Social and Ethical Issues Topic 8 1 Evolution

Social and Ethical Issues Topic 8. 1

Evolution of software applications • Before personal computers: – Software and hardware were intimately linked. – Software applications were written for large military or business organisation. – Hardware and software applications were purchases as a total solution.

Evolution of software applications • Personal computers altered the connection between software and hardware: – Command line GUI Interfaces. – Internet applications (Email, web browsers, search engines, social networking. – Spreadsheets and Presentation software.

Command line and Graphical user interface • Command line interface: – Text based. – Prompts based. – User must be familiar with the syntax ie dir /w. – Who uses them and why? • Web / database servers administrators • Batch processing • More efficient

Command line and Graphical user interface • Graphical user interface: – How it started? • In 1970, team of researcher working with Xerox started the concept of GUI • In 1984, this led to the release of Macintosh. • In 1985 Microsoft released Window with MS DOS CLI interface. • In 1990 Windows 3. 0 was released • In 1991 Windows 3. 1 was released • Windows 95 was the first version of windows without using MS Dos

Internet • How it started? – Network technology behind the internet were first developed in 1970 – The internet as we know came about in 1990. • At this time, it was only used to share files and documents from universities. • GUI was introduced in 1990 to make internet more accessible using World Wide Web Browsers. • Internet Timeline

Internet • Email – The telegraph, morse code and the international telex network all performed some of the same functions as email, but the first email as we know it can be traced back to the 70 s – Email timeline

Internet • Web Browser – The first web browser was developed in 1990. – List of web browsers and timeline

Internet • Search Engines – Search engines timeline

Internet • Social Networking websites – Facebook – Twitter – ….

Spreadsheet and Presentation Softwares • Spreadsheets – Visi. Calc – Lotus 1 -2 -3 – Excel • Presentation Softwares – Power. Point – Slide Shows – ….

Social and Ethical Issues • Social – Friendly companionship – Living together in harmony rather than is isolation (by yourself) • Ethical – Dealing with morals or the principles of morality – The rules or standards for appropriate conduct or practice

Social and Ethical Issues • From the perspective of software design and development, • Social and Ethical Issues refers to the creation and use of software solutions. • Social and Ethical Major Issues include: – Ergonomics – Intellectual Property and Software Licensing – Inclusivity

Ergonomics is the relationship between human workers and their work environment. Ergonomics studies both the short and long term effects of the environment on the worker.

Ergonomics • Aims to create a total environment that caters to the physical, emotional and psychological aspects of the work experience • Ergonomically designed equipment involves the comfort, satisfaction, productivity and health of workers.

Ergonomics – The Injuries • Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) – The most common health issue – Results from performing the same task repeatedly – Affects : - arms, wrists and fingers (most common) – Most common type is CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME.

Ergonomics – The Injuries • General Muscle Strain – occurs when muscles are dynamically exercised beyond their capabilities – Major cause is static posture (sitting in the same spot and way) – Examples • Swimming 2 km • lifting large weights – Common areas affected are: back, neck and shoulders

Ergonomics – The Injuries • Vision Problems – Looking at a screen (monitor) for extended periods of times can cause eyestrain. – Due to the fact that your eyes are not exercising, thus one should look away on a regular basis

Why do people use computers? • Because they make some aspects of life easier! But there are problems associated with using computers? For example, have you ever used a computer and suffered sore eyes? headaches? an aching back? painful wrists? All of these sorts of issues are dealt with by ergonomists (people who study ergonomics). So ergonomists try to design hardware and software which reduces the wear and tear on the human. More than that though, they also aim to design equipment which not only prevents problems, but also enhances productivity, making it even easier for you to complete your work.

Aspects of Design The software designer will consider various aspects of ergonomic design : • Hardware : • Software : • Data : The physical parts of the system and how it interacts with the user The way the programs are operated by the user The way in which data is entered into the system. • Procedures : • Output : The procedures that are used to process the data The way the output is formatted and displayed by the system • Storage : The way the data is stored by the system.

Regulations The legal requirements for the placement and use of computer equipment in the workplace are covered by : • Worksafe Australia • Australian Standard AS 3590. 2

Assessing Risk People could be injured or made sick by things such as: – – – – Noise Light Radiation Toxicity Infection High or low temperatures Electricity Moving or falling things (or people) Flammable or explosive materials Things under tension or pressure (compressed gas or liquid; springs) Any other energy sources or stresses Biohazardous material Laser

Assessing Risk Can workplace practices cause injury or sickness? • Are there heavy or awkward lifting jobs? • Can people work in a comfortable posture? • If the work is repetitive, can people take breaks? • Are people properly trained? • Do people follow correct work practices? • Are there adequate facilities for the work being performed? • Is there poor housekeeping? Look out for clutter • Torn or slippery flooring • Sharp objects sticking out • Obstacles

Risk Control Firstly Eliminate Removing the hazard, eg taking a hazardous piece of equipment out of service. Secondly Substitute Replacing a hazardous substance or process with a less hazardous one, eg substituting a hazardous substance with a non-hazardous substance. Thirdly Isolation Isolating the hazard from the person at risk, eg using a guard or barrier. Fourthly Engineering Redesign a process or piece of equipment to make it less hazardous. Fifthly Administrative Adopting safe work practices or providing appropriate training, instruction or information. Sixthly Personal Protective Equipment The use of personal protective equipment could include using gloves, glasses, earmuffs, aprons, safety footwear, dust masks.

