SFWR ENG 3J03
Topics for student presentations and reports
2003 March 4

In the course 3J03, each student must investigate a particular topic and present the results of this research in a written report or a formal oral presentation. Some students may investigate a topic in pairs, in which case one will write a report and the other will review the report and deliver a formal presentation.

Below is a list of suggested topics for these student projects. Some of the topics below are clearly directly related to some aspect of computing or software, while others deal primarily with aspects of classical engineering and not directly with software engineering. If your topic is of the latter type, you are expected to make an appropriate connection with software engineering. You could, for example, identify similarities and differences in the backgrounds of the two fields, examine the reasons for such similarities and differences, and discuss the implications for the development of the software engineering profession in the near to mid-term future. You might discuss the extent to which solutions to the problems of ethics and engineering responsibility found in the other field can or should serve as role models for software engineering and how and why.

You are expected to identify a number of relevant articles in the research literature and base your report and conclusions on them. Do not rely on only one or two articles. Do not restrict yourself primarily to one source of information (e.g. the internet). Whenever you identify articles that you might use in your report or presentation, save full bibliographical data (title of the article, author, journal or publisher, volume and issue number, date, etc.) for later preparation of your citation of the source and your bibliography. Save this information with the article, as finding it later will be more difficult and time consuming.

Note that your research report is to deal with the social and ethical aspects of the particular subject, not with its technical aspects. Technicalities should be included in your report only summarily and to the extent necessary to enable the reader to understand the situation, the basic problem and its causes. In your report you should concentrate on the social and ethical aspects and implications of your topic. Concentration on the technical aspects will result in a low, probably failing, grade on the presentation or report.

In your analysis, identify

Draw your conclusions and justify them, referring to the above points.

In those cases in which your topic deals with a controversial issue, you should identify the different positions and the reasons for and against each. Identify the different "stakeholders" and the interests of each and draw conclusions reflecting the legitimate interests of all. Such a topic lends itself to a double presentation in the form of a debate: two students could form a team with one arguing for one position and the other arguing for another.

The length of your report is not critical and is not a primary criterion in grading. The normal length is about 10-15 pages singly spaced including everything (title page, bibliography, etc.). A report 5 pages or shorter is almost certainly too short and 20 pages or more is almost certainly too long. An abstract is a good idea, but not absolutely essential if the report is not long and is well structured and introduced.

The list of topics below is not intended to be complete. You may propose a comparable topic of interest to you and others.

Please submit your preferences for research topic(s) (either from the list below or your own proposed subject) to the instructor on or before 2003 January 24 Friday and before proceeding with your project. Topics will be assigned to students not submitting their preferences by that date.

Categories of topics

Some topics are of central importance to this course and each will, therefore, be presented by one or two students independently. These are listed in "category A" below. Because these topics are especially interesting and important, students should seriously consider choosing one of them and make their selection as soon as possible before the topic is taken. All of the topics in category A will be chosen or assigned before any choices of other topics will be confirmed.
 

Suggested topics: Category A (required presentations)

Group 1 Classical Engineering: Select one of the following well known classical engineering failures with serious consequences or near failure with potentially serious consequences. Identify the technical failure or error and the factors that led to it, whether in design, implementation, testing, etc. Identify the actual or potential consequences of the failure. Who was responsible? Was anyone held formally responsible and if so, who and why (or why not)? What steps were taken after the event, e.g. to alleviate the consequences of the failure or to prevent future occurrences? In your opinion were these steps adequate? Why? Identify software systems that might exhibit comparable problems. What should be done do prevent them? How would a comparable situation have been handled in the software field? If in a different way, why the difference?

The specific choices are:

Group 2 Software: Select a well known software failure with serious consequences. Identify the technical failure or error and the factors that led to the failure, whether in design, implementation, testing, etc. Identify the consequences of the failure. Was anyone held responsible and if so, who and why (or why not)? What steps were taken after the event, e.g. to alleviate the consequences of the failure or to prevent future occurrences? In your opinion were these steps adequate? Why? How would a comparable situation have been handled in a classical engineering field? Why? If in a different way, why the difference?

The specific choices are:

At most two students will be permitted to present any one of the above topics.

Suggested topics: Category B (optional)

The topics below can be selected either for a presentation or a report. Because of time constraints, the total number of student presentations will be limited.

B1. Select a well known classical engineering failure with serious consequences or a near failure with potentially serious consequences. Identify the technical failure or error and the factors that led to the failure, whether in design, implementation, testing, etc. Identify the consequences of the failure. Who was responsible? Was anyone held responsible and if so, who and why (or why not)? What steps were taken after the event, e.g. to alleviate the consequences of the failure or to prevent future occurrences? In your opinion were these steps adequate? Why? Identify software systems that might exhibit comparable problems. What should be done do prevent them? How would a comparable situation have been handled in the software field? If in a different way, why the difference?

Possible selections for such a failure or near failure are:

B2. Select a well known software failure with serious consequences. Identify the technical failure or error and the factors that led to the failure, whether in design, implementation, testing, etc. Identify the consequences of the failure. Was anyone held responsible and if so, who and why (or why not)? What steps were taken after the event, e.g. to alleviate the consequences of the failure or to prevent future occurrences? In your opinion were these steps adequate? Why? How would a comparable situation have been handled in a classical engineering field? Why? If in a different way, why the difference?

