Information EthicsNovember 17, 2015

How Can We Talk About Ethics?

Respect the rules.

Consider the consequences.

Cultivate Excellence.

Respect the Rules

Respect the Rules

This way of talking about ethics is primarily concerned with duty and obligation.

It assumes that there are rules that cover all situations and the ethical person’s *duty* is to follow the rules.

Immanuel Kant’s Categorial Imperative

Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.

Critics say: “But I was only following orders.”

Consider the Consequences

Consider the Consequences

This school of ethics assumes that the ethics of a choice are measured in the consequences of that choice.

People are required to be conscious and considerate before they act.

Consider the Consequences

A morally right act is one that produces desirable outcomes.

Critics say: “The end justifies the means.”

Cultivate Excellences

Cultivate Excellences

Virtue Ethics: “What are the virtues of practices?”

Eudaemonia: Human flourishing, happiness

Critics say: These are squishy ethics and hard to enforce.

Small Group Exercise

Generate Ethics Guidelines

For information organization practices including authority (2nd order) and miscellaneous (3rd order) develop ethical guidelines to promote good outcomes and prevent bad outcomes. These may be rules, guidelines, or other.

The Filter Bubble

http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles

Google Search: Hyper-visibility as a Means of Rendering Black Women and

Girls Invisible