OCR GCSE COMPUTER SCIENCE - 1.8 ETHICAL, LEGAL, CULTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

What do we mean by ethics? Ethics are moral principles, or rules, which govern a person's attitudes and behaviour What is a source code? The list of programming commands that are compiled into an executable program Brainpower Read More Previous Play Next Rewind 10 seconds Move forward 10 seconds Unmute 0:01 / 0:15 Full screen What is open source software? · Software which is distributed with no restrictions · Users have access to source code . Users can make modifications to the source code Advantages of open source software -Usually free of charge. -Software can be adapted to suit a user's needs. -Wide community that encourages development and use of the software; they are normally happy to help any users that require it. -Many contributors to the development of the software can result in creative features being added Disadvantages of open source software -The software may not be fully tested, so it could be susceptible to bugs and possible security issues. -There is no official customer support available and no warranty with the software. -The user interface may not be as finished as bought software; development tends to focus mainly on functionality. -Developing the software requires specialist knowledge and not every user will have the ability to do this Popular examples of open-source software are: -Open Office - document creation software. -GIMP - image editing software. -Audacity - audio editing software. -Mozilla Firefox - web browser. -Linux - operation system What is compiled code? the executable code that is created from compiling the source code What is proprietary software? · Software which is distributed with restrictions · Individuals buy a licence to use it . Users do not have access to source code Advantages of proprietary software -The software will have undergone thorough and rigorous testing to rid it of any bugs and discover any security issues -The software will have full customer support and warranty options that come with it -Updates to improve features in the software will be released periodically -The interface of the software will have gone through an extensive design process in order to make it user-friendly Disadvantages of proprietary software -The software can be expensive to purchase; this may frustrate a user as they are often paying for many features that they will never use. -A user cannot customise the software to meet their needs Popular examples of proprietary software are: -Microsoft Office - document creation software. -Internet Explorer - web browser. -Adobe Photoshop - image editing software. -Windows - operating system. -Garageband - audio editing software What is a stakeholder? An individual or an organisation that has an interest in, or is affected by, the development of a product or the actions of a company Examples of key stakeholders include: -Customers -General public -Company owner(s) -Retail establishments -Company employees -Government -Company suppliers -Shareholders and investors How can the differences between each stakeholder create problems for the company? Each group of stakeholders has different priorities which may conflict with those of the others Why might a company need to consider the impact of their products and actions of each stakeholder? If they cause a negative situation for the stakeholder, this could create issues for the company that may eventually affect their reputation with the stakeholder Developments in technologies has led to improvements in many areas, such as: -Education -Medicine -Transportation -Sport -Research -Space exploration the accident and emergency department of a hospital uses a computer system to decide the order in which patients are treated. Discuss the issues surrounding this decision. Consider the following in your answer : ethical issues, legal issues, cultural issues The stakeholders in the hospital would be the staff such as Doctors, nurses and receptionists at the A&E centre, also the patients and family of the patients. They would be affected in positive and negative ways by the introduction of a computer system to order them. The technology would use the internet, and software programs such as an expert system that would ask questions that would generate more questions based on responses. These automated decision making programs present lots of issues. - For example, ethically how would they decide who to put first, would it be the elderly or the young? Would it be by most sick? - people who struggle to read may find it hard to answer and as a result may not get seen as quickly as someone who can manipulate the questions to get seen more quickly. - Another big issue is the digital divide. The rich tend to be more comfortable with technology whereas poorer people may not be as confident, it may take them longer to figure out how to use it and as a consequence it would take them longer to get seen. Some might even give up. Staff that are still there would need to be on the look out to ensure that this did not happen. Another ethical issue surrounds the staff. At the moment hospitals use a nurse to work out who sees the Dr first. Nurses, might forget to put some one on the list, whereas a machine would not do this. This is because machines make less errors and are not prone to tiredness, they don't need breaks or holidays. If this layer of employment is taken out then that particular skill set would be in decline. However, this might help the NHS, as it could contribute to reducing the nursing shortage. Laws such as the Data Protection Act haw to be followed. The hospital would need to consider the storage and retrieval of data, who has access, how long they keep the data for, h what is AI? Artificial intelligence (or AI) is the ability of a computer to perform tasks such as reasoning and learning that human intelligence can do. Also called machine learning benefits of using AI - Expert systems - it will be able to make real-life decisions that may be done better than if a human would figure out these decisions. (e.g. disease diagnosis based on symptoms) - Precision - e.g. in surgeries using lasers. - Playing games - it would be able to memorise previous game moves and it would be able to predict new game moves as well. - The replacement of boring and repetitive tasks that, normally, a human would need to do on a day-to-day basis. - Accurate calculations can be calculated based on complex formulae. Risks imposed by AI - Extreme potential - humans may not be able to predict how it will behave - Anxiety amongst humans as to how AI may be able to out-smart humans in intelligence. - Destruction - humans may be concerned that AI would be programmed to do awful things that may be destructive (e.g. independent weapons which can be programmed to kill.) - Deadly weapons may not be able to be turned off - If AI would be programmed to do something beneficial, however it develops a destructive method to achieve its goals. A company is considering buying a program that uses artificial intelligence to answer technical support calls. If the machine cannot answer the question, the customer will be passed on to the technical support workers. Discuss the issues surrounding this decision The owners may have to pay a large amount for the software, but it may save them money in the long run because they won't have to pay the AI assistant for the hours worked. The AI can work 24 hours a day, so basic technical help will be available to customers for longer. This could improve the relationship between the customer and company. Not all technical staff may be able to train to answer more detailed questions and may be replaced by the technology, causing a loss of jobs. The use of the program may require fewer technical support staff, so jobs may be lost. Because the AI assistant can answer the basic questions, this would free up the staff to answer more technical questions. This may mean they have the opportunity for training and potentially higher pay. Not all customers will feel comfortable talking to a computer about their technical issues. This could have a negative impact on the relationship between the customer and company. With newer technology, it is not always obvious that you are talking to a computer. If the computer passes the Turing Test, the customer may be upset that they thought they were talking to a person. This can be addressed by stating that the call is answered by AI at the start.