Let's now move onto a discussion of "ethics education." Our mail list technical moderator, Steve Wooldridge, will lead the discussion. Steve is a Ph.D. student in the University of Michigan's School of Information and Library Studies. He earned both bachelor's (mathematics) and master's (library science) degrees from Indiana University in the 1970s. He has worked as a school librarian, a media librarian for two Catholic colleges in Baltimore, and a media librarian at the University of California, Irvine.
Steve's interests are in the cognitive aspects of novices in new environments as well as human computer interaction issues and the design of more effective interfaces for better information products as well as information retrieval.
Steve has a long-standing interest in the ethical implications of technology. Despite the American Thanksgiving holiday this coming weekend, Steve and I expect a lively and spirited discussion.
Departments and schools involved in the training of librarians are coping with rapidly evolving information technologies. As with any technology, they have an impact on organizations and well as the larger society that adopt such technologies. Many times technology has positive impacts but often there are unintended side effects. (A good book that provides much food for thought is Neil Postman's "Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology").
A host of interesting issues arise surrounding information flow over a variety of information technologies including, but certainly not limited to:
For example, who among us who is a heavy user of E-mail has not both praised and cursed some the effects of such technology? How many of us have wondered?
The real purpose of our discussion over the next two weeks is to address these questions:
However, I'd like to repost the questions I posed in the introduction so that we can stimulate some discussion that we can take up again once we return from the Thanksgiving break. (Apologies to our Canadian neighbors who celebrate Thanksgiving in October and other countries where it is celebrated at different times, but we have a very large number of U.S. subscribers from universities.)
I would like to bring up two texts that are well-worth looking at since they raise some interesting issues about the promises of information technology and bring up some of the "darker aspects" of such technologies that raise some broad questions about the impact of information technology as well as some very interesting ethical questions.
The first book is Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Information Technology by Neil Postman (chair of Communication Arts at New York University) (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, ISBN 0-394-58272-1).
The second book is Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway by Clifford Stoll (author of the Cuckoo's Egg). (NY: Doubleday, 1995, ISBN 0-385-41993-7).
The questions that I raised concerning ethics in the curriculum are:
OK, I'll be a sport. I read this when it first came out and will have to dredge comments from memory (since I borrowed it from a public library -- oops, I mean "cyberspace community information system module").
I thought this book had some interesting points, but overall my impression was that Stoll needs to give it a rest and do something else for a while. I suggest Stoll needs what I recommended for Michael Hart last month (in a post to PACS-L): Stoll needs to turn off his computer, find a bee-loud glade, commune with nature, take more vitamins and read a couple of good books. He's right that the OPAC for UC Berkeley, and many OPACs in general, are hard to use, and the thread on PACS-L related to this discussion was terrific (a DRA person wanted librarians to protest this book, but librarians responded that they AGREED with Stoll on this point). But does this really portend doom and gloom for the future of technology, and what does this have to do with ethics? And was it really such a big newsflash that walking through a real cave is different than using a computer? The naive astronomer squeals with dismay as he gets his little hands dirty! Get over yourself, Clifford! And does he have such limited imagination and insight that he couldn't see the tools he was critiquing were changing under his very nose? Or -- hmmmmmmm -- did the lure of becoming the Luddite King prove too tempting? I give it a C- and instruct the author to seek professional help if he can't change his behavior on his own.
If you're taking a straw poll on ethics, BTW, I'm all in favor of 'em. ;-)
However, I think that the silence bespeaks the fact that "information" is ethically neutral. So there is really nothing to say.
In search terms, "information and ethics" produces zero hits.
One of the difficulties that people may be having is that we haven't yet discussed the place of ethics in the LIS curriculum in general. If we had, we might already have had some answers. Information technology offers some particular and idosyncratic challenges, but decisions about them must be based on an ethical grounding in general.
To answer some of the questions posed ...
