Utilitarianism Perspective
The ethical framework in any organization decides whether the act is permissible or not(Mason,2017). Any act that is implemented must have a purpose that could benefit the maximum number of people without causing inconvenience to the people following them. There could be chances that the act or the invention that aimed something good might not be able to serve the purpose and may have negative impact over the people. In order to know the overall performance, the act is analysed by different perspectives.
The case reports about the University of Arizona where the student id cards are used to record their location and overall routine(Eason,2014). These cards are also called cat cards. Since the cards were used to access amenities and places, the cards could detect financial aids as using the vending machines present in the campus. The cards could detect the social interaction by knowing the same cards being used at the same place. The different ethical perspectives will help to analyse pros and cons faced by the university through implementation of this act.
According to the Ultitarianism perspective, the act is considered good if it turns out to be profitable for the largest number of people in the organization or the place. Here, the case depicts that the Cat cards that were used for the access was also collecting the data regarding the location, social interaction and routine of the students in and around the campus to find out the reasons of student’s will to return to the college after their freshmen year (Abendroth et al. 2015) The Cat cards was mainly worked on data points that was collected through the number of swipes per cards. This invention was made to improve student retention and improvise the academic participation in the university (Peter,2015).
However, the students hardly had any idea of the fact that the data of their location is being collected. This invention turned out to be a bit inconvenient for the students as they were uncomfortable that they were being spied upon through the digital trace they leave during the access (Kakabase et al 2017). The Cat cards could detect the social interaction of the students, made them uncomfortable, as it is quite personal information about them. The data points that were used to improvise and benefit the students have turned out to raise privacy concerns (Orlikowski et al. 2016).
According to this perspective, we analyse that the task that has been opted is right or wrong in itself. From this perspective, the case can deduce that it is the responsibility of the university to look through the problems that are existing in and around the campus. In order to solve the problem that the maximum number of students are leaving the college after the freshman year, the University of Arizona wanted to find the reason through the daily routine , location and social integration of students through data points with each other. The step was taken to improve the academic participation and benefit students if they are facing any problems in their academics.
Deontological perspectives
On the other side, there are certain information that student want to be confined with themselves like their social interaction, there financial status and their likelihood. The Cat Cards though did not disclosed the names but was enough to deduce the results of social interaction, financial aids through data collected while accessing the cards. Another lagging of this invention was that the students were unaware of the fact that any of the data is been collected through these access cards. Through this perspective, we can deduce that there must be a clarity when any act or invention before being practically implemented. The students were highly cautious regarding their usage of the Cat cards.
Virtue perspective states that the act must follow the right path rather than following the set of the rules and principle for an organization (Teipel et al. 2016). This perspective shows the two sides of any act. What may be right for one may not be right for someone else(Couch,2017). Under this scenario that has been taken place in University of Arizona, this could be analysed from the University’s point of view that they wanted to improvise and benefit the student through finding the daily routine of the students analysing through the digital traces left every time the card was being accessed. The data points may have benefited students to improve their academic participation, help them through their interest and increase their interaction.
On the other hand, from the student’s point of view this can deduce that there are some data that is meant to be confined within the individuals (Lawrence&Weber,2014). According to the students tracing the location might seem like been surveillance every time they are in the campus. No one would like to be judged based on his or her social circle size, or the financial status or likings. Even when the name is under anonymity, it is quite easy to find the unique code that the card holds and target the students over these topics. There would have been a transparency between the students and the university about the cards’ application and working. The students are now over cautious about the data collected by the cards because they did not know about it before. Therefore, it states that though the Cat Cards were made in order to benefit the student as per the University but this invention had trespassed the comfort zone of the students as per the their perspective of virtue.
In this perspective, it shows the mortality of the act that is under practice in any organization. In order to maintain peace in any campus or the community(Avgerou&Walsham,2017). The act must be justified and benefit everyone as a whole. Here, in this case, the student ids that was used to access amenities and the places was collecting data without prior notice of the students. This case was raising privacy concern for the students. The students feel were cautious that the cards are spying upon them by collecting data about the social integration and financial aids. There must be transparency among the students and the university to work on the gap that is been created by this invention. There must be some changes in the algorithm of the cat cards regarding record of financial aids and social interactions. The assurance of total privacy of the student’s information. There must be an ethical framework regarding collection of data in full transparency with the students. There must be enhancement regarding security of the tracked data points and they must be analysed by only authorised personal. There must be no data recorded or tracked without prior notice or consent of the students. This will help in maintaining the peace regarding the invention usage without trespassing the comfort zone of the students.
Conclusion
This report concludes with the ethical perspectives of the usage of the cat cards in the University of Arizona, where the Cat cards were assessing the data points of student’s daily routine. The report analyse the act from the professional perspective showing the purpose and intention that the invention aimed to perform. The deontological perspective showed the pros and cons of using cat cards by the students discuss both positive and negative aspects of the usage of the cat cards. The virtue perspective discussed mainly about the sole visions of both the sides and the contract perspective deduced the improvisation to maintain the balance in the university. The report wrap-ups all the perspective that is needed to maintain a ethical framework of any act that is being carried out in any inventions.
References
Abendroth, L. M., & Bell, B. (2015). Professional Responsibility and Ethics, Thomas Fisher. In Public Interest Design Practice Guidebook (pp. 49-58). Routledge.
Avgerou, C., & Walsham, G. (Eds.). (2017). Information Technology in Context: Studies from the Perspective of Developing Countries: Studies from the Perspective of Developing Countries. Routledge.
Couch, C. J. (2017). Information technologies and social orders. Routledge.
Eason, K. D. (2014). Information technology and organisational change. CRC Press.
Kakabadse, N. K., & Kakabadse, A. K. (2017). ‘Profession’and Professional Ethics: An IT Perspective. In Creating Futures: Leading Change Through Information Systems (pp. 237-252). Routledge.
Lawrence, A. T., & Weber, J. (2014). Business and society: Stakeholders, ethics, public policy. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Mason, R. O. (2017). Four ethical issues of the information age. In Computer Ethics (pp. 41-48). Routledge.
Moor, J. H. (2017). What is computer ethics?. In Computer Ethics (pp. 31-40). Routledge.
Orlikowski, W. J., Walsham, G., Jones, M. R., & DeGross, J. I. (Eds.). (2016). Information technology and changes in organizational work. Springer.
Peters, R. S. (2015). Ethics and Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Teipel, S., Babiloni, C., Hoey, J., Kaye, J., Kirste, T., & Burmeister, O. K. (2016). Information and communication technology solutions for outdoor navigation in dementia. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 12(6), 695-707.
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