Ethics in the Wild

Jennie and Terry speak with former Anchorage Municipal Attorney and former Anchorage Municipal Manager Bill Falsey. They discuss how the adversarial nature of legal practice relates to ethics, and how having an organization as a client is different when that client is a government. Jennie is a bit under the weather, but Ted will fix that in post.

Links and resources:

• Alaska Rules of Professional Conduct: https://courts.alaska.gov/rules/docs/prof.pdf
• Alaska Court View: https://courts.alaska.gov/main/search-cases.htm
• The Municipality of Anchorage Board of Ethics website is here (note that Terry is one of the members): https://www.muni.org/Departments/Assembly/Ethics/pages/default.aspx
• If you've never watched Schoolhouse Rock, do yourself a favor. Bill mentioned "The Preamble:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_NzZvdsbWI

It's getting difficult (or impossible) to avoid interacting with computing and algorithms these days. How computing and algorithms affect (and will continue to affect) our lives is much in the news, especially as relates to social media and artificial intelligence (AI). Today, Jennie and Terry speak with Kenrick Mock, Dean of the UAA College of Engineering and computer scientist. We discuss what it's like to be part of a profession that is in the process of professionalizing even as we speak. Kenrick helps us with some definitions, and then we discuss ethical issues in computing, including pitfalls with machine learning, data privacy, and what happens when our bias makes it into our algorithms.

Links and resources:

• We asked Kenrick to send us some good articles that would introduce non-computer scientists to issues with algorithms and ethics. Here's what he sent us:

• https://theconversation.com/do-social-media-algorithms-erode-our-ability-to-make-decisions-freely-the-jury-is-out-140729

• https://montrealethics.ai/social-media-algorithms-the-code-behind-your-life/

• https://erc.europa.eu/projects-figures/stories/ethics-and-ai-tackling-biases-hidden-big-data

• British Computer Society (BCS) Code of Conduct for members: https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/become-a-member/bcs-code-of-conduct/

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society Code of Ethics for Software Engineers: https://www.computer.org/education/code-of-ethics

• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct: https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/membership/images2/fac-stu-poster-code.pdf

• Terry mentions that the Therac-25 case was a landmark that showed the need for ethics in the computing professions – you can read up on the details here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac-25

• The film that Kenrick mentions, Coded Bias, explores a specific case in which a facial recognition tool did not recognize dark-skinned faces because it was trained exclusively on light-skinned faces, and explores other cases of bias being incorporated into algorithms: https://www.codedbias.com/

• Jennie mentions the Post No Evil episode of Radiolab, which does a great job of framing up how difficult content moderation on social media really is: https://radiolab.org/podcast/post-no-evil

• Finally, if you're not familiar with Grace Hopper, do yourself a favor and check out the life and times of Grandma COBOL herself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper

Jennie and Terry speak with Sean Parnell, former Lt. Governor of Alaska, former Governor of Alaska, current Chancellor of UAA, and former practicing attorney in Alaska. We discuss ethics in the legal profession, including some characteristics unique to Alaska (such as working in a young state without a lot of settled legal precedent). We then discuss the ethics that executives have to follow, including another former politician's take on the role of lobbyists. If you've never heard of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, learn about it here!

Links

• The Alaska Bar Association's page on the Bar Exam: https://admissions.alaskabar.org/admission-bar-examination
• The American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_pro fessional_conduct/model_rules_of_professional_conduct_table_of_contents/
• The Alaska Bar Association's list of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers can be found here: https://alaskabar.org/for-lawyers/pro-bono/pro-bono-legal-service-providers/
• Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act: https://law.alaska.gov/doclibrary/ethics/EthicsAct.html

Jennie and Terry pick the brain of Alaska State House District 16 Representative Ivy Sponholz. We discuss what it really means when legislators say that they work for their constituents, and the role of lobbying in governance. Ivy points out the importance of a professional legislative staff and professional wages for legislators as a means for building and maintaining expertise. The group also covers the history and current politics surrounding Alaska's Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD), and how the Alaska constitution relates to abortion.

Links and resources:

• Ivy's website: https://www.ivyforalaska.com/home

• The website of the Alaska State Legislature: https://akleg.gov/

• There is an interesting discussion on the importance of legislative staff in building and maintaining expertise. Here is one resource on legislative staff sizes in the various U.S. states: https://www.ncsl.org/about-state-legislatures/size-of-state-legislative-staff

• Terry mentions the NPR podcast Midnight Oil, on Alaska's history as an oil state. Here's a link to that podcast and its most recent episode: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532251021/midnight-oil-the-big-thaw

Jennie and Terry speak with Julia O'Malley, a local journalist in Anchorage, Alaska. We learn that journalism is, in her opinion, more a craft than a profession, with an important cultural role to play and therefore extensive considerations for ethics. We discuss the drastic changes that journalism currently faces, and one of the biggest problems with resources drying up at the local level (turns out FOIA requests take serious resources). We also discuss Julia's role as a professor of journalism and how she discusses journalistic responsibility and ethics with her students. Links and resources:

• Julia O'Malley's web page: https://www.juliaomalley.com/about/
• Julia's film recommendation: Spotlight, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotlight_(film)
• NPR Ethics Handbook: https://www.npr.org/series/688409791/npr-ethics-handbook/archive
• New York Times Ethical Journalism: A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Opinion Departments: https://www.nytimes.com/editorial-standards/ethical-journalism.html#
• Washington Post Policies and Standards: https://www.washingtonpost.com/policies-and- standards/

Jennie and Terry speak with Joe Sarcone, Assistant Professor and Director of Environmental Public Health at Alaska Pacific University. We learn about the professional credentials created for professionals in this area by the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA), and the degree requirements (they involve a LOT of science). What really stands out about this conversation, though, is Dr. Sarcone's extensive experience working with people from other cultures and communities. How can professionals build trust when working with communities who might have very different cultural frameworks surrounding what constitutes respect and expertise, and who may have been burned by other agencies and professionals before?

Links and resources:

• The APU BS in Environmental Public Health webpage: https://www.alaskapacific.edu/programs/environmental-public-health/
• Professional credentials offered by NEHA: https://www.neha.org/professional- development/credentials/

Terry and Jennie talk to David Brock, Professional Land Surveyor (PLS), and Term Assistant Professor of Geomatics at UAA (also Jennie's husband). We learn that for land surveyors, determining locations on the earth is only part of the job – the legal implications of who has a right to occupy and use the land are as important. David presents a case study that began as a boundary dispute between neighbors and eventually led to the reveal of a major legal loophole with respect to the Alaska Society of Professional Land Surveyors (ASPLS) Standards of Practice. It's ultimately a story of what happens when a profession tries to police itself and the (legal) rubber hits the road.

Links and Resources

• Alaska State Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers, and Land Surveyors (AELS): https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/ProfessionalLicensing/BoardofArchitectsEngineersandLandSurveyors.aspx

• Alaska Society of Professional Land Surveyors (ASPLS) Code of Ethics: https://www.alaskapls.org/ethics

• ASPLS Standards of Practice Manual: https://www.alaskapls.org/standards; Chapter 5 includes a link to Surveying Related Statues & Administrative Codes directly linked to the state legislative website.

Terry and Jennie speak with Graham Dane, Adjunct Professor of Art at UAA and full-time professional painter. We start with whether the fine arts are a profession and go from there. We discuss how artists are trained, and power dynamics in the fine arts. How do the dizzying sums that individual art pieces can sell for affect the art world? What is the difference between an homage and a forgery? How are the internet and social media causing paradigm shifts? We discuss all this and more.

Links and Resources

• Graham's webpage: https://www.grahamdane.com/

• Dreaming with Open Eyes: The Shamanic Spirit in Twentieth Century Art and Culture, by Michael Tucker: https://www.amazon.com/Dreaming-Open-Eyes-Twentieth-Psychology/dp/1855381842

• For more information on Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art, see: https://www.netflix.com/title/81406333

Abraham Flexner circa 1910, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Flexner

Donna Aguiniga returns to discuss Abraham Flexner's infamous-to-social-workers speech at the National Conference of Charities and Correction (Baltimore, 1915) titled "Is Social Work a Profession?" Spoiler alert: in his opinion, no. Jennie, Terry, and Donna discuss the history of professionalization, how the experience of professionalization was different for fields dominated by women, and how Flexner's speech had positive and negative ramifications for social work as a profession for decades after the speech was given. How is professionalism and how we think of professionals shaped by the prevailing culture, and what does this mean for emerging professional fields today?

Links and resources:

• A transcript of the Flexner speech is here: https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/social-work/is-social-work-a-profession-1915/

• Austin, David M. "The Flexner Myth and the History of Social Work." Social Service Review 57, no. 3 (1983): 357–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30011656.

Terry and Jennie talk with Mark Carr, Regional Director of Ethics for Providence Hospital. We discuss how ethics committees work in hospitals, and just what the Joint Commission is. Mark talks about what we learned, and what changes we had to make, during the pandemic. Mark and Terry are both experts in the area of medical ethics, so be prepared for a fascinating (and quite wonky) discussion about how we prioritize healthcare resources as a society during a crisis.

Links and resources:

• Ethical Framework for Transitions Between Conventional, Contingency, and Crisis Conditions in Pervasive or Catastrophic Public Health Events with Medical Surge Implications, Minnesota Crisis Standards of Care: https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/ep/surge/crisis/framework_transitions.pdf

• The Area Deprivation Index, from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health: https://www.neighborhoodatlas.medicine.wisc.edu/

The CDC Social Vulnerability Index: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/index.html