>2. How should those of us involved in information technology handle ethics education? Should there be a specific course? Should it be an elective? Should it be required? Should it be handled within other courses? Should it not be covered at all?
In practical terms, offering a separate course would not work. There are already too many courses to take in too little time. Adding another separate required course would remove ability to take other needed courses. Offering it as an elective would let people -- professors and students alike -- off the hook. A consideration of ethical issues must be incorporated into the discussions and course plan of every course offered ... whether it be in information technology, information transfer, management of libraries, bibliographic control, ... anything.
A few years ago there was a message posted on the cataloging list, AUTOCAT in which a student asked for assistance. He (she? ... I don't remember) said that he had to write a paper about ethical issues in librarianship, and he was doing just fine but he couldn't think of a single issue related to cataloging that had an ethical component other than "bias in formulating subject headings." I was appalled, and responded with a very long posting, and was also inspired to write and deliver a rather long paper. Everything we do has ethical aspects. Cataloging and the management of cataloging and technical services is positively bristling with them, just as is every other aspect of library and information work.
It is apparent, however, that ethical considerations don't immediately leap out at people. People can be involved for years in a field and never see them. Perhaps this is because LIS courses hardly cover them and don't often point them out. Perhaps it is because many people simply don't "make connections." Whatever the reason, those who do see the ethical issues and who believe that the field and its denizens should operate ethically, especially when they are responsible for the education and acculturation of others, have a responsibility to incorporate coverage of ethics into whatever they teach. ... it's the ethical thing to do.
>3. Who should be involved in ethics education? Library schools? Professional organizations/societies? Libraries?
Every one of the above, and such education should include the message that it is each individual's responsibility to "educate" as well. The library users, the nonlibrary administrators we answer to, the staff who work in our libraries who have not attended library school ... all of these groups also need to be educated about the ethics of what goes in in the information professions -- even when that education takes place one instant at a time.
>4. What would be the value in teaching our students about the ethical issues surrounding information technology including analyzing the impact of technology in organizations they work in or perhaps more importantly in society at large?
Perhaps we would begin to develop a group of people who behaved ethically! ... and who brought their ethical understandings to whatever they did. People who understood that the decisions they make are influenced by values, and that they cannot get away with saying "I had no choice ... the numbers determined my action", but instead must at least acknowledge that if they let the numbers determine their action, it was because they were valuing numbers over other factors.
>5. What should the content of ethics education cover? What types of issues are the most important to cover?
Personal responsibility.
Insofar as these ethics reflect upon our sense of ethics as LIS professionals, yes.
>5. What should the content of ethics education cover? What types of issues are the most important to cover?
IMHO one potentially crucial ethical question regarding technology is the adoption of proprietary standards as they relate to Internet use, and as such standards clash with some of our implicit ethics as LIS professionals. The recent GIF format controversy touches on this question. I have, as well, noticed that the Government Publishing Office (I'm working in an Electronic Documents section of a Depository library) has begun encoding almost all of its documents in the relatively new Adobe PDF format. One can view these documents, but to create them one must have the proprietary Adobe software. This sort of situation may only increase in frequency from here.
It would seem that LIS professionals might have some potentially large role to play in helping to keep exchange standards open. This is certainly a question of ethics which relates directly to issues facing the evolution of the Internet today.
Only one very small-scale ethical question here, but thought it might provide one possible jumping-off point...
Ethics is a necessary part of any curriculum, paricularly in the information sciences. Basic definitions of ethics such as that of Webster's New World Dictionary -- "the study of standards of conduct and moral judgement. ... the system or code of morals of a particular person, religion, group, profession, etc."
My interpretation of the meaning of ethics is that it's about how we treat each other. It is above and beyond the technology. The computer like atomic energy, can be used against humanity, as well as for it. There are questions that we as information professionals would do well to formulate responses to before those responses are made for us.
Information, is a tool, a commodity. Withholding information, giving incomplete or incorrect information, corrupting information, are all techniques we face daily from the government, the press, our doctors, our spouses and children. The use of information is an ethical concern.
