[AISWorld] [AJIS] New Section Published: Research on Applied Ethics Involving Emerging ICT Technologies

[John Lamp]

Hi,

The Australasian Journal of Information Systems has just published its latest Special Section, Research on Applied Ethics Involving Emerging ICT Technologies

This Special Section was edited by Matt Warren and Oliver Burmeister. The papers comprising this section are:

O'Connor, Y., Heavin, C., Gallagher, J., & O'Donoghue, J. (2017). Predicting Participant Consent in mHealth Trials - A Caregiver's Perspective. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 21. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v21i0.1470

Abstract

Informed consent is sought prior to conducting a healthcare intervention on a person. When a healthcare intervention involves a young child, their caregiver is required to provide informed consent on their behalf. However, little is known on the behavioural intentions of participants to provide consent when a mobile health (mHealth) intervention is involved in a clinical trial scenario. Understanding this phenomenon is important, without consent appropriate data may not be collected to empirically examine the implications of mHealth initiatives when delivering healthcare services to children in a 'real world context'. The objective of this paper is to explore the behavioural intentions of caregivers to provide consent for children (under five years of age) to participate in mHealth Randomised Control Trials (RCT) in developing countries and subsequently develop a predictive model for consent giving. Data was captured vis-à-vis interviews with Malawian caregivers in Africa. The findings reveal that emotional response stimuli play a major role during the participant informed consent process resulting in the involvement (or not) of a child within an RCT. The study contributes to, and opens up, avenues for critical research on the role of informed consent as part of RCT-related projects, especially concerning the involvement of children. This new knowledge may be leveraged to address participant uncertainties and subsequently improve the rate of paediatric recruitment in mHealth trial scenarios.

Dainow, B. (2017). Threats to Autonomy from Emerging ICTs. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 21. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v21i0.1438

Abstract

This paper examines threats to autonomy created by significant emerging ICTs. Emerging ICTs cover a wide range of technologies, from intelligent environments to neuroelectronics, and human autonomy is potentially threatened by all of them in some way. However, there is no single agreed definition of autonomy. This paper therefore considers the ways in which different accounts of autonomy are impacted by the different IC technologies. From this range of threats we will derive some properties which any ICT must exhibit in order to threaten human autonomy. Finally, we will show how the range of definitions of autonomy creates problems for customary approaches to vale-sensitive design, and how this indicates a need for greater flexibility when attempting to improve the ethical status of emerging ICTs.

Al-Saggaf, Y., Burmeister, O., & Schwartz, M. (2017). Qualifications and ethics education: the views of ICT professionals. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 21. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v21i0.1365

Abstract

Do information and communications technology (ICT) professionals who have ICT qualifications believe that the ethics education they received as part of their ICT degrees helped them recognise ethical problems in the workplace and address them? If they do, are they also influenced by their personal ethics? What else helps them recognise ethical problems in the workplace and address them? And what are their views in relation to the impact of ethics education on professionalism in the ICT workplace? A quantitative survey of 2,315 Australian ICT professionals revealed that participants who reported having various levels of qualifications found ethics education or training, to a small degree, helpful for recognising ethical problems and addressing them; although it is those with Non-ICT qualifications, not those with ICT degrees, who were influenced more by ethics education or training. This suggests that educators need to consider how to better prepare ICT graduates for the workplace challenges and the types of situations they subsequently experience. The survey also found that participants who reported having various levels of qualifications were not influenced by their personal ethics or indeed any other factor making ethics education or training important for developing professionalism. The quantitative survey was followed by qualitative interviews with 43 Australian ICT professionals in six Australian capital cities. These interviews provided further empirical evidence that ethics education is crucial for enabling ICT professionals to recognise ethical problems and resolve them and that educators need to consider how to better prepare ICT graduates for the types of moral dilemmas that they are likely going to face in the workforce.

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Call for Papers

AJIS publishes high quality contributions to the global Information Systems (IS) discipline with an emphasis on theory and practice on the Australasian context.

Topics cover core IS theory development and application (the nature of data, information and knowledge; formal representations of the world, the interaction of people, organisations and information technologies; the analysis, design and deployment of information systems; the impacts of information systems on individuals, organisations and society), IS domains (e-business, e-government, e-learning, e-law, etc) and IS research approaches.

Research and conceptual development based in a very wide range of epistemological methods are welcomed.

All manuscripts undergo double blind reviewing by at least 2 well qualified reviewers. Their task is to provide constructive, fair, and timely advice to authors and editor.

AJIS welcomes research and conceptual development of the IS discipline based
in a very wide range of epistemologies. Different types of research paper need to be judged by different criteria. Here are some assessment criteria that may be applied:

*       Relevance - topic or focus is part of the IS discipline.
*       Effectiveness - paper makes a significant contribution to the IS body of knowledge.
*       Impact - paper will be used for further research and/or practice.
*       Uniqueness - paper is innovative, original & unique.
*       Conceptual soundness - theory, model or framework made explicit.
*       Argument - design of the research or investigation is sound; methods appropriate.
*       Clarity - Topic is clearly stated; illustrations, charts & examples support content.
*       Reliability - data available; replication possible.
*       References - sound, used appropriately, and sufficient - appropriate AJIS articles referenced
*       Style - appropriate language, manuscript flows.

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

AJIS has been published since 1993 and appears in the Index of Information Systems Journals, is ranked "A" by both the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems and the Australian Business Deans' Council.

In addition to web distribution, AJIS is distributed by EBSCO, it is listed in Cabell's International Directory and is indexed by EBSCO, Elsevier, Scopus and the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Thanks for the continuing interest in our work,

Cheers
John
@JohnWLamp
ORCID: 0000-0003-1891-0400
ResearcherID: A-3227-2008
ISNI: 0000 0003 5074 9223
Scopus AuthorID: 9840309500

Index of Information Systems Journals http://lamp.infosys.deakin.edu.au/journals/
Editor-in-Chief, Australasian Journal of Information Systems  http://journal.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/

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Dr John Lamp
Associate Professor
Department of Information Systems and Business Analytics, Deakin Business School
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