Z/Yen is delighted to announce that Ian Harris has been appointed Chair of BCS, The Chartered Institute For IT’s Ethics Group. As a result, Ian will also join the Institute’s Professionalism Board. Ian has been a member of the Ethics Group for several years now, during the last couple of which he served as a vice-chair. Why ethics groups have someone responsible for vice is a bit of a mystery to most of us, but Ian assures us that it is all right, proper and above board.

Joking aside, one of Ian’s main projects with the Ethics Group has been to lead the development of a meta-methodology for the ethical assessment of new technologies. Coincidentally, almost as if to celebrate Ian’s BCS elevation, the Ethics Group’s paper on that subject has just been published by the Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society. Any Now and Z/Yen readers interested in this groundbreaking and practical work should contact ian_harris@zyen.com – BCS (through Ian) is actively seeking people who want to help test the methodology and/or collaborate in other ways to help take these fascinating ideas forward.