The ACM is the leading organization for computer scientists. In that role they have defined an ethical code for their members. This is the ultimate “Why? What? How?” set of issues. In thinking about yourself as a computer scientist or engineer, can you think of examples of situations to answer the questions below?

• Why? As a professional or soon-to-be professional, it is important to think about the role and value of your work in society. The ACM proposes a set of roles that they believe are important. As you read this, think about whether you agree with the ACM’s reasoning or whether you believe in a different set of roles and responsibilities for you and your work.

• What? In the context of the roles and responsibilities that you believe define for yourself and your colleagues, how can that be carried out? In what ways do you imagine you can and will carry out your role and values in the practice of computer science?

• How? How might you carry that out and evaluate your effectiveness in carrying out those roles and values? For yourself, can you think of examples of situations in which you or someone you know made a choice of values, what you or they did to make that happen and how you might think about whether the values were realized? How do those values reflect and fit into the larger society in which we all live?