Ignorance Is Not Ethical

Imperative 2.3 of the ACM Code of Ethics is to know and respect existing laws pertaining to professional work. The use of the word "know" is an interesting insertion into this imperative. This implies that, not only are we responsible for upholding the laws which we are aware of. We are also responsible to actively seek to become aware of the laws which we may be ignorant of. I think this is a great ideal because ignorance is irresponsibility. If one has decided to become a professional in a career he should be held accountable for obeying the law within his profession. It should be just as important for a professional to know the cultures, ethics, and laws, in a particular field, as it is for them to know the trade.

Coding is for Girls

The actual statement is 1:23 seconds long. 

There is a 15 second introduction.

Over the Thanksgiving break, millions of people watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. One of the floats which caught my attention was the Goldie Blox float which had the acronym, S.T.E.M, proudly displayed on it. Goldie Blox is a company which makes toys for girls that help develop the necessary skills for the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields. I think this is a great step towards getting rid of that social stigma where people think S.T.E.M careers are meant for men. That way of thinking starts young and I applaud any program which helps children get excited about problem solving. Code.org is another organization which has gotten some good media coverage recently. They have put together an interactive site where children can learn to write code while interacting with the popular “Frozen” movie characters. It starts off with a simple pseudo code game making Elsa move in different directions, and develops from there. I hope that in the future our children both male and female have many opportunities to learn coding skills through play. Most importantly I hope that our society can change, to view coding as a skill which is just as necessary for girls to learn as it is for boys.