mean they're
the right colour choice for your presentation. Not only can incompatible font and background colours
detract from a presentation's credibility, they can also make it illegible.
Using light-coloured text on dark backgrounds and vice versa will help you achieve a
desirable level of contrast and readability. If you're unsure where to begin, start with PowerPoint's
design templates, which choose the colours for you. These colours can further be customized with
PowerPoint's built-in Colour Schemes tool, which lets you apply a few sets of background and text
colours to individual slides or to the entire presentation.
7. Don't Proofread
A slideshow riddled with typos, misspellings, and grammatical errors can cause you and your
organization to look unprofessional. Before you finalize your presentation, check each slide for
punctuation, missing words or characters, and usage and agreement problems. After you've manually
proofread your work, you may want to double-check your spelling by using the slide application's
built-in spellchecking tool.
8. Forget the feedback

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Keep in mind that your presentation means nothing if your audience doesn't understand it.
Enlist a friend or colleague to review or watch your presentation and give you feedback on its design,
structure, layout, and tone. A fresh pair of eyes may be better able to spot errors or inconsistencies
you, as the author, may have overlooked.
How to Deliver a Bad Presentation

If you've been working at a nonprofit for any period of time, chances are you've endured at least one
— and possibly quite a few — boring or irritating presentations. Regardless of whether the presenter
mumbled, fidgeted, or simply failed to keep the audience's attention, bad presentations can waste
time, cost money, and even damage reputations. Yet even if you have minimal public-speaking
experience, you can still give an effective, interesting presentation. Half the battle is simply not
engaging in the behaviors that can turn audiences off. By avoiding the following all-too-common
mistakes, you'll be well on your way to a successful, informative presentation.
1. Skip The Practice Sessions

Even if you know your subject matter like the back of your hand or have given dozens of similar
talks, it's still a good idea to walk through your presentation a few times before you take it in front of
a crowd. Practicing your presentation out loud — preferably in front of a friend, colleague, video
camera, or even a mirror — can help you troubleshoot all aspects of your speech. Use this practice
time to make sure your projector works, your voice can be heard from the back of the room, and that
your talk doesn't run overtime. A dry run can also help you perfect your body language and tone,
which studies have shown can have just as much of an impact on your audience as the actual content
of your presentation.
If you are using an overhead projector or other visuals, make a note card for each slide outlining
supporting information for the main points you plan to address. Don't write out your entire speech
word-for-word on note cards, however; the notes are merely there to keep your speech focused and
organized and to provide a safety net should you lose your train of thought.
2. Read From Your Slides Verbatim

While presentation slides can help visually highlight the main points of your talk, one major
presentation faux pas is reading directly from those slides without adding any additional information.
In fact, reading directly from a slide is the most common slipup presenters make, according to Andy
Goodman, author of the book, “Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes.” "Everywhere I go,

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when I ask people 'What's the number one problem you have with presenters?'" said Goodman.
"Reading the slide always comes back, without fail."
Instead of repeating exactly what you've written, elaborate on the slide's main ideas with additional,
contextual information. Otherwise, your audience may wonder why your presentation was even
necessary. "If all you're doing is reading points of the slide," said Goodman, "then why not just print
out the slides, hand them to people, and call the whole meeting off?"
3. Stare At Your Notes, Handouts, Or The Floor

While you will need to glance at your notes periodically to keep your speech on track, try to keep
your head up and facing the audience as much as possible. Facing the audience not only helps you
make eye contact with individual members, it also allows you to project your voice, which will come
in especially handy if no microphone is available.
4. Speak In Monotone
If you want to keep your audience engaged and excited about your presentation, your tone of voice
needs to convey a similar enthusiasm. After all, how can an audience stay interested in your
presentation if you sound bored with it?
To avoid speaking in monotone, try talking to your audience in a conversational style; pretend that
instead of talking to a group of people, you are chatting with just one person. Even if your subject
matter is dry, maintaining a lively tone of voice will help ensure that you don't make matters duller.
5. Talk Really Fast, Then Really Slowly

While varying the tone of your voice can help keep your audience from nodding off during your
presentation, you will probably want to maintain a fairly consistent rhythm to your speech. If you
speak too quickly, your audience may mishear or misinterpret you. And if you talk too slowly or
interject your presentation with too many pauses, "ums," or "ers," your audience may lose patience
or confidence in you and start to zone out. For maximum effectiveness, strive for a happy medium; if
you're unsure where your speech falls, this is a good time to get a second opinion or to record and
play back your delivery.
6. Assume Your Audience Knows As Much As You Do

If you designed and created a slideshow for your presentation using a program such as OpenOffice
Impress or Microsoft PowerPoint, all of the information probably makes complete sense — at least

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to you. Your audience, however, may be only vaguely familiar with or even brand new to the
subject.
Make sure your audience understands why the topic at hand is important. Give potentially confusing
points context by providing background information; find a way to relate new concepts to something
your audience is already familiar with. Take care, however, not to overburden your audience with too
much information; otherwise, you may take focus off of your main subject and risk derailing your
presentation.
7. Take Questions At The End Of Your Presentation Only

