Simon Rogerson


Simon Rogerson is lifetime Professor Emeritus in Computer Ethics at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University. He was the founder and is the current editor of the Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society. He has had two careers; first as a technical software developer and then in academia as reformer. He was the founding Director of CCSR, launching it in 1995 at the first ETHICOMP conference which he conceived and co-directed until 2013. He became Europe's first Professor in Computer Ethics in 1998. His most important research focuses on providing rigorously grounded practical tools and guidance to computing practitioners. For his leadership and research achievements in the computer and information ethics interdisciplinary field he was awarded the fifth IFIP-WG9.2 Namur Award in 2000 and the SIGCAS Making a Difference Award in 2005.

Industrial career

As a teenager Rogerson wanted to work in the computer industry. On graduating from the University of Dundee he joined Thorn Lighting as a Fortran Programmer in 1972. He progressed to Senior Systems Analyst before transferring to Thorn EMI in 1976 as Technical Systems Manager and where he became Computer Services Manager in 1981. He left his full-time post in 1983 to pursue a career in academia. However, he maintained his link with industry through freelance consultancy and membership of several professional bodies.

Academic career

Rogerson joined the Department of Information Systems at Leicester Polytechnic in 1983. He was appointed under a government initiative to attract IT industrialists in to Higher Education. Initially, he focused on lecturing about Project Management, Systems Analysis and Management Support Systems. It was the latter which led him into research starting by co-authoring works with Dr Christine Fidler culminating in the book Strategic Management Support Systems in 1996.

Teaching

Rogerson is an innovative educator. He created and was the founding course leader of a European-focused Business Information Systems Degree in 1990. He developed student guides for undergraduates, publishing Project Skills Handbook and co-authoring Successful Group Work. He introduced a series of course modules focussing on computer and information ethics. Rogerson and Tugrul Esendal developed and delivered an innovative course module addressing quality assurance and ethics in Software Engineering for which they received a Research Informed Teaching Award in 2007. He introduced the Information Society Doctoral Programme which continues to attract research students worldwide. In 2008, funded by HEFCE Rogerson developed a virtual learning environment for doctoral students at De Montfort University where they could learn about and discuss research ethics. In 2009 he ran a Masters Summer School on the Social Impact of Computing at Gdansk University of Technology, Poland.

Research

Through sharing his IS/IT industrial experience with his students Rogerson realised that current professional practice was having little effect on reducing the risk of IS/IT system failure. This led him to focus his research on new interdisciplinary approaches to IS/IT project management, design and implementation which embraced computer and information ethics. He and Donald Gotterbarn created the Software Development Impact Statement process which encourages those involved in IS/IT project management to consider the wider ramifications of their work. An associated decision support tool, SoDIS Project Auditor was developed and successfully used around the world. As a member of the BCS Ethics Strategic Panel, he was one of the creators of DIODE, an ethical assessment tool for new and emerging technologies. He conceived and co-developed a dependency mapping method for the implementation of technological innovations. Rogerson’s research extended to IS/IT application areas with notable work in electronic voting and personal health monitoring.
A second important focus of Rogerson’s research is professionalism in computing. His book Ethical aspects of information technology: Issues for senior executives, published in 1998 for the Institute of Business Ethics, remains one the few to address ethics of computing from a corporate perspective. He has made significant contributions to the development of professional standards in several computer related bodies. He was a member of the executive team which developed the Association for Computing Machinery / IEEE Computer Society Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice for which he received the IEEE Certificate of Appreciation in 1998. He led the development of the code of ethics for the Institute for the Management of Information Systems and the redevelopment of the Code of Good Practice of BCS, The Chartered Institute of IT. Between 1998 and 2010 Rogerson led a longitudinal survey to explore the attitudes of information systems professionals. It provides a unique snapshot as seen through an ethical lens. Practitioner access to Rogerson’s research was made possible through his regular ETHIcol column which he wrote for the IMIS Journal from 1995 to 2012.

Leadership

Rogerson has been the prime instigator in establishing a computer and information ethics movement in Europe. As founding director of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility his visionary leadership resulted in the ETHICOMP conference series, which he co-directed with Terry Bynum, and the Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society. Professor Krystyna Gorniak, who attended ETHICOMP 95, wrote to Rogerson on 10 April 1995, "… the newly established CCSR is one of the prominent steps towards the creation of a world-wide network of scholars who are concerned about humankind's wellbeing in the age of computers …" CCSR's web site, which was launched in 1997, became the world's leading portal for computer and information ethics. With over 2 million annual visits it remained so until the advent of social media. There have been 15 ETHICOMP conferences to date with around 1,250 papers being presented. The ETHICOMP name has become recognised and respected in the field of computer and information ethics and in 1999 it was registered as a trademark by De Montfort University to control its use and ensure ongoing integrity on behalf of the ETHICOMP community. Now in its fourteenth volume, the Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society aims to promote thoughtful dialogue regarding the wider social and ethical issues related to the planning, development, implementation and use of new media and information and communication technologies
His leadership extends into professional bodies. As chairman of the Institute for the Management of Information Systems he led its incorporation into BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT in 2013. In Europe he was one a five-person commission which undertook the review of FP6 reporting its findings and recommendations to the European Commission. He led the development of the ethics guidelines for the ICT work programme of FP7, making it mandatory for all European Union funded ICT research to address explicitly the ethical issues surrounding prospective research activity.

Key Publications

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2010
2012
2018