Examples of possible selections for such a failure are:

Many other similar failures (e.g. loss or near loss of space vehicles) can be found in Peter Neumann's collection in the ACM risks columns and various web sites.

B3. Consider "biometric (fingerprint) identification" for welfare recipients. Critically evaluate the claim that this is a "privacy enhancing technology". Identify some of the risks of such a system, in terms of security, consequences of failure, etc.

B4. Consider a new "smart card" (with software running on a computer chip on the card) to implement (pick one: health records, pre-paid telephone cards, electronic cash, etc.). Imagine that your company or organization is placing a contract for some of the software development. What constraints would you put into the specification? Why?

B5. You are asked to work on a weapon system that will effectively block out television. How would you decide if this is a legitimate project for you to work on?

B6. You are asked to write a web searcher looking for instructions for making bombs or other weapons. How would you decide if this is a legitimate project for you to work on?

B7. You are asked to develop software for a completely software controlled vehicle. Under what circumstances would you agree? Why?

B8. You are asked to develop a system for character recognition and digitalisation for a language using a non-Latin alphabet. The recognition rate is lower than 70%. Would you agree to work on this project? Why?

B9. You are considering accepting a job offer from a company developing software for law enforcement agencies. What issues would be of concern to you? How would you decide whether or not developing such software is a legitimate project for you to work on? Under what conditions would you accept such an employment offer?

B10. You are considering accepting a job offer from a company developing software for video games, some of which portray violence. What issues would be of concern to you? How would you decide whether or not developing such software is a legitimate project for you to work on? Under what conditions would you accept such an employment offer?

B11. You are considering accepting a job offer from a company developing censorship software (software that blocks usage or access to certain information). What issues would be of concern to you? How would you decide whether or not developing such software is a legitimate project for you to work on? Under what conditions would you accept such an employment offer?

B12. Investigate the historical development of the professional engineering society for field X in country Y. What factors, events, social pressures, etc. led to its foundation? How is it organized and why? In what ways is it similar and in what ways different from counterparts in other countries? What are the reasons for these similarities and differences? (Note: In some countries professional engineering societies are organized by geographical region and in others, by engineering field. In the former case, one professional society usually covers all fields.)

B13. Examine the issues associated with the Napster web site and copyright infringement or a comparable situation. What ethical (and legal) principles apply? What and whose interests are affected by such principles? In what ways? In what ways might recent technological advances alter the balance currently established by the relevant copyright laws, treaties and agreements? Why? Should such balance be modified and if so, in what way?

B14. To many people privacy and keeping data about oneself secret are important. Others hold the opinion that the honest member of society should have nothing to hide and therefore should be willing to have personal data disclosed openly. Identify the arguments for and against both sides of this issue. What are the implications and consequences for designers of information systems? How important is it really that personal data and information not be inadvertently disclosed and disseminated? What are the actual consequences of inadvertent disclosure?

B15. Trace the evolution of codes of ethics, practice, legal restrictions, etc. for professions (e.g. law, medicine, engineering) over a longer period of time (i.e. going back a few thousand years). What similarities and differences can be observed between the various types of professions? What similarities and differences can be observed in different time periods? What are the reasons for these similarities and differences? How does software fit into this picture? Why should or should not software developers be subjected to the same or similar codes of ethics, practice, etc.?

B16. Compare and contrast the professional organizations for computing and software in the U.K. and in several other countries and with the professional engineering organization in one of those countries. What similarities and differences are there? Why?

B17. Investigate the formation of many professional engineering societies in the 1800s and early 1900s. What aspects of the social background, attitudes, problems, events, etc. led to the formation of these societies? Who established these organizations? Why? How?

B18. Examine the issues regarding ethics and professional responsibility arising in the "Star Wars" Missile Defense program. How would you have decided whether or not this is a legitimate project for you to work on? Under what conditions or circumstances would you have agreed to work on the program? Why? Under what conditions or circumstances would you have decided not to work on the program? Why? What ethical principles are relevant to such a decision? What criteria should be used for applying those principles to this situation? Identify the arguments for and against both sides of this issue. What and whose interests play a role in this situation?

B19. Examine the issues of ethics and engineering responsibility connected with software disclaimers. Are they fair or unfair? To whom? Why? What alternatives are there? Why are they not pursued? When are they pursued? Why?

B20. Many DVDs are regionally encoded and encrypted so that DVDs purchased in one geographical region are not generally usable in other regions. In a recent case, someone developed a program to circumvent the regional encryption and published it on the internet. Examine the issues of ethics and engineering responsibility (also as reflected in law) in this case.

B21. Commercially distributed software is often protected from unauthorized (e.g. unpaid) use by various means. Discuss the issues that arise when a researcher discovers techniques for breaking such protective mechanisms. Is it permissible to publish such results in the open scientific literature? Why? Under what restrictions or limitations, if any?

B22. It is technically easy to plagarize material from the internet and represent it as one's own work. Discuss the relevant principles of ethics and engineering responsibility as they apply to a software engineer developing systems for use on the internet. What steps would you take as such a software engineer to ensure that you were fulfilling engineering codes of ethics and your engineering responsibility?

B23. Encryption is used to safeguard legitimate privacy rights. It can also be used by criminal organizations to enable communication (e.g. for planning crimes) that cannot be read by law enforcement agencies. How can and should this conflict be resolved? What restrictions, if any, should be placed on the use of encryption in order that the legitimate interests of all, including society in general, are satisfied?