Effects of Prolonged Use of Software RSI : Repetitive Strain Injury Relates to stress and injuries of the muscles and tendons over a long period of time usually caused by rapid and/or repetitive movements carried out over a long period of time. Also Called : CTD : Cumulative Trauma Disorder

A 13 -year-old girl who sends an average of 8000 text messages a month has been crowned the US texting champion. Morgan Pozgar says she sends about 260 texts a day - about one every five minutes to her friends. She clinched the title with a quickfire error-free rendition of the song ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidoucious! The teenager, from Claysburg, Pennsylvania, was awarded the top prize of $25, 000 US at the contest in New York after beating 250 competitors from across the country. Morgan said she trained by sending on average 8, 000 text messages a month to her friends and family - which works out at one every five and a half minutes! She said: “My phone is pretty worn in. ”

RSI is caused by rapid and repetitive movements An eight-year-old girl had to go to the doctors after her massive texting habit started to seriously hurt her hands. Isabelle Taylor spends hours every day sending messages to friends, and started to get pains in her wrists, which soon spread to her fingers. Doctors believe isabelle has repetitive strain injury (RSI). Isabelle has now been limited to just 30 minutes of texting a day, although she reckons she won’t ever be able to fully give up her habit.

Fun Fact Nothin’ typed by someone’s thumbs has ever been important. Warning : The short video this picture links to contains “beeped out” swearing. If you are easily offended by swearing, please do no click this link.

How to get RSI The more hours per day the user spends at the computer, and the fewer rest breaks the user has, the more likely minor concerns will turn into serious health and safety problems.

Workstation Ergonomics

Work. Station Exercises

Intellectual Property Intellectual property is personal ownership of the creative ideas that develop from an individual’s mind or intellect. Patents, trademarks, designs, copyrights, circuit layout rights, plant breeders rights, trade secrets, business information.

Software Licence Agreements Software licence agreements are contracts that protect the developers ownership of the software they have created. Agreement is between the creator and the user.

End User Licence Agreement The official wording of the software licence agreement. Outlines the terms under which an end-user may utilise the licensed software, An Honest Disclaimer by Interactive Easyflow We don't claim Interactive Easyflow is good for anything -- if you think it is, great, but it's up to you to decide. If Interactive Easyflow doesn't work: tough. If you lose a million because Interactive Easyflow messes up, it's you that's out the million, not us. If you don't like this disclaimer: tough. We reserve the right to do the absolute minimum provided by law, up to and including nothing. This is basically the same disclaimer that comes with all software packages, but ours is in plain English and theirs is in legalese.

Types of Software Public Domain The public domain is a range of abstract materials – commonly referred to as intellectual property – which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore "public property", and available for anyone to use for any purpose. Freeware is copyrighted computer software which is made available for use free of charge, for an unlimited time. Authors of freeware often want to give something to the community, but also wish to retain control of the development of the software. Shareware is a marketing method for computer software. Shareware software is software that can be obtained by a user, often by downloading from the Internet or on magazine cover-disks free of charge to try out a program before you buy the full version of that program. Abandonware refers to computer software that is no longer claimed, owned, or copyrighted. While the term has been applied largely to older games, other classes of software sometimes described as such. Definitions of "abandoned" vary; generally, it refers to software no longer available for legitimate purchase or of a certain age. Warez "Warez" refers primarily to copyrighted works traded in violation of copyright law. The term generally refers to illegal releases by organized groups, as opposed to peer-to-peer file sharing between friends or large groups of people with similar interest using a darknet. It usually does not refer to commercial for-profit software counterfeiting.

Copyright – symbolized "©" – is a legal concept enacted by most national governments, that gives the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited period of time. At its most general, it is literally "the right to copy", but also gives the copyright holder the right to be credited for the work, to determine who (if anyone) may adapt the work to other forms, to determine who may perform the work, to benefit financially from the work, and other related rights.

Licensing Single User Install one copy of software on one computer. Concurrent Install one copy of software on more than one machine as long as no two machines are used at the same time - eg a licence for use at home and at work. Multi-User Allows one copy of software to be installed on multiple machines – usually on a specified number of machines. Network A single copy of the software may be installed on a network server and used by as many computers as is attached to the server. Often comes with software to limit the number of connections in some way. Site Allows a single copy to be used on as many machines are present in a single site - for example a home, a school or a single office in a business.

Licensing (cont. ) Commercial Covered by copyright. One archival copy can be made as a backup. The product cannot be modified, distributed or reverse engineered. Source code is not distributed or available to end users. Open source licence Although covered by copyright law, open source licences, such as the GNU GPL (general purpose licence), specifically remove many traditional copyrights. The source code is developed collaboratively and is available to all to modify and redistribute. The only significant restrictions being that the author be recognised and that modified products must be released using the same unrestricted open source licence. The aim of open source licences is to ensure users can freely use and modify software without fear of legal challenge. This encourages collaboration and encourages sharing of ideas within the software development community. For most users software distributed under an open source licence can be installed and used without restriction.

Licensing (cont. ) Creative commons licence Alters how copyrighted material maybe used without charge. Creative commons licences are not recommended for most software products as they do not deal with the distribution of source code. Creative commons licences are commonly used for artistic works such as photographs, music, film and other media types. Although the conditions of creative commons licences can be modified to suit specific needs, most permit the work to be freely copied and distributed for noncommercial purposes as long as the original creator is acknowledged.

EVENTS THAT HAVE LED TO THE NEED FOR SOFTWARE LICENCE AGREEMENTS • Ease of reproduction and copy • Collaborative development history • The current open environment of the Internet

Origins of Software Design The demand for different software continues to grow. Each year there is an increasing number of new ideas. Although each new idea is covered by copyright, each one spawns a series of copy-cat systems.

Visicalc The program Visi. Calc was launched for the Apple II computer. Visi. Calc, short for ‘visible calculator’, was based on the paper spreadsheets used by businesses, but it had the advantage that calculations could be made automatically.