Role of the ITP Code in setting professional standards
The ITP Code’s role in setting professional standards extends beyond technical competence, emphasizing ethical behaviour and responsibility.
Key aspects include:
Integrity and good faith: The Codes require members to act with honesty and transparency in all professional dealings. They also mandate that members consider the cultural sensitivities of all groups affected by their work.
Community focus: ITP members are expected to prioritize the public interest and community welfare over personal or sectional interests. This principle ensures that technology development benefits society broadly and mitigates potential harm.
Professional competence: Practitioners are required to maintain and enhance their skills through continuous professional development (CPD). This ensures the delivery of high-quality, up-to-date work.
Confidentiality and respect for clients: Professionals must safeguard client information and respect their interests. This includes avoiding conflicts of interest and only accepting assignments they are qualified for.
Accountability: The Codes hold IT professionals accountable for their work, their decisions, and their impact. The ITP provides a formal process for investigating complaints of misconduct.
Strengthening ethical IT practices through bi-cultural principles
Bi-cultural principles, particularly those derived from the Māori worldview (te ao Māori), provide a powerful framework for enhancing IT ethics and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Incorporating these principles adds culturally specific and holistic considerations to standard ethical guidelines.
Respecting indigenous data and cultural values
Māori Data Sovereignty recognizes the inherent right of Māori to control and govern their own data, considering it a taonga (a valued and treasured thing).
Strengthening ethical practices requires IT professionals to:
Recognize data as a taonga: IT practitioners must move beyond standard data security protocols to recognize that Māori data has a special cultural significance. Data systems must be designed with extra care and consideration for its unique value.
Understand whakapapa (genealogy) of data: Ethical practice involves understanding the origin and context of data. This requires collecting accurate metadata that details the data’s provenance, purpose, and collection context, helping to protect against future misuse or harm.
Empower Māori governance (Rangatiratanga): Ethical practice means consulting with Māori and involving them in decision-making regarding data. This ensures that Māori have a say in how their data is created, collected, and used, which promotes their self-determination and self-governance.
Practice kaitiakitanga (guardianship): IT professionals act as guardians of the data they manage. For Māori data, this means storing and transferring it in ways that reinforce Māori control and protection. A key consideration is storing Māori data in Aotearoa New Zealand, where it is subject to local laws, rather than overseas cloud services.
Embrace manaakitanga (reciprocity): The collection and use of data must uphold the dignity of Māori communities and provide tangible, collective benefits. Ethical practice avoids data analysis that could stigmatize or harm Māori and ensures consent processes are respectful and collaborative.
Applying bi-cultural principles to IT projects
Beyond data, applying bi-cultural principles to IT projects can lead to more inclusive and respectful outcomes.
Partnership: Aligning with the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) means engaging in genuine partnership with Māori. This goes beyond simple consultation to include Māori perspectives and expertise in all stages of a project’s lifecycle.
Informed consent (manaakitanga): The principle of respecting people must be approached through a bi-cultural lens. Ethical consent practices ensure that individuals and the collectives they belong to (e.g., whānau, hapū, iwi) are fully informed and have a voice in decisions. Consent processes should recognize the collective nature of some Māori data.
Equity (tika): Justice requires fair and equitable treatment, addressing historical and systemic inequities. Ethical IT practices strive to reduce inequalities, rather than exacerbating them. For example, designing digital services must consider issues of accessibility and digital literacy for all communities.