Sociology and Ethics in Informatics
| Keywords |
| Classification |
Keyword |
| OFICIAL |
Personal and Communicational Development |
Instance: 2018/2019 - 1S 
Cycles of Study/Courses
Teaching Staff - Responsibilities
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
Information technology plays a fundamental role in society today. It is, therefore, important to understand and reason about social and ethical issues that its use raises.
The main objectives of this course are:
- to induce among the students critical thinking about social and ethical questions raised by the use of computers and the Internet;
- to raise awarness for an ethical conduct, privacy and relevant legislation impacting their future profession;
- to contribute to improve their oral and written communication skills.
Learning outcomes and competences
At the end of this course, students must know how
1. to assess the intended and unintended consequences of the introduction of IT on people and organizations;
2. to know and identy relevant legislation and norms related with intelectual property, copyright, data privacy;
3. to create a personal code of ethics as part of a professional identity
Working method
Presencial
Program
1. Codes of conduct (ACM)
2. Software licenses, intellectual property, patents;
3. Legislation on informatics and data protection;
4. Security and privacy;
5. Crime
6. Evaluation and control of risks associated to the use of software;
7. impact of informatics on the society;
Practical component: students must prepare and present a report about an emergent topic in information technologies.
Mandatory literature
n.a.; Vários
Sara Baase; A Gift of Fire, Pearson, 4th edition, 2012. ISBN: 978-0-13-249267-6
Complementary Bibliography
Edited by M. David Ermann and Michele S. Shauf; Computers, Ethics, and Society, Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780195143027
Teaching methods and learning activities
Lecturers are to present the ideas on the topics of the program and to foster a critical debate among the students. These will be also given by invited specialists on the topics of the syllabus. Some classes will be reserved for the students to present their topics that they have prepared and about which they have to submit a report.
Evaluation Type
Distributed evaluation without final exam
Assessment Components
| designation |
Weight (%) |
| Defesa pública de dissertação, de relatório de projeto ou estágio, ou de tese |
50,00 |
| Trabalho escrito |
50,00 |
| Total: |
100,00 |
Amount of time allocated to each course unit
| designation |
Time (hours) |
| Elaboração de relatório/dissertação/tese |
50,00 |
| Frequência das aulas |
50,00 |
| Total: |
100,00 |
Eligibility for exams
Presence in the classes (according to rules of the University of Porto); report and its presentation; participation in discussions.
Calculation formula of final grade
Average of the evaluation of the reports 90%.
Participation in the classes and discussions 10%.