Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) was founded on September 15, 1947, as an organization for computer and information professionals. At that time, there was growing interest in the commercial applications of both mechanical and digital computers, although there was little more than speculation that computing technology would become a primary means of global change within the following 50 years.

The ACM publishes an academic journal, Journal of the ACM, which was a primary outlet for computer science research. The group also publishes several magazines for practitioners and students.

Another function of this organization was to promulgate a set of professional standards as the discipline of computer science grew into a plethora of subdisciplines, including software engineering, information security, and others. The organization has 34 special interest groups (SIGs), each devoted to a specific area of practice. There is a strong emphasis and focus on computer hardware and end-user applications. Several of these SIGs hold annual conferences, which have become important venues for presenting research and innovations in related fields. Several of these fields each have an ACM academic journal. These are called the Transactions.

At the association's founding, computing technology had already been used as a powerful military weapon. Computer scientists in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany had participated in a variety of projects to develop faster, more reliable automated equipment for use in cryptography, ballistics, weapons targeting, and other military applications. Computing technology allowed the bureaucracies of the industrialized world's governments to process and store far more information than ever before, more accurately, and at less cost.

On October 16, 1992, the ACM Council adopted a code of ethics and professional conduct, which was [Page 119]developed by a task force of 13 members. (This document replaced a previous code of professional conduct, which was adopted by the ACM in 1982.) The primary purpose of the ACM Code is educational. Thus, the code is normative, with a strong emphasis on deontology and stakeholder theory. The 1992 Code contains 24 statements of personal responsibility for information professionals. These statements are presented as moral imperatives and distributed in four sections: general imperatives, specific imperatives, leadership imperatives, and compliance imperatives.

The general imperatives focus on basic obligations to society. In many ways these principles draw from common laws and professional norms, including intellectual property, trust, privacy, and the avoidance of both personal harm and discrimination.

The second section provides more specific rules for addressing the previous section, including the need for professional competency. The ongoing review of work and performance is a critical area. This includes a professional obligation to honor contracts and agreements.

The third section drew heavily from a draft version of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Code of Ethics. The imperatives for organizational leadership emphasize the duties of executives, managers, and leaders. At the heart of this section is the tension between the limitations and possible uses of computer systems. Users must understand and abide by a statement of acceptable practices that is specific to the organization and its external environment. A special emphasis is placed on the dignity of users and anyone who is affected by each computing system. In this regard, the code appears to acknowledge a stakeholder view of professional and social responsibility.

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