Colin Potts

Georgia Tech, School of Interactive Computing

Portrait of the artist with teapots
How to get me
Where to get me
by email potts@cc.gatech.edu
by phone (+1) (404) 894-5551
by foot Tech Square Research Building, Room 339
by mail School of Interactive Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Technology Square Research Building, 85 5th Street,
Atlanta, GA, 30332-0760
by fax (+1) (404) 894-0673

Professional awareness of the social implications of computing

Professional education. I am course owner for CS 4001, our professional "ethics" course. Most students think of it as the ethics course, because it is required for graduation and the ethics component in part meets our B.S. degree's accreditation requirement. However, there is more to 4001 than theoretical or applied ethics - or, to put it differently, its perspective on ethics is broader than most ethics courses that deal only with professional dilemmas like whistleblowing or conflicts of interest. The aim of the course is also to inculcate a concern with the social consequences of computing technology and a sense of responsibility for those consequences among new practitioners. Among the topics we cover are Computing as artificial metaphysics. Whenever we propose a database schema, draw a UML diagram, or use XML, we are positing or acceding to theory of what categories are relevant and meaningful in a problem domain. Examples of this are found everywhere. Time management software discloses a theory of time and its meaning in people's lives (see the features page for more research on this). Election machinery imposes one of several contested accounts of what a vote is (e.g. an inscription of the will of the people versus an operational definition of what a voter's intention actually is.) What computing professionals do - often grudgingly, subconsciously and not very well - when they design features and reflect customer requirements is precisely what analytic philosophers do when they analyze concepts. This is a relatively new interest of mine, and I am interested in any methods or discourse that surfaces ontological assumptions embedded in designs and advances our understanding of practice.

Relevant publications