Ethics
in the Network Society
Fall 2004
Schedule
Introduction
to Ethical Reasoning
Session 1: September
13, 9:00-11:00, Overview of the course; An exercise in ethical reasoning (Arson
case)
Session 2: September
13, 13:00-15:00, Cultural relativism (Crossborder
case)
- Rachels, Chapter 1, What is morality?,
p1-15
- Rachels, Chapter 2, The challenge
of cultural relativism, p16-31
Session 3: September
14, 9:00-11:00, Subjectivism (LawBase case)
- Rachels, Chapter
3, Subjectivism in ethics, p32-47
Session 4: September
14, 13:00-15:00, The relationship between ethics and religion (AIO
case)
- Rachels, Chapter
4, Does morality depend on religion?, p48-62
Session
5: September 15, 9:00-11:00, Egoism
(Cigarette Ads case)
- Rachels, Chapter 5, Psychological
egoism, p63-75 (optional; just skim)
- Rachels, Chapter 6, Ethical
egoism, p76-90
Session
6: September 15, 13:00-15:00, Utilitarianism
(Case of the KKK tape)
- Rachels, Chapter 7, The utilitarian
approach, p91-101
- Rachels, Chapter 8, The debate
over utilitarianism, p102-116 (optional; just skim)
Session
7: September 16, 9:00-11:00,
Absolute moral rules
and Kant (Arson case, version 2)
- Rachels, Chapter 9, Are there
any absolute moral rules?, p117-129
Session 8:
September 16, 13:00-15:00, Alternative
ethical approaches (Worker displacement case)
- Read ONE of the following, as
assigned:
- Rachels, Chapter
10, Kant and respect for persons, p130-140
- Rachels, Chapter 11, The idea
of a social contract, p141-159
- Rachels, Chapter 12, Feminism
and the ethics of care, p160-172
- Rachels, Chapter 13, The ethics
of virtue, p173-190
Session 9: September
17, 9:00-11:00, Applying
moral theories as information professionals (review
sheet)
- Smith, H. J., & Hasnas,
J. (1999). Ethics and information systems: the corporate domain. MIS Quarterly,
23(1), 109-127. (Read pages 109-119 only). [pdf]
Session 10:
September 17, 13:00-15:00, Professional codes of conduct
(Children's book case; eBay
case)
Session 11, September
20, 9:00-11:00, Values
clarification
- Smith, M. (1977). A
Practical Guide to Value Clarification. Lajolla, CA: University Associates.
- Chapter 1, The need
for exploring values, p3-18 [pdf]
Selected
Issues in Information Ethics
The remainder of the course
will be devoted to reasoning about moral issues of relevance to information
professionals. A few key issues will be the focus of our discussions, as selected
by the class participants.
Session 12, September 20, 13:00-15:00, Information/data as intellectual property: Web documents
- Snapper, J. W. (1999).
On the Web, plagiarism matters more than copyright piracy. Ethics and
Information Technology, 1(2), 127-136. [pdf]
Session 13, September 21, 9:00-11:00, Information/data as intellectual property: digital music
- Lam, C. K. M., & Tan, B. C. Y. (2001).
The internet is changing the music industry. Communications of the ACM, 44(8), 62-68. [to be distributed in class on Sep 20]
Session 14, September 21, 13:00-15:00, Privacy (from corporate surveillance)
- Bennett, C. J. (2001).
Cookies, web bugs, webcams and cue cats: Patterns of surveillance on the World
Wide Web. Ethics and Information Technology, 3(3), 195-208. [pdf]
- Brunk, B. (2001). Exoinformation
and information design. Bulletin of ASIST, 27(6), 11-13. [pdf]
- McArthur, R. L. (2001).
Reasonable expectations of privacy. Ethics and Information Technology,
3(2), 123-128. [pdf]
Session 15, September 22, 9:00-11:00, Privacy (from government surveillance)
- Munro, N. (2002). The
ever-expanding network of local and federal databases [From Washington]. Communications
of the ACM, 45(7), 17-19. [pdf]
- Gelbord, G., & Roelofsen,
G. (2002). New surveillance techniques raise privacy concerns [Viewpoint].
Communications of the ACM, 45(11), 23-24. [pdf]
- Meeks, B. N. (2001).
Blanking on rebellion: where the future is "Nabster" [Electronic
Frontier]. Communications of the ACM, 44(11), 17-20. [pdf]
Session 16, September 22, 13:00-15:00, Access to technology
- Moss, J. (2002). Power
and the digital divide. Ethics and Information Technology, 4(2),
159-165. [pdf]
- Mitchell, W. J. (1999).
Equitable access to the online world. In Schön, D. A., Sanyal, B., &
Mitchell, W. J. (eds.), High Technology and Low-Income Communities: Prospects
for the Positive Use of Advanced Information Technology. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 151-163. [pdf]
Session 17, September 23, 9:00-11:00, Effects of computerization on government and democracy
- Johnson, D. G. (1997).
Is the global information infrastructure a democratic technology? Computers
and Society, 27(3), 20-26. [pdf]
Session 18, September 23, 13:00-15:00, Access to information
- Buchanan, E. A. (1999).
An overview of information ethics issues in a world-wide context. Ethics
and Information Technology, 1, 193-201. [pdf]
- Liu, A. (1995). Should
we link to the Unabomber? An essay on practical Web ethics. http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/ayliu/research/whyuna.htm.
[as the basis for a case for discussion]
Session 19, September 24, 9:00-11:00, Effects of computerization on the work environment
- Weckert, J., & Adeney,
D. (1997). Quality of life and work. In Computer and Information Ethics.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 117-128. [pdf]
- Sewell, G., & Barker,
J. R. (2001). Neither good, nor bad, but dangerous: Surveillance as an ethical
paradox. Ethics and Information Technology, 3(3), 181-194. [pdf]
Session 20, September 24, 11:00-12:00, Module wrap-up
Monday, September
27: Scenarios and scenario
responses due
Additional resources and
readings of interest for particular issues in information ethics are listed
here:
- Ethical
codes of conduct for the information professions
- Information/data
as intellectual property (copyright, moral rights of authors, open source
content)
- Software
as intellectual property (open source software, legal mechanisms for software
protection)
- Information/software
integrity/accuracy (professional responsibility for correct information/programs)
- Privacy
(government surveillance, commercial surveillance, computer-mediated communication,
exoinformation)
- Access
to information/censorship (equitable access to information, censorship,
freedom to read)
- Access
to information technology (equitable access to computers and the internet,
discrimination)
- Effects
of computerization on the work environment (job displacement, deskilling,
ergonomic issues, electronic monitoring)
- Effects
of computer-mediated communication on understandings of identity and relationships
- Effects
of computerization on democracy and government
Syllabus
/ Assignments
This page was last modified
on September 19, 2004, by Barbara M. Wildemuth.
Address all comments and questions
to Barbara M. Wildemuth at wildem@ils.unc.edu.
(c) Barbara M. Wildemuth,
2004. All rights reserved.