Transcript Ethics at CENS What are the main issues? Where do we stand?

Ethics at CENS
What are the main issues?
Where do we stand?
April 29, 2005
Ethics at CENS
 Agenda:
Introduction
Karen Kim 12 – 12:05 p.m.
What are the ethical issues as identified by NSF
Jennifer Johnson 12:05 – 12:20 p.m.
Group discussions: What are the most urgent
ethical issues for CENS?
Facilitated by Karen Kim 12:20 – 12:45 p.m.
Regroup and discuss/identify two main questions
Karen Kim and Jennifer Johnson 12:45 – 1 p.m.
Ethics at CENS
 Introduction
 Goals of this session:
Review and define a few issues in ethics
Break into groups to discuss what ethical issues are
particularly important for CENS technologies
Decide what ethical concerns will be discussed in depth
at the next ethics meeting in a few months.
Ethics at CENS
What are the ethical issues as identified by
NSF?
NSF Objective
Establish a program of ethics training with
cross-disciplinary and multi-institutional context
of CENS. Topics should include the nature of
research, methodologies used, ownership of
research and ideas, and roles and
responsibilities regarding intellectual property.
Ethics at CENS
Ethics at CENS
Common ethical topics
Authorship
Codes of conduct
Professional responsibility
Intellectual property
Ethics at CENS
 Authorship
Allocation of credit can be an issue in the listing of
author’s names.
Science can be a collaborative enterprise.
Increased collaboration has produced new opportunities
for researchers to work with colleagues at different
stages in their careers, different disciplines, or widely
separated locations (NAS, 1995).
This has increased the possibility for differences to arise
over questions of authorship.
Ethics at CENS
Authorship
Generally, the earlier a name appears in a list of
authors, the greater the implied contribution.
Sometimes a scientist with the greatest name
recognition is listed first.
Some research groups and journals list authors
alphabetically
Ethics at CENS
 Authorship
It is recommended to have frank and open discussion of
the division of credit within research groups as early in
the research process as possible, preferably at the
beginning to prevent later difficulties.
The best practice is for authorship criteria to be explicit
among all collaborators.
Collaborators should be familiar with the conventions in
a particular field to understand their rights and
obligations.
Ethics at CENS
 Authorship
 Considerations need to be weighed in determining the proper
division of credit
 Example: Research assistant and senior scientist.
 “Honorary author” including a name in the list of authors who had
little or nothing to do with the content of the paper.
 Several scientific journals state that a person should only be listed
as an author only if that person made a direct and substantial
contribution to the paper.
 Author listings establish accountability as well as credit.
 An author who is willing to take credit for a paper also must be
willing to bear responsibility for its contents.
Ethics at CENS
Codes of conduct
 Online collection of codes of ethics for different professions:
http://ethics.iit.edu/codes/Introduction.html
 Codes of ethics are controversial documents. Some writers have
suggested that codes of professional ethics are pointless and
unnecessary. Many others believe that codes are useful and
important.
 The adoption of a code is significant for the professionalization of an
occupational group, because it is one of the external hallmarks
testifying to the claim that the group recognizes an obligation to
society that transcends mere economic self-interest.
Ethics at CENS
 Codes of conduct


American Council of Engineering Companies Ethical Guidelines
Adopted October 1980

I. Fundamental Canons
Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:
1. Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public in the
performance of their professional duties.
2. Perform services only in areas of their competence.
3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful
manner.
4. Act in professional matters for each client as faithful agents or
trustees.
5. Avoid improper solicitation of professional assignments.
6. Conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully as
to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.
Ethics at CENS
 Professional responsibility
Scientist have responsibilities to society.
You need to be aware that your work, even the most
fundamental research, can have a great impact on
society.
Some occurrences and consequences of scientific
inquiry can be impossible to foresee.
Science and technology have become such integral
parts of society that scientists cannot isolate themselves
from societal concerns.
 Professional responsibility
Scientists are increasingly called upon to contribute to
public policy and to the public understanding of science.
Scientists have a responsibility to relate scientific
knowledge to society in a way that members of the
public can make an informed decision about the
relevance of research or public policy regarding it.
The core values of scientific enterprise is based on
honesty, skepticism, fairness, collegiality, openness.
Ethics at CENS
 Intellectual Property
 Intellectual property is typically divided into four major areas -- Patent, Copyright,
Trademark, and Trade Secrets -- each of which provides different legal
protection.
 Patent law ensures protection to the inventor(s) of new and useful processes,
machines, manufactured items, compositions of matter, or improvement thereon.
 Essentially, federal patent law provides the owner of an issued patent with the right to
exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention that is "claimed" in the patent.
 Copyright law protects original works created in a tangible format.
 Typical examples of works you may create that are copyrightable are books, journal
articles, videos, other recordings, and computer software.
 Federal copyright law provides the owner of the copyright with the exclusive right to
copy, distribute, perform, and make derivative works.
 Ideas cannot be copyrighted. Only the actual expression of your idea in a fixed form is
protected by copyright law.
Ethics at CENS
Ethics at CENS
 Intellectual property
 Types of Intellectual Property
 There are four basic types of intellectual property, usually categorized on the
basis of the laws governing their use and protection:
 Copyrights: A copyright protects the tangible expression of an idea, not the idea itself
(e.g., a book, a research article, or a videotape).
 Patents: A patent protects the idea and gives the creator the right to exclude others
from using the idea (e.g., a patent may be awarded to anyone who invents a new
machine or a new way of manufacturing something, etc.). In order to receive the patent,
the creator must disclose in detail how to make his invention work and its use.
 Trademarks: A trademark identifies and distinguishes an idea, written words, pictures,
or products from those of competitors (e.g., the Coca Cola script name is a registered
trademark that immediately identifies the product).
 Trade Secrets: A trade secret refers to information that is not publicly known, that
produces economic benefit to the owner, and that the owner maintains as secret.
 Intellectual property
 WHO OWNS YOUR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND WHAT CAN YOU DO
WITH IT?
 UCLA employees signed a Patent Acknowledgement Form that requires you to disclose
to OIPA any potentially patentable invention you create while employed by the
university, whether or not university resources are utilized. See Patent
Acknowledgement Form: www.ucop.edu/ott/patentpolicy/patentac.html
 The rules for copyright are different. Faculty own the copyright in their scholarly works
(such as textbooks and course syllabus), but not in works which are the outcome of
sponsored research or were created using UCLA resources. Copyrightable software
would need to be disclosed to OIPA since it is potentially patentable.
 Although the university owns most patentable inventions and some copyrightable works
created by its faculty and staff, this does not at all mean that such creations are outside
your control. On the contrary, you are in most cases free to use your own research and
to publish results as you deem appropriate.
http://www.ceed.ucla.edu/main.htm
Ethics at CENS
 Issues specific to CENS technology and our
center – BREAK INTO GROUPS FOR
DISCUSSION
Given the issues that were highlighted today, which of
these issues are most relevant to CENS and individual
members within CENS?
In thinking about the ethical issues related to pervasive
computing (such as privacy concerns given that CENS
sensors will be gathering information in public places),
how do you think CENS and individual members of
CENS should address these issues?
Ethics at CENS
Main points from discussion
Key issues to discuss in more depth at
next ethics meeting
Conclusion