Confidentiality, privacy, informed consent, censorship, freedom-of- information -- these are issues which require an ethical framework for information professionals to make decisions, choose directions, take a stand.
And last but not least, there is the question of equal access. The information have-nots are the new underclass -- kept out of the loop -- by lack of access which we are fortunate to come by through our academic and employment associations.
I studied ethics with Father Stephen Almagno at SLIS - University of Pittsburgh, in two classes where the debate frequently grew hot and heavy. The idea, is that we should consider that we have choices, alternatives in facing the dilemmas of the workplace and employ ethics in our decision making. That requires that we consider the effects of our words and actions on the lives of those known and unknown to us, who may be affected.
We have to take responsibility -- as a profession -- for the way that information will be used in the future -- for or against us.
I agree, Pearl ... and my last post was suggesting that perhaps few people think otherwise. But I wonder, how can ethics be taught so people learn it, believe it, and practice it?
I think real-world examples are critical -- for example, discussing concrete examples of privacy violations, responses to challenges, and so forth. So is real-world education, such as teaching students how easy it is to record what people are doing when they log in to your site, and discussing the implications of this, including practical responses. Making it easy for faculty to work "in the field" for a few months every few years or so might help here. Probably few things are more useless than the dictum, "be good," without clear-cut, current examples of what that means.
But I also wonder just how much we can teach and how much is innate. The ability to practice ethics when there are countervailing forces comes from education -- e.g., I know how to respond in a given situation; I understand the factors, I have the managerial skills to implement my plan --but also a certain moral strength -- e.g., this is the right thing to do right now, even if it is inconvenient, uncomfortable or otherwise difficult. In some ways I think this is a recruitment issue.
I monitor a discussion list where it is not unheard of for a librarian to say, "I'm thinking of buying X book -- has it been challenged in your library?" Clearly, teaching people how to prepare for and respond to challenges is important. But once you've done that, in a profession where we have no way of enforcing accountability, how do we ensure people will do the right thing if they aren't wired for this kind of behavior?
Ethics! Who would think that a group of professionals so committed to service, free and/or public access to information, and higher education could be so "at odds" on such a basic idea?
I work for Uncle Sam, and those who have experience with government agencies, whether it be the Government Printing Office, Army or Coast Guard, know that there are certain strictures which must be followed. Ethical practices are at the TOP of the list. Just as a for-instance: when my agency (and consequently the library) got E-mail, I was designated "person to draft a policy for ethical E-mail usage." Sometimes all it takes is common sense!
If you don't think the person who sent you an E-mail would appreciate you forwarding it to someone else, DON'T!
To answer the first question :Do we have responsibilities...? You bet we do! How else are people going to learn about or acquire information about ethics? We are information providers, are we not? There is value in teaching students ethics, even if it is only part of a course on something else -- say information retrieval -- because the more often people think about ethics, the more likely they are to make ethical judgments and decisions.
As far as who should do the education ... I believe that it should fall to the professional organizations ie: SLA. However, I believe that students within SLIS programs should at least be exposed to the idea of ethics and how it pertains to what they will be doing when they graduate.
Lastly, it all boils down to this: DWYSYWD -- Do What You Say You Will Do. And then do it right.
I believe it is appropriate for library schools to include discussions of ethical issues involved in various aspects of the profession. My fear is there is no foundation for these discussions. Certainly we are not advocating Library schools teaching basic courses in ethics -- that seems the provence of the philosophy departments. Most discussions of ethical issues I have participated in flounder because there is no agreement or even understanding on how to make decisions in ethics (probably reflecting lack of agreement on basic ethical principles). There was a comment made in this discussion about being aware of the impact of the information on others both known and unknown (or something to that effect). It was clearly reflecting a consequentialist view (or a form of utilitarianism). But exactly how do you judge the effects of your actions, particularly the long term effects, especially on people you are not even aware will be affected by the action? It is one of the problems that a consequentialist view always has to struggle with. One can also raise objections to other ethical positions.
