Principle 10: PROFESSION: 6.02

6.02. Promote public knowledge of software engineering.

Additional to providing latest news, this website also provides some educational articles which can be used to improve user's knowledge on Software engineering while motivating them to learn more.

There is a page describing the therms and conditions referring to code of ethics attached to this website so any user who interest in can access it and read the details.

Principle 9: PRODUCT: 3.14

3.14. Maintain the integrity of data, being sensitive to outdated or flawed occurrences.

The information we publish in the website must be accurate and up to date securing the integrity of data since that should be the main purpose of a news provider. 

Principle 8: CLIENT AND EMPLOYER: 2.03

2.03. Use the property of a client or employer only in ways properly authorized, and with the knowledge and consent of client or employer.

If we are going to publish something controversial about any person it is better to get the permission because anyone has a right to go for a court if they think that someone tried to insult their character so as an owner of a gossip site you are taking a huge risk.

It's better to avoid this risk by either getting the permissions from the relevant persons or being able to depend facts you are going to publish.  

Principle 7: CLIENT AND EMPLOYER: 2.02

2.02. Not knowingly use software that is obtained or retained either illegally or unethically.

Due to the cost of software these days it is not hard to think that a lot of software engineers tend to acquire copies of software illegally since that's the most cost effective way for them.

Ours being a website we used software like Netbeans, Mysql database and other suitable templates and libraries to develop this website but we purchased all of them legally and used according to the terms & regulations of software owners or we used freely available software.

Writing these blogs is another task assigned to us so I made use of this website called blogger.com and acquire a web space for my blog freely.

So as far as I'm concerned we haven't used any kind of material to develop this website illegally or breaking any terms & conditions.

Principle 6: CLIENT AND EMPLOYER: 2.01

2.01. Provide service in their areas of competence, being honest and forthright about any limitations of their experience and education.

The code of ethics dictates that a software engineer must be honest and forthright of their set of skills and not mislead their client or employer into believing they possess greater skills than they actually do, with the intention of acquiring greater recognition or higher payments for their work.

Members of my group are not experts in web technologies since we don't have a huge experience like professionals so there may have errors and bugs in the site we have developed but we did lot of hard work and learnt a lot of things through internet and applied those to our works.

So we are being honest with our capabilities but we are capable of developing a reasonable website and we are not misleading users or the other related parties and more importantly ourselves. 

Principle 5: PUBLIC: 1.08

1.08. Be encouraged to volunteer professional skills to good causes and to contribute to public education concerning the discipline.

Though there are lot of highly skilled software engineers, it is quite clear with higher demand for money in present world that without a monetary value to their effort people won't contribute to the societal progress.

But it is our ultimate responsibility to serve for the good of the society while we are earning something for our effort but not always prioritizing the monetary value we are getting.

This website is simply developed for the good of the society so that we can give them something new to think about but if this site becomes a success later maybe we can get some monetary value for our efforts.

Principle 4: PUBLIC: 1.04

1.04. Disclose to appropriate persons or authorities any actual or potential danger to the user, the public, or the environment, that they reasonably believe to be associated with software or related documents.

Since this is a web site which provides news updates,we will publish a lot of hidden facts about celebrities and well known people in Sri Lankan society.

So if anything bad going to happen to those people's image and reputation through the publications of the site, it is our responsibility to avoid such situations as the owners of the website but if such a thing happened,we must apologize to the affected parties and correct the mistakes as soon as possible.

If any user breakdowns happen like unavailable access, we should be able to recover pretty soon and inform the users what happened and making sure not to let happen the same mistake again.

We have included a terms and conditions page in our website so that any user can access it and get the information how to use the website properly making the risk and danger minimum.

Principle 3: PUBLIC: 1.03

1.03. Approve software only if they have a well-founded belief that it is safe, meets specifications, passes appropriate tests, and does not diminish quality of life, diminish privacy, or harm the environment. The ultimate effect of the work should be to the public good.

Before releasing a software for public use,software engineers should test thoroughly whether their products are up to the standards of user expectations or not and whether these products are safe enough in both physically or mentally to use.

These testing includes security concerns, privacy issues and also meeting the specifications expected from us as the owners of a news providing website.

It is not ethical if we are providing such stories which are not suitable for children regularly but if it is really necessary to provide those stories we should give a warning to users that this is not suitable for children so that parents can restrict their children getting access to such stories.   

Principle 2: PUBLIC: 1.02

1.02. Moderate the interests of the software engineer, the employer, the client, and the users with the public good.

In this ethical law it says that the interests or requirements of the client, users, employees or software engineers might be inconsistent with that of the public but still we need to come into a conclusion which is for the public good.

As an example imagine a website which promotes for LTTE or terrorism, despite what are the intentions of the site seems to be, it's ultimate impact is not for the well being of public and we have to discard such software or products.

In our website our main goal was to provide public a source of getting latest news on what's happening around them daily as soon as possible and provide them a source of getting access to latest entertainment stuff like films and songs which means our intention is to serve the public in a good way but nothing else.

Principle 1: PUBLIC: 1.01

1.01. Accept full responsibility for our own work.

This is one of the major ethical law any software engineer must follow so that we are responsible for the products we create and for their respective behaviors in a appropriate way or vice versa. 

Because we are developing a website this rule automatically applies to our very own product so members of our team including me willing to accept the full responsibility of the site created and its behaviors.

Since our website is mainly based on news and other entertainment stuff,there is a higher probability for occurring conflicts between interested parties like users are having arguments when commenting on news items and it's our responsibility is to reduce those kind of conflicts.

If something inappropriate happened from us like publishing misleading news  as the owners of the website we should be able to take the responsibility and correct it immediately and bid our apology for the affected parties.

  

PREAMBLE

The short version of the code summarizes aspirations at a high level of the abstraction; the clauses that are included in the full version give examples and details of how these aspirations change the way we act as software engineering professionals. 

Without the aspirations, the details can become legalistic and tedious; without the details, the aspirations can become high sounding but empty; together, the aspirations and the details form a cohesive code.

Software engineers shall commit themselves to making the analysis, specification, design, development, testing and maintenance of software a beneficial and respected profession. In accordance with their commitment to the health, safety and welfare of the public, software engineers shall adhere to the following Eight Principles:

Principle 1: Public

Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.

Principle 2: Client and employer

Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best interests of their client and employer, consistent with the public interest.

Principle 3: Product

Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.

Principle 4: Judgment

Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their professional judgment.

Principle 5: Management

Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.

Principle 6: Profession

Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the profession consistent with the public interest.

Principle 7: Colleagues

Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.

Principle 8: Self

Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

  

ඉස්කෝලේ පොත INTRODUCTION

“ඉස්කෝලේ පොත”  is a website we started to work on in 2013 when we were studying in 2^nd year in the university as per our personal interest and to gain the knowledge on web technologies.

This web site is mainly providing users latest news regarding daily life of Sri Lankan society and also gives users a chance to download songs, movies and educational stuff in one place.

Only in the Professional Issues lectures we got to know that how should a software engineer work under the invisible law of nature, ethics, and in this blog I will briefly discuss how we tried to secure those ethics and morals.

For more accurate analysis I will use eight principles of Software engineering code of ethics introduced by IEEE organization and in this blog I have described ten main code of ethics that every software engineer must follow to enjoy a successful career and how those ethics will affect owners, users and other interested parties of our website considering how well a gossip website fair in Sri Lankan society.