Hide menu

TDDE32 Professionalism in Computer Science

The essays


This page presents what the essays are to cover. To understand the grading of the essays look at the Grading criteria web page.

Section 1

On sustainability: explain using both general terms and by referring to specific, scientific studies, the challenges that humanity faces currently. You will need to provide a coherent view of how ecological, social and economic dimensions related to one another. Also, explain what we know about consequences of failing to meet some of the major societal challenges by giving examples of what we project will be future consequences of, for example, climate change or an unequal distribution of wealth and income in the economy. Explain what it means that some of these problems pose genuine dilemmas, reconciling what we do know of the consequences of, for example, climate change and biodiversity loss, and unknown future states for societies.

Assessed by Ola & Jami

Section 2

On societal problems, and IT in society: We do not have a perfect understanding of how a sustainable society may look like, even though Agenda 2030 states 17 goals, along with detailed success indicators for each goal. There are valid differences of opinions for how to solve larger problems, and different perspectives on the relative importance of technology, economy and social changes. We can classify sustainability problems as "wicked" for this reason: they defy common notions of problems that can be solved, or even well understood. Some take this as an argument for not focusing specifically on sustainability itself, but claim that our current ways of living and developing will solve our societal problems without any additional needs for large changes. Others believe that more radical changes are required as our problems are ingrained in the fabric of society. In your text, choose a new IT solution (e.g. app, technology, etc) that promises to solve a societal challenge. Use the SCOT-tool in Bijker, Highes and Pinch (1987) or other literature on SCOT-analysis to discuss the potential for this solution. Examples of questions to consider when writing your text are: In what ways is the IT-solution affecting the society (target group(s), inclusion/exclusion of users, indirect and direct affect) What conditions are necessary for this solution to succeed? Why is this solution successful, or not? In what ways could the solution contribute to solve societal challenges? What are the potential negative side-effects? Make use of the literature and material provided thus far, and find your own, relevant scientific studies to support your arguments.

Assessed by Maria & Jami

Section 3

On responsibility: Explain how one can reason about the ethics of personal decisions taken as an individual and professional, related to common values and the strive for a sustainable society. First, take a test of your ecological footprint and reflect on whether the results are in line with your own values as an individual. Explain why or why not.

Second, discuss whether or not you believe that responsibility should be assigned to engineers when technology has bad consequences for society, environment or is very risky. In your answer, use concrete examples (from the news, the course material or from personal experience). Also, use concepts, principles and/or theories from the course material and make proper references when needed.

Assessed by Elisabeth

Section 4

On systems thinking: The reason why we may sometimes act in ways that are not in line with values or convictions we hold may be because of the systems and feedback loops in which we operate. In this section, you will need to

  • describe what characterizes a complex, dynamic system using the concepts of feedback loops, stocks & flows, phase transitions and resilience.
  • describe the outcome of playing Fishbanks using these concepts. Note that Fishbanks scenario features not only an ecosystem, but also an economic and social system and their interactions.
  • use a concrete IT system in a specific context using your experiences from playing Fishbanks and the literature. Describe the system in terms of the general characteristics of a complex, dynamic system (see above). Also, make references to the literature from Lecture 4 as appropriate here.
  • using the paper by Becker et al. ("Requirements: the key to sustainability") from seminar 6, describe how you believe the development process has influenced the design of your selected system.
  • reflect on how the paper "Computing within Limits" and the executive summary of the 2019 EEB report "Decoupling Debunked" inform your thinking about requirements for software systems that you will be part of producing.
In writing the section, you are to make use of the scientific literature and other material given in the course to describe the potential and known relationships between an IT system and individuals, societies, and ecosystems.

Assessed by Ola & Maria

Section 5

Assessing the effects of IT systems: You will conduct a Sustainability analysis in preparation to this task, concerning the potential effects of a specific software product. Based on your aalysis, you will produce a diagram per the instructions for the SusAD assignment.

After doing these preparations, you will write section 5. In this section of your essay, you will need to

  • describe the software system that you analyzed and describe the most interesting effects, chains of effects in all dimensions that you covered.
  • give examples of the direct, indirect and systemic effects that you discovered as a result of performing the analysis.
  • Include a SusAD diagram in your essay and refer to it specifically in this section for the purpose of explaining the chains of effects discovered.
  • analyze whether these effects have been anticipated by the designers of the system, explicitly addressed or ignored. Reason about why you think this is so. Do you think it is because of some system effects, or because of lack or responsibility or something else? Relate to the earlier sections of your essay in your analysis.
  • reflect on your future role as software engineer/computer scientist in a situation similar to those of the people you interviewed, given the outcome of your analysis and the earlier sections of your essay.

Assessed by all teachers

In total, your report will be expected to be 10 pages long (excluding references). Each section is expected by be approximately 2 pages.


Page responsible: Arne Jönsson
Last updated: 2021-11-09