Information Ethics

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 • [email protected]• 215-895-1532• http://infoethicist.blogspot.com