Post on 14-Jan-2016
Information EthicsDr. Marti Smith, The College of Information Science and Technology, Drexel UniversityJanuary, 2006
Information EthicsUse slides with acknowledgement.
Information Ethics Today:Family Members, Citizens, Professionals, and Public Policy Makers
Defining Information Ethics
• Information ethics is a field of applied ethics that addresses the uses and abuses of information, information technology, and information systems for personal, professional, and public decision-making. (Elrod and Smith, 2005) ESTE.
• ICIE http://icie.zkm.de
Information Ethics-- Examples
• For example, may I download someone else’s intellectual property like pictures or music?
• Should librarians ever remove controversial books from the shelves or monitor users’ Internet searching?
• Under what circumstances should the results of scientific research be publicly available?
Five Major Areas of Concern
Ownership
Professional Codes of Ethics
.American Library Association (http://www.ala.org) Explicit commitment to intellectual freedom, privacy, and service.
• American Medical Association (CSEP) Patient right to receive information http://www.ama-assn.org/
• American Society for Information Science and Technology (http://www.asis.org ) Multiple responsibilities to employers, clients, users, profession, and society
Codes
• American Society for Public Administration (CSEP) Whistle blower policy statement.
• Association for Computing Machinery (http://www.acm.org ) Identifies 24 imperatives as the elements of a personal commitment to ethical professional conduct.
UDHR: Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
UNESCO InfoEthics
• http://www.unesco.org • Information Ethics• The Information Society
Hot Topics in the News
• Google and China• Google and the Bush Administration• Healthcare Information, DNA, and
Cloning• Surveillance Technologies in the
Workplace• The Open-Source Movement• Internet Regulation
Potter Box and Decision-Making
• Potter Box Model (See attached handout)
EPIC: Electronic Privacy Information Center
• EPIC http://www.epic.org
ACLU: Civil Liberties
•http://www.aclu.org
Wikipedia
• Why Wikipedia?• The Internet• Evaluating information sources• Access to information• Open Source and collaborative
knowledge building• Social networking and communities of
practice• http://www.wikipedia.com
Contact Information
• Dr. Marti Smith• College of Information Science and
Technology, Drexel University, Philadelphia,
• http://www.ischool.drexel.edu • marti.smith@ischool.drexel.edu• 215-895-1532• http://infoethicist.blogspot.com