My main point, I believe, is not to fool ourselves into thinking that there is a tidy solution or a neat little addition we can make to the library school curriculum that will solve this issue. Also don't presume we are the experts in this area. Philosophers have struggled and argued for thousands of years about what is "good" and how one "ought" to act. Any discussion of ethics within library science needs to be carefully circumscribed.
"They're learning to be ethical by seeing just what NOT to do" was included in the Law Schools column of Sept. 25, 1995, National Law Journal, p. A19. Ken Myers explains a new program which gives students academic credits for working with a state disciplinary committee evaluating ethics complaints against lawyers.
"The Professional Responsibility Integrative Component Clinic of Seattle University School of Law, run in conjunction with the Washington State Bar Association, gives students a chance to see and evaluate the types of situations that get lawyers in trouble... (It) began as a pilot project for six students during the 1993-94 school years and now is part of the professional responsibility curriculum for about 20 students per semester." And is taught by Prof. John A Strait. "The American Bar Association recently awarded the Seattle program one of three cash awards of $3,500 from the E. Smythe Gambrell Fund for Professionalism."
"What we're doing is the equivalent of the difference between an anatomy class in med school and a residency," said Barrie Althoff, chief disciplinary counsel for the state bar association. Sticking a stethoscope against a living body is a lot different than studying it in a textbook."
"Third-year student Laurie J. Bolton, who took the program last spring, agreed. "A common theme (in the cases) was lawyers not following through, and overall bad communication... Any time you can see something applied, it helps you learn the rules better. We also learned the process of review of complaints and the steps to take to protect your self and become a better lawyer."
It seems there should be an effective way to apply this into the change world of librarianship.
Diane Nahl states, "How do we insure that students have the criterial amount of 'moral strength' to act ethically in information environments?"
Another issue I have encountered are strong differing value systems in our students. Several years ago I had a visit from some students who characterized themselves as members of the Christian Right. They said they felt the atmosphere in the School was hostile to their point of view that certain kinds of materials should not be collected by libraries. While I could assure them that their point of view deserved a hearing, I also suggested they may not be in the right profession; but they remained and graduated and presumably are doing what they do. I see no ethical (nor legal) basis for a values "means" test for entrants and I suspect more of our students than we suspect hold views contrary to the ethical norms we as a profession espouse.
Even our students with strong concerns for the ethical uses of technology, intellectual freedom and other professional norms struggle in an increasingly intolerant society in which it may be a high risk to act on those values.
How do we deal with these issues?
As an exercise, I had two classes that I teach to ask for the code of professional conduct which govern their behavior in the work-place. All of them to date have come back with a copy from their employers. Many of the employers were curious about the request. We have had county managers, county attorneys, and personnel officers to ask if they could attend the sessions when we discuss professional ethics.
As stated by almost everyone, the issues are varied. However, we should deal with codes of professional ethics or conduct.
Dec.19 - Jan. 3
Open period for discussion
Jan. 7 - 20
Functioning in a political environment, with Bruce E. Daniels as moderator
Jan. 21 - Feb. 3
Relationship of theory and practice in
information-intensive environments, with
William Liebi as moderator
Feb. 4 - 17
Global information systems and services, with Pauline Cochrane as moderator
"Ethic" -- the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group (professional)
"Ethical" -- conforming to accepted professional standards of conduct.
"Integrity" -- firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values.
"Moral" -- implies conformity to established sanctioned codes or accepted notions of right and wrong; ethical may suggest the involvement of more difficult or subtle questions of rightness, fairness, or equity.
The difficulty with this topic is not whether we should or should not study ethics. All of us bring to the table our own personal code of ethics. It's the myriad of possibilities for the code and how it is acted upon that I guess frightens me a little. The definitions seem to imply a belief system which has a different connotation to me than implementation of a code or standard. Whose do we adopt?
