The ICS: Mission on Full Page

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Our Missionw|wOrganisationw|wCode of Conductw|wAffiliations

The ICS: Our Mission

To advance, promote and represent the interests of ICT professionals in Ireland by providing its members with:

An independent representative voice
Independent means of keeping up to date
Resources for professional development
A network of contacts in the ICT sector
Europe-wide professional recognition
Guidance on professional standards.

To advance and promote computer literacy throughout the Irish population by:

Providing a means for current and potential computer users to achieve certified qualifications
Promoting the continuous development and availability of ICT curricula and the use of appropriate information and communications technology throughout the education system
To advance and promote Ireland's economic, educational and cultural participation in the worldwide Information Society.

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How the ICS is Organised

The President

The office of President is an honorary position bestowed by the Society for periods of up to three years.

The Council

The Society is governed by a representative Council consisting of:

Members elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Society
Ex officio members
Representatives of the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) approved by Council
Representatives of geographical groups approved by Council
Representatives of specific membership groups approved by Council
Members co-opted onto the Council for specific functions.

Council elects four Officers - a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson, a Treasurer and a Secretary. Council is responsible to members for the financial and organisational control of the Society. Council's function is to listen to members and work to represent their views, to deliver the services they want and to facilitate social and business interaction among members.

Committees

Committees are appointed as needed by Council to handle detailed matters that cannot practically be dealt with by normal meetings of Council. All members are eligible to become members of Committees subject to approval by Council.

Administration

The business of the Society is managed on behalf of Council by full-time professional staff operating from offices in central Dublin.

ICS Special Interest Groups

The Irish Computer Society has a broad membership base with members from a range of sectors within the profession. In order to maintain our relevance to our members, and to cater for their particular professional needs, the Society creates Special Interest Groups. These special interest groups organise their own activities in consultation with the Council and ICS staff, and the Society assists with administration and operations.

Check out the Network Section for further information.

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Code of Professional Conduct

Professional Members of the Irish Computer Society shall behave in accordance with the principles set out below:

Protection of Public Interest and Legal Compliance

Members shall:

exercise their professional skills in such a way as to safeguard public health, safety and the environment
recognise the rights of third parties and not prejudice the intellectual property rights of others
recognise the rights of individuals and groups to information privacy
take reasonable steps to know and understand the relevant legislation, regulations and standards and comply with such requirements in carrying out their work
recognise basic human rights and endeavour to avoid actions that have an adverse effect on such rights

Responsibility to Employers and Clients

Members shall:

perform professional work that meets the requirements of their employer or client and draw the employer's or client's attention to the consequences of ignoring or overruling the member's professional judgement
perform professional work to time and to budget and notify the employer or client early if such requirements are unlikely to be fulfilled
not offer or provide any inducement to a third party in return for business secured with a client, unless there is full disclosure of the facts to that client
not disclose or authorise the disclosure of confidential information gained in the course of professional work, except with the prior written permission of the employer or client, nor use such information for personal gain

Professional Dignity and Promotion of Professional Aims

Members shall:

protect the reputation of the informatics profession and strive to improve professional standards through personal participation in their development, use and regulation and avoid actions that will adversely affect the good standing of the profession
advance public knowledge and appreciation of informatics and, wherever possible, counter false or misleading statements detrimental to the profession
encourage and support fellow practitioners in their professional development and, where possible, provide opportunities supporting the development of new entrants to the profession
act with integrity towards fellow practitioners and towards members of other professions who may be engaged in related work and avoid any activity that is incompatible with professional status

Competence, Ethics and Impartiality

Members shall:

take reasonable steps to upgrade their personal professional skills and their awareness of relevant informatics developments
avoid claims to levels of competence that they do not possess
accept professional responsibility for work they perform, or performed under direction and not terminate a professional assignment except for good reason and with reasonable notice
avoid situations that give rise to conflict of interest and make full disclosure to clients in advance of any such conflict of interest that may arise

ICS Member Email Conduct

Members shall:

agree that they shall not use the service to upload or email any content that is unlawful, vulgar, offensive, threatening, abusive, harmful, racist, discriminatory or libellous.
agree not to upload, email or otherwise transmit content that is not permissible under law or infringes on any patent or copyright laws and/or other proprietary rights.
agree not to upload, email or otherwise transmit any unsolicited material or unauthorised advertising “spam” mail.
agree not to use the service for any purpose that violates local, national or international law.

These principles conform to the recommendations of the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS).

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International and Strategic Affiliation

The Irish Computer Society is an active participant and member of the following professional organisations.

Council Of European Professional Informatics Societies

Unites 34 Professional Informatics Societies over 29 European Countries and is the voice of more then 200.000 ICT Professionals.

CEPIS encourages ICT literacy and best practice in the Information Society Promotes acceptance of professional standards for ICT Professionals Through these, CEPIS enhances ICT professionalism and the role that ICT plays in modern society

http://www.cepis.org

International Federation For Information Processing

IFIP IFIP is a non-governmental, non-profit umbrella organization for national societies working in the field of information processing. It was established in 1960 under the auspices of UNESCO as an aftermath of the first World Computer Congress held in Paris in 1959. Today, IFIP has several types of Members and maintains friendly connections to specialized agencies of the UN system and non-governmental organizations. Technical work, which is the heart of IFIP's activity, is managed by a series of Technical Committees.

http://www.ifip.or.at

ICS Skills

The Irish Computer Society founded ICS Skills (formerly known as ECDL Ireland). ICS Skills, a not-for-profit organisation, is a national body with a range of IT skills programmes from basic PC-user skills to IT Professional skills.

ICS SKILLS has accredited over 1100 test centres throughout the country to deliver training and certification programmes to its quality standards. Its training programmes range from absolute beginners level to advanced IT professionals.

As the training and certification body of the Irish Computer Society, ICS Skills is also intimately involved in initiatives to mitigate the current skills shortage in Ireland. These projects include F1 in Schools, ChooseIT and the Interactive Whiteboard Project. It is through these programmes that we aim to encourage the uptake of technology subjects in schools.

http://www.ics-skills.ie

Affiliates: The following professional organisations are affiliated to the Irish Computer Society.

Healthcare Informatics Society Of Ireland (HISI)

HISI In May 1996 the members of the Health Care Specialist Group formed a new society, the Healthcare Informatics Society of Ireland (Cumann Ríomheolais Sláinte), in order to broaden the base of membership and increase the range of services offered. By formal agreement with the Irish Computer Society, the Health Care Specialist Group was disbanded, and its functions, assets and liabilities transferred to the new Society, which then became affiliated to the Irish Computer Society.

http://www.hisi.ie

Visually-Impaired Computer Society Of Ireland (VICS)

VICS VICS, the Visually-Impaired Computer Society of Ireland is a Special Interest Group of the Irish Computer Society and was founded in 1986 by a number of blind and visually-impaired computer programmers based in the Dublin area. It was established mainly to meet the needs of blind and visually-impaired computer users in the area of general computer access, to provide support to those who were new to computers and to encourage employers in both the private and public sectors to consider the potential of blind and visually-impaired employees enabled by new liberating technologies. VICS also actively pursues developers of new software in an effort to ensure compliance in the area of access.