Legal social ethical and professional issues

When developing any system that involves the use of human interaction, there will be several issues regarding legality, sociability, ethics and professionalism.

The topic at hand is to develop a Web page for the domestic airliner “Fly Greenwich” considering accessibility and usability; as there will be a variety of people from different cultures using this information it’s important to considerâ€¦

â€¢ Legal issues regarding the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Data Protection Act 1998. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 was introduced to defeat the victimization of people with disabilities.

As Web pages and computers are predominantly designed for the able bodied person, services and facilities using the Web have failed to remember to cater for all members of society preventing them from acquiring the same services as other individuals. Since the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 has come into power certain rules and regulations have been put in place to stop the effects of discrimination against disability. Quotes from the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 regarding adjustments to goods, facilities and services have been stated.

[23] “(2) Where a physical feature makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled persons to make use of such a service, it is the duty of the provider of that service to take such steps as it is reasonable, in all the circumstances of the case, for him to have to take in order to-

(a) remove the feature;

(b) alter it so that it no longer has that effect;

(c) provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature; or

(d) provide a reasonable alternative method of making the service in question available to disabled persons.

4) Where an auxiliary aid or service (for example, the provision of information on audio tape or of a sign language interpreter) would-

(a) enable disabled persons to make use of a service which a provider of services provides, or is prepared to provide, to members of the public, or

(b) facilitate the use by disabled persons of such a service,”

It’s now compulsory to implement a range of accessibility and usability functions for people with disabilities, failure to comply can result in the matter being resolved in court. The full legislation of the act can be found at the Office of Public Sector Information.

(http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/ukpga_19950050_en_1)

©Copyright laws were introduced to restrict other people from copying and reproducing their work and claiming it to be their own e.g. plagiarism.

As The Internet allows users the freedom to view and copy a large amount of information from all around the world it’s hard to police this issue effectively. The feature many Web pages have incorporated is a brief statement informing users that they must identify the source of information they have copied; in the event that any person fails to acknowledge the law, the matter may result in being resolved in court.

â„¢ Trademark laws have been incorporated into various businesses, companies and corporations so that the iconic names, symbols and reputations they have built and developed of time cannot be illegally copied e.g. Coca-Cola, Nike, Sony, Microsoft, Face book, etcâ€¦

If any person, company, establishment or business fails to acknowledge the law, the matter may result in being resolved in court.

If these laws were not introduced there’s no doubt there would be a huge mêlée over who owns what, not forgetting the financial disputes many companies would encounter.

(Fracas between Hackney Council and Nike due to Trademark and Copyright theft)

A article regarding a identical infringement of ©Copyright and â„¢ Trademark laws can be seen via the link below or Appendix B Page 61

(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-404698/Hackney-Council-wins-logo-dispute-Nike.html)

â€¢ Professional and social issues can be combined to address the constraints of localisation, globalisation and internationalisation.

As interacting with technology and the Web has become a social occupation in this current era, it can be claimed from a professional point of view that its good practice to consider the scale or magnitude of the service provided to accommodate the vast diversities known in the United Kingdom. The ability to acknowledge the choice of language, abbreviations, content, layout and customs according to social environments of the service provided and the professional manner in which the service is represented is vital.

â€¢ Ethics looks at the moral standards in which the Web page can be developed, taking into consideration diversity. Diversity amongst human beings ranges from dyslexia, visual impairment, language barriers, cultural differences, physical or mental disability. When designing a Web page it’s important to investigate features that may cause offence to others; being polite to their feelings. It’s vital to develop, investigate and build a Web page, whilst applying a moral and ethical balance to all proceedings.

4.2 Compatibility

Looking at the aspects of HCI and ID, it’s important to ensure that communication between human, computer and other digital devices is compatible with one another.

The term compatibility can be described as harmony, agreement or synchronization; working together as one in complete tandem.

As technology progresses according to ‘Moore’s law’, the rate in which humans may or may not update their own means of technology varies. Due to the dynamic improvements made in the technology forefront, it’s important to build and develop software, hardware and Web pages which are compatible across different versions or editions of operating systems, hardware and Web browsers e.g. PC & Mac, Linux & Windows Vista, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari, etcâ€¦

As the compatibility issues regarding HCI and ID, are based on the development of Web pages in this particular topic, it’s possible to claim that the implementation of CSS (Cascading style sheets) is a compulsory factor in ensuring compatibility. As there are many editions and versions of Web browsers using their own set of instruction or directives the implementation of CSS (Cascading style sheets) is important as the layout, font, colours, etc… remain the same no matter what Web browser is used opposed to that of fiddling around with HTML tables e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Safari, etcâ€¦

Regarding compatibility issues in greater reference to ID, it can be said that the use of the Web page; specifically the commands used to operate operations using the mouse and keyboard of a Mac or PC are vastly different from one another. It’s important to understand and consider the different operation commands that can be used and tailor make them suited to all formats and people of different cultures.

Looking at [Image 6-8] it can be seen that different cultures adapt different keyboard layouts. Considering the keyboard layout it’s important to use universal keys that are positioned in the same place on a global scale to ensure global compatibility e.g. tab key, 123456 and enter

4 Functionality

4.1 Legal, social, ethical and professional issues