Foundations of Information Ethics

by John T. F. Burgess (Editor), Emily J. M. Knox (Editor)

Overview

As discussions about the roles played by information in economic, political, and social arenas continue to evolve, the need for an intellectual primer on information ethics that also functions as a solid working casebook for LIS students and professionals has never been more urgent. This text, written by a stellar group of ethics scholars and contributors from around the globe, expertly fills that need. Organized into twelve chapters, making it ideal for use by instructors, this volume from editors Burgess and Knox

• thoroughly covers principles and concepts in information ethics, as well as the history of ethics in the information professions;
• examines human rights, information access, privacy, discourse, intellectual property, censorship, data and cybersecurity ethics, intercultural information ethics, and global digital citizenship and responsibility;
• synthesizes the philosophical underpinnings of these key subjects with abundant primary source material to provide historical context along with timely and relevant case studies;
• features contributions from John M. Budd, Paul T. Jaeger, Rachel Fischer, Margaret Zimmerman, Kathrine A. Henderson, Peter Darch, Michael Zimmer, and Masooda Bashir, among others; and
• offers a special concluding chapter by Amelia Gibson that explores emerging issues in information ethics, including discussions ranging from the ethics of social media and social movements to AI decision making.

This important survey will be a key text for LIS students and an essential reference work for practitioners

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780838918494
Publisher:	American Library Association
Publication date:	03/01/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

John T. F. Burgess is an assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama. Among the courses he teaches are Information Ethics for the LIS Profession and History and Effects of the Information Society. He is the author of numerous journal articles, is a peer reviewer for the International Review of Information Ethics, and is a member of ALISE's Ethics SIG. Before joining the faculty at University of Alabama, he was Virtual Reference Librarian at Troy University for ten years. Dr. Burgess holds a BS from Birmingham-Southern College, a master of theological studies from Westin Jesuit School of Theology, a master of sacred theology from Boston University, and an MLIS and PhD from the University of Alabama.

Emily J. M. Knox is an assistant professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests include information access, intellectual freedom and censorship, information ethics, information policy, and the intersection of print culture and reading practices. She teaches a course on intellectual freedom and censorship and a course on information ethics. She was awarded the Illinois Library Association Intellectual Freedom Award and was named a WISE Instructor of the Year in 2015. Her books include Book Banning in 21st Century America and Document Delivery and Interlibrary Loan on a Shoestring. She also contributed a chapter on religion and intellectual freedom to The Library Juice Press Handbook of Intellectual Freedom: Concepts, Cases, and Theories, the 2016 winner of the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award for best published work in intellectual freedom. She received her PhD from the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University and her MLIS from the iSchool at Illinois. She also holds a BA in Religious Studies from Smith College and an AM in the same field from The University of Chicago Divinity School. She was the associate director and reference librarian at the St. Mark’s (now Keller) Library of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York City for five years before returning to school.

Table of Contents

Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Preface Chapter 1. Principles and Concepts in Information Ethics Chapter 2. Human Rights and Information Ethics Chapter 3. History of Ethics in the Information Professions Chapter 4. Information Access Chapter 5. Privacy Chapter 6. Ethics of Discourse Chapter 7. Intellectual Property Ethics Chapter 8. Data Ethics Chapter 9. Cybersecurity Ethics Chapter 10. Cognitive Justice and Intercultural Information Ethics Chapter 11. Global Digital Citizenship Chapter 12. Emerging Issues About the Editors and Contributors Index

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Maureen Diana Sasso, BA, MLS (Duquesne University)
Description: This monograph introduces the precursors of information ethics in a collection of essays that explicate the field's theoretical foundations and illustrate the relevance of information ethics within the context of librarianship.
Purpose: The authors' intent is to fill a perceived need to supplement professional ethics book "by articulating the intellectual underpinnings of the information ethics discipline." The lead author situates the importance and complexity of information ethics in terms of the dichotomy of the good that can be accomplished with information versus the ways that it can be used to cause harm. He outlines four ethical frameworks for analysis: deontology, consequentialism, character ethics, and contractual ethics. His discussion of continuing issues and concerns delineates the limitations of using an abstract ethical framework to scrutinize lived experience. The book fulfills its purpose by providing a concise historical synopsis and introduction to major thinkers and the terminology of the field.
Audience: This book would be useful as a text for information ethics courses in library and information science programs. The authors are educators and researchers with extensive experience in information ethics. Chapter authors are drawn from a variety of relevant backgrounds.
Features: Chapters follow a similar format, with an introduction of key concepts and terminology, discussion of how these concepts have developed over time, an overview of major thinkers, issues relevant to emerging research, and reading lists for further study. Reading lists are comprehensive and useful. Some chapters also contain case study scenarios that could be used for practice applying information ethics concepts to real-world situations. These are uneven in quality, but some stand out for their relevance and current interest. The case of unlocking the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone is one such example, but it also serves an example of minor errors found in the book when it refers to the FBI as the entity issuing a court order rather than obtaining one.
Assessment: Overall, this book serves as a primer on the philosophical foundations of information ethics and its relevance to current issues in information and computing technology. The chapters on privacy, intellectual property, data ethics, and cybersecurity will have broad appeal.

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