Computer-information ethics, social informatics and data governance
Department of Information and Marketing Sciences
Midlands State University
Module outline 2023
General Information
Lecturer: Ms S.Marambi
Class Meetings: As per timetable
Module Title : Computer-information ethics, social informatics and data governance (DSI137)
Learning Approach:
36 hours of class activities including - lecture, tutorial, group presentations and workshop seminar where
applicable
Assessment:
Continuous Assessment 30.00%
Examination 70,00%
Module Description
This module explores the ethical and professionalization issues that arise in the context of
designing and using information technologies. We will study the major ethical theories and
frameworks that have shaped the field of information ethics and use them to address topics
relevant to the informatics profession, including privacy, intellectual property, cybercrime,
games, social justice, gender equity.The moral and ethical dilemmas created by computer
technology that challenge the traditional ethical and moral concepts will be examined.
Components of social informatics and data governacy will be studied in this module.
Objectives:
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
Develop mature stances with regard to issues of professional ethics in general and computing ethics
in particular,
Present these stances in a manner that is persuasive to your peers, the most important audience for
the articulation of your ethical views
Knowledge on social informatics and issues surrounding it
Be able to design social informatics frameworks
Understand data govenancy and its importance
Module Outline:
Unit one General overview of ethics?
Introduction to ethics and moral philosophy
What is the use of ethics?
Ethical theories
Four ethical 'isms'
Unit 2 Scenarios
New possibilities in computing
Computers used in social context
Moral and legal issues
Unit 3 Are Computer Ethical Issues Unique?
What makes computer ethics different?
Similarities of computer ethics to other ethics
Unit 4 Traditionalist Approach to resolving ethics
Computers in the workplace
Computer Crime
Unit 5 Privacy and anonymity
Intellectual Property
Proffessional Responsibility
Unit 6 Introduction to Social informatics
The evolution of social informatics in research
The challenges and opportunities of social informatics
Unit 7 Why does social informatics matter
Social cybernetics
Information society
Cyberetiquette
Unit 8 Socio-technical Systems
Cyberetiquette
The impact of information technology on social
interactions
Social informatics and business reform
Electronic communities
Unit 9 What is data governance?
Why does data governancu matter?
What does ethics have to do with data?
Componence of a data governance framework
Four pillars of Data governance
Challenges of data governance
Text Books
Ethical and Social Issues in the Information Age, 3rd edition, Joseph Kizza, ISBN: 978-1-84628-
658-2
Social Informatics : Past ,present and future. Edited by Pnina Fichman and Howard Rosenbaum
This book first published 2014 Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN (10): 1-4438-5576-6,
ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5576-1
Data Governance: How to Design, Deploy and Sustain an Effective Data Governance Program
(The Morgan Kaufmann Series on Business Intelligence) 1st Edition (2019). ISBN-13: 978-
0124158290
