Societal-Consciousness in the Computing Curricula: A Time for Serious Introspection

This paper addresses the growing need for inculcating appropriate ethics within the computing curriculum by fostering the development of a societally-conscious ethical framework among our students to address the use of information technology vis-a-vis government, business and society. We propose a new integrated model based approach (IDEA) and suggest its adoption to encourage students on reflecting upon the social and ethical ramifications of technology, beyond the narrow, project-focused tunnel vision that currently (subliminally) exists in many computing curricula, and in particular, in today´s profit-focused, consulting and contract-based software industry.