The role of ethics in developing professionalism within the global ICT community

This paper reports on a series of research and policy development projects investigating the development of Information Communication Technology (ICT) as a profession with a specific focus on the role of ethics. It addresses three main issues: to what extent ethics contribute to the development of the professional identity of ICT practitioners; what practices and policies can promote the development of ICT ethics; how these practices and policies can usefully be coordinated internationally. Within the European policy framework, professional ethics is seen as one of the four pillars of ICT professionalism, the others being: competences; bodies of knowledge; education and training. A diverse range of international stakeholders were consulted over a period of four years. The challenges of agreeing on what it means to be an ICT Professional and the best way to develop and implement ethical frameworks in culturally and economically diverse regions are discussed. Findings include the need to: be sensitive to the cultural and economic factors of different regions; integrate work on ethics with other aspects of professionalism; and promote multiple types of engagement with professional ethics