Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL ISSUES IN IT
3.4 Risk of New Technology

3.5 Computer Errors and Failure
Content
• Risk of New Technology
• Computer Errors and Failure
• Safety - Critical Application
• Increasing Reliability and Safety
• Dependence, Risk and Progress
Risk
Risk is an uncertain event or outcome (good or

bad) that occurs in decision making
Risk of New Technology
Electricity lets us heat our homes, cook our food,

and enjoy security and entertainment. It also
can kill you if you’re not careful
- “Energy Notes” (Flyer sent with San Diego Gas & Electricity)
Risk of New Technology
• An organization will cope high risks when there
are new technologies being deployed or
employed in the organization.
New Technology Risks
• High cost of maintenance
• Piracy
• Insufficiency of expertise
• Loss of data
• Unachieved goals
• Loss of profit
• Difficult to be adapted
• Inexperienced users
SELF-
REFLECTION….
Error and Failure
The state or condition of being wrong, or do not
function as planned
Overview
The used of technologies in human life is not

always giving benefits to human. It also brings
harms to human especially when it does not
function as planned.
Factors of Computer System Errors
• Faulty design
• Sloppy implementation
• Insufficiency trained users
• Poor user interface
• New Technology
Faulty Design
Sloppy Implementation
Insufficiency trained users
Poor user interface
Migration from old to new technology
Impact of Computers System Errors to
Human
• Safety - Death
• Economic - Loss
• Politic – War
• Education – Fault Information
Case of The Computer System Failure
• Tragedy Description : Deadly Crash
• Problem : The car is accelerating due to
computer system failure
• Date : 02 October 2010
• Location : United States of America
Overview
• A safety critical system is a system where human
safety is dependent upon the correct operation
of the system
Type of Safety – Critical Computer
Systems
• Military
• Power plant
• Medical
• Train
• Aircraft
• Production Industries
WHAT IS REALIBILITY AND SAFETY
RELIABILITY SAFETY
In general, reliability (systemic The word safety refers to

defintion) is the ability of a person or the freedom from danger,
system to perform and maintain its injury and damage, and to
functions in routine circumstances, as personal security
well as hostile or unexpected
circumstances.
Causes of Decreasing Reliability &
Safety
• There are two general factors that makes
computer system fails:
▫ Job is difficult
▫ Job done poorly
 Jobs done poorly can be defines at any of many
stages, from system design and implementation of
system management and use.
 For example :
 Customer of AT&T lost telephone service for voice and
data for 9 hours because of software error in a four
million line program.
OVERCONFIDENCE
• Unappreciative Risk
▫ System developers that appreciative risk will use technique
that are available to build more reliable and safer system.
▫ Safety critical system
▫ Technique to analyze and quantify the risks of failure in a
system
• Ignore warning
▫ People without high regard for honesty sometimes
exaggerate safety to hide flaws, to avoid unfavorable
publicity or to avoid the expense of corrections or lawsuit.
• Don’t consult manual
▫ Some system developers does not consult manual or
technique in developing a system.
Professional Technique
• Professional technique is used to increase the reliability and safety
of system
• Guide and lesson learned that has been encounter by passed
developer
• Best practices in developing safer and reliable system
• Responsible system developer will analyze and learn technique that
is suitable for developing their project.
• For example:
▫ Software engineers who work on safety-critical application should have
special training.
Technique
• User interface and human factor
• Testing
• Redundancy and self checking
User interface and human factors
• Well designed user interfaces can help avoid many
computer-related problems.
• System designers and programmer need to learn
from pyschologist and human factor expert about:
▫ How user interact with the system interfaces
▫ How disable user interact with the system interfaces
▫ Does the different age user,interact with the system
differently.
• Example of failure in user interface:
▫ Crash of American Airlines Flight 965 near Cali,
Columbia, in 1995.
Redundancy and self-checking
• redundancy check - Is a system of checking for errors in
computer functioning
• Example:
▫ Space shuttle in the 1980s
▫ Used 4 indentical but independent computer system that received
input from multiple sensors and checked their result against each
other.
▫ If result from one of the computer is differ from each other.it was
taken out of service. If two of the remaining three judged the
third to be faulty,it was taken out of service, and the rest of the
flight canceled.
• Self checking - Is a system that checks and monitors itself for
errors.
• Even with best practices are followed, there is no guarantee
that such complex system are bug free.
Testing
• Software testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with
information about the quality of the product or service under test.
• Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the
software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of
software implementation
• There are several types of testing:
▫ Alpha
▫ Beta
▫ Functional and non-functional
testing
** non-functional testing (Baseline testing, Compliance testing,
Documentation testing, Endurance testing, Load testing, Localization
testing and Internationalization testing, Performance testing, Recovery
testing, Resilience testing, Security testing, Scalability testing, Stress
testing, Usability testing, Volume testing
Law, regulation & market
• To help consumer seek justice for havoc that
caused by errors and failures of the systems they
used.
Types of approach
• Warranty for consumer software
• Regulation & safety critical
application
• Professional licensing
• Civil penalties
• Warranty for consumer software
▫ Most retail consumer software comes with “shrink wrap” or “click on”
licensing agreements that indicate the consumer has buy the product.
▫ But there is no guarantee that it works corretcly.
▫ Some of the warranty agreement provides:
 Prohibiting user from publically criticizing the software
 Provisions that the vendor may choose the state in which legal disputes
are settled, possibly at great inconvenience to the consumer.
 Legal protection for consumer for the product they purchased.
• Regulation and safety critical appliations
▫ Legislation or regulation that are created to prevent life-threatening
computer failures.
▫ Example:
 Ban of the use of computer control for applications where an error could
be fatal.
• Professional licensing
▫ Another controversial approach to improving software
quality is to mandatory licensing of software
developments professional.
▫ Professional licensing requirement usually include
specific training, the passing of competency exams,
ethical requirement and continuing education.
▫ Desired effect:
 To protect the public from poor quality and unethical
behavior.
• Taking responsibility
▫ Company or business that provide the system or
technology which is failed and damage the customer
pays the customer for the problems or damages.
▫ Good customer relations
ARE WE TOO DEPENDENT ON
COMPUTER?
• Debates about our dependence on computers has been
appears in many discussions of the social impact of
computers.
• Main point in the discussion about our dependece on
computers mainly : Is this good, bad or neutral.
• According to the website : www.debate.org, in their debates
about “Are we too dependent on computers?”. Resulted about
77% of the members agreed and 23% of the member disagree.
• Misconceptions about dependence on computers come from a
poor understanding of the:
▫ Role of risk
▫ Confusion of “dependence” with use
▫ Blaming computers for failures.
• Is the dependence on computers different from the
dependence on electricity? Or is dependence on computers
different from a farmer’s dependent on a plows.
• Computers and plows are tools, we use tools because we
better off with them than without them.
Risk and Progress
• Electricity lets us heat our homes, cook our food,
and enjoy security and entertainment.It also can kill
you if you’re not careful.(Energy notes).
• Most new technologies were not very safe when first
developed.
• As time progress, technologies improve to reduce
the risk
• Risk is not restricted to technology and machines.It
is part of life.
• Someone living in a jungle without any technology
also faces risk danger from animals.

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CHAPTER 3: SOCIAL ISSUES IN IT

3.4 Risk of New Technology

Risk is an uncertain event or outcome (good or

Electricity lets us heat our homes, cook our food,

The used of technologies in human life is not

In general, reliability (systemic The word safety refers to

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