An effective presentation is less about lecturing your audience and more about engaging them.
Therefore, give participants a few moments to ask for clarification, raise additional points, or provide
input that other audience members may find useful. One mistake that many presenters make is
waiting until the end of the presentation to take questions from the audience, according to Goodman.
He suggests that presenters instead hold the question-and-answer period after they've given the bulk
of their presentation, then devote the last couple of minutes to a prepared closing statement.
"You want to start strong and you want to end strong," said Goodman, "because the things they [the
audience] are going to remember the most are when you first walked into the room and when you
said goodbye." Goodman notes that because some audience members may ask questions that are off-
topic, nonsensical, or even hostile, ending your presentation with the question-and-answer period
puts you at risk for leaving a bad final impression.
8. Fail To Have A Backup Plan

Technical difficulties are a fact of life, and if you believe in Murphy's Law, your big presentation
will fall on the same day that every electronic device in your building acquires some bizarre quirk. In
case of power failures, equipment malfunctions, and other unforeseen snags, have a backup plan.
Bring visuals and other support materials that don't require the use of an electrical outlet.
This kind of backup can be especially helpful if you're giving the presentation using unfamiliar
equipment; if for some reason, you can't get your new slide projector to work, you can hand out
printed copies or give your presentation using a whiteboard. If you're giving a presentation in another
location, call ahead to find out what materials (dry-erase board, markers) they have that you could
use in the event of a technical glitch.

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Hints for Making a Good Presentation
1. Make sure that your talk is of a reasonable length. Remember that adrenaline makes you talk
more/longer, not less - so "when in doubt about including slides, leave them out." Make sure that
you are not making more than two main points for each slide (i.e., practice enough to have a firm
grasp of points to be presented and do not digress from these major points). Practice enough so
that the talk is consistently 10 mins. in length. Focus your talk on a few main points/observations
that people will remember; do not attempt to cover too much ground.
2. Arrange your talk so that it moves sequentially and does not need any backing up to previous
slides. Practice enough to know what slide is coming next.
3. Your talk should have a beginning (objectives), middle (observations) and end (how observations
fit objectives of study). Because of time constraints, labelled slides like titles, conclusions,
acknowledgements etc. may not be possible to include. Keep it simple: make simple points using
simple graphics. Avoid cluttered graphics with lots of text, complex legends, etc. Visibility
because of the room and large group will be restricted in the back.
4. The room will be very full of people therefore it is critical that you face the audience to project
your voice so it can reach the back of the room. Maintain this loud voice throughout the talk (i.e.,
sometimes people will talk softer as the talk progresses). Do not talk facing the screen because no
one will hear you.
5. When you begin its best to have a period with the lights on when you make "eye contact" with
the audience to say: The objectives of this talk are to present...." Maintain that eye contact
throughout the talk. Only glance at screen to remind yourself what is there.
6. For PowerPoint presentations, make sure that you have your PowerPoint presentation labelled
clearly and loaded onto the PC.
7. Make sure you are confident in running the PowerPoint from the front of the room - can reverse,
view all slides, etc. Questions sometimes require that you go back to a slide.
8. There will be a laser pointer; use this only to point to specific features (i.e., do not leave on and
wave around). If your hand is shaking, use both hands to steady it.
9. Please dress appropriately. (This can help increase your confidence and speaking ability).
10. Do not feel shy about asking questions to the other presenters, participating in discussions, and
introducing yourselves to visitors.

193

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Professional Practice in Information Technology

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Professional

Part I – Information Technology Professionalism

2. Privacy & Confidentiality 24

3. Legal, Ethical & Intellectual Property Issues 29

4. Computer Crime & Fraud 45

5. Professional Issues & Professional Bodies 58

6. Information Technology & Society 73

Part II – Information Technology Practices

8. Quality Management Process 82

9. Emerging Technologies & Current Issues 91

10. Principles of Team Work 124

11. Job Application Process 141

12. Making a Successful Presentation 164

Table 1: Examples of Data and Information

Payroll System Sales Ledger System

Raw Data Rate of pay, hours Customer Sales, customer

Information Pay slip, report for Balance owing statements,

4. Timeliness. The information should be communicated in time to be used.

8. Communicated by an appropriate channel of communication. To be used by the manager,

9. Communication involves the interchangeable of facts, thoughts, vale judgment and

Primary vs. Secondary Sources

Books vs. Periodicals

Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly

Reference vs. General Collection

Print vs. Electronic

Library Databases vs. the Public Web

Content: Library Databases vs. Public Web

Features: Library Databases vs. Public Web

Library databases Public web

Credibility of material Generally high Varies widely

Level of resources Mostly scholarly Mostly popular

Availability of full-text Moderate High

Search capabilities Sophisticated Simple

Keyword vs. Subject Searching

Keyword or Subject Search?

Comparisons of Keywords and Subject searches

Using Subject searches

Alternatives means of identifying subject headings

Signs of a Credible Source:

Signs of a credible author

Signs of a credible publisher

Signs of a credible referring source

What could go wrong?

How to avoid it:

What to look for! - Time-Sensitive Research:

Signs suggesting bias

The Cautious Researcher Should

Evaluating Resources Worksheet

Penn's Plagiarism Policy

This paraphrase fails for two reasons:

Example of a paraphrase with a citation that is still plagiarism

Examples of Common Knowledge

Examples of statements expressing common knowledge:

Examples of statements that don't express common knowledge:

Copyright potentially extends to:

Documentation and Copyright

Some people believe that it is permissible to use a work if an acknowledgment or citation is

Limits of Copyright and the Public Domain

Works that are not protected by copyright:

Works that have not been 'fixed'

Works with Expired Copyright

The Foundation of Computer and Information Ethics

Defining Computer Ethics

Some questions in computer ethics