VV076 Ethics and Information Technology

Faculty of Informatics
Spring 2022
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Tomáš Foltýnek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Bc. Jakub Judiny (assistant)
Bc. Martina Kozlová (assistant)
Mgr. Jan Kvapil (assistant)
Denisa Lakoštíková (assistant)
Adam Mydla (assistant)
Bc. Samuel Nadrchal (assistant)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Tomáš Foltýnek, Ph.D.
Department of Computer Science – Faculty of Informatics
Supplier department: Department of Computer Science – Faculty of Informatics
Timetable
Wed 16. 2. to Wed 11. 5. Wed 12:00–13:50 A217
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 1/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
To acquaint students with ethical problems associated with information technology, ethical dilemmas, and ways to solve them. The course deals with ethical issues related to the collection, storage, processing, and presentation of data and information, algorithms to support decision-making, and their social overlap.
Learning outcomes
The ability to identify problems related to information technology ethics and the ability to analyze these problems in a structured way. The ability to solve moral dilemmas related to information technology, including a thorough argumentation of the chosen solution. The ability to debate moral dilemmas, understand opponents' opinions, and be able to accept them, or deal with them in an argument.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction to ethics: Basic concepts: Ethics, morality, values, virtues Moral dilemma, Discussion of moral dilemmas: Debate and dialogue
  • 2. Ethical data handling: How to produce and collect data ethically? Who owns the data? Surveillance capitalism
  • 3. Bias in algorithms: Ethical aspects of data transformation into information and knowledge, Ethical aspects of data presentation
  • 4. Media manipulation and misinformation on the Internet: Consequences of poor quality, misleading and hateful content on the Internet, How can information technology prevent or limit the spread of misinformation?
  • 5. Information filtering and censorship: When can information filtering be considered ethical? New Great Wall of China, The right to be forgotten in the EU
  • 6. Ethical aspects of social media and news servers: Positive and negative content and its attractiveness, Pay-per-click and social responsibility
  • 7. Crowdsourcing of knowledge; Wikipedia: Why to trust and why not to trust Wikipedia?
  • 8. Internet and copyright: "Remix" culture, Public domain and Creative commons licence, Plagiarism issues
  • 9. Access to scientific results and their use: Open access and open data, Predatory journals, their connection with open access and implications for science, Possible consequences of the use of scientific results by lay people
  • 10. Anonymity online: Anonymity, pseudonymity, Abuse of anonymity for harassment, Anonymous payments
  • 11. Information technologies for prevention and detection of unethical behavior: Plagiarism detection, Proctoring systems, Blockchain
  • 12. Professional ethics in IT: What does "being a good IT professional" mean?, Ethical issues in IT design and development
Teaching methods
Lectures
Assessment methods
Active participation in lectures is expected, ie prior acquaintance with the submitted articles, participation in the discussion, participation in the voting and filling in a short answer to each lecture. The colloquium is awarded for an essay on a chosen topic. The essay can be replaced by a presentation on the topic of the lecture by prior arrangement. Contributions on social media, blogs, etc. that stimulate discussion, including active participation in this discussion, can also be recognized.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2022, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fi/spring2022/VV076