How do we separate religious beliefs from society imposed expectations for behavior which may vary from region to region? Or to put it another way, how do we accommodate all belief systems so as to not favor one over the other. After all "Political Correctness" is required now, isn't it? Oh, here I go and I promised myself that I would not be cynical.
Years ago I read a book by Joseph Fletcher on situation ethics, that may have been the title, I cannot remember. The phrase itself "situation ethics" hints at a potential problem; that we impose or interpret "ethical/un-ethical" acts on a case-by-case basis. How do we devise a realistic ethical code that would preclude "rule bending". Varying the rules from situation to situation is confusing and somewhat chaotic.
It seems that "ethics" automatically starts us on the track of thinking about actions and effects among INDIVIDUALS, rather than effects on larger collectivities of people. Obviously there is a place for that in various parts of the curriculum, wherever it belongs: how to respect the library client during a reference interview, and so forth. Those sorts of rules for behavior are a part of professional socialization.
I would argue that more thinking takes place among students when we teach about the effects of new devices (and hence, patterns of behavior) among larger groups of people. Seeing the functions and dysfunctions of the use of technology helps students determine what kind of activities they want to be a part of, what kind of world we are creating when we develop and apply technologies. One could argue that such courses tend to take a Utilitarian view of the effects of technology, but I don't think each student adopts that viewpoint in deciding what is right or wrong about the uses of technology.
The "social effects" paradigm has an established place in other disciplines (e.g., sociology, communication), and increasingly their courses look at information technologies rather than "older" technologies like television. Such courses (I've taught one in various venues for 12 years) look at issues like privacy, surveillance, free speech, equity of access to both technology and information. If the library and information science school on campus does not have such a course, look among the social science departments -- or even the philosophy department -- for courses in which students will be encouraged to think about the larger issues regarding technology.
But those codes didn't grow on trees; they were developed by humans, and certainly their beliefs governed the development and form of these codes.
>education of information professionals. My concern relates to information professionals not knowing the codes of professional conduct that govern them in the workplace.
What if the code isn't right?
With the post we bring to a close the discussion that we've had about methods and the place of ethics education in the information technology curriculum. This is, alas, a broad topic that we attempted to cover in a very short time span. One could establish a list server devoted to the many is sues of the ethical aspects of the use and implementation of information technologies and probably not exhaust discussion on the many topics involved -- including but certainly not limited to pornography, censorship, freedom of information, harassment ( sexual harassment, stalking, threats, etc.), equality of access, age access issues, gender issues, use of shared technologies for personal gain, privacy, confidentiality, informed consent, surveillance, the impact of technology on the workplace, impact of technology on intellectual property issues, the impact of technology on our culture), the adoption of proprietary standards for information encoding (e.g., GIFs, encryption keys), and so forth.
Whether we realize it or not, every decision or action we take rests on some underlying foundation of values. Those of who enter into professional careers where one struggles with the development of policy (and what librarian or information professional does not?) surely will find value in examination of individual, societal and organizational values and hence ethics based on those values. After all, what do the philosophers tell us about the unexamined life?
Several contributors offered concrete suggestions as to good ways to bring up relevant ethical issues:
In this succinct summary of our two week discussion, I hope that I've given some mention of each of the ideas contributed and apologize in advance if I've inadvertently left out some topic or idea.
In closing I'd like to mention that we have a faculty member at the University of Michigan in the School of Public Policy Studies who offers a course on information technology and ethics taken by many SILS (School of Information and Library Studies students), and now cross-listed with SILS courses, available as an elective. As a psychologist, she bases her course on theories of moral development from the perspectives of psychological development, both social cognition and individual cognition. It provides a perspective not often discussed when talking about ethics.
Now, of course we do know that historically there have been professional practices that have been approved that were wrong for society generally, but were the acceptable standards of behavior anyway. These situations support you concern. Again, these behaviors were also supported by humans who at least said that they were right. So, ethics is always going to be a moving target.
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