I appreciated so much the opportunity to talk about ethics in class, but also to attend the "Is this App Racist" event sponsored by MIX. In this discussion, professors at SI met with students to discuss the NPR coverage about the smartphone app that alerts users of "unsafe" neighborhoods, according to crime statistics, as well as the fervid discussion the app spawned on Si.All.Open
Here's what this rich discussion left me with:
- Technology/Information may be "neutral," but the data these things are based off may be collected in non-neutral ways.
- Even if the intent of the app is positive, it is unethical to ignore the biased foundations of data
- As information professionals, to claim true ethical behaviors, we must actively challenge and question our sources and our own hidden biases, as well as those who we work with
Professor King also made an interesting comment that reflected Kristin's discussion of the ALA Code of Ethics. King supported the idea that the difference between professionals and employees is this ethical line. Professionals identify problems, or gaps in ethics, an do something about it. Therefore, professionalism cannot be neutral.
What do you guys think?
I wish I could have gone to that talk! It seemed like it would be really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think the professionals/employees distinction is an intriguing one that I hadn't considered before, but it makes a lot of sense. For something to seem like a profession as a whole, I think there need to be some shared goals/ideas/values, and ethics definitely falls under that umbrella.
i agree with your sentiment that professionals identify ethical problems and do something about it, however i think that the conversation on si.all.open regarding this topic was the exact opposite of professionalism. professionals should be able to handle moral ambiguity and recognize both sides of an issue as valid and worth considering, which is kind of what bothers me about prescribed codes of ethics. professionals have enough understanding and maturity to make thoughtful decisions themselves-- they shouldn't need to be told what their values are, they should just get it. regardless, i'm glad to hear that the conversation at the MIX event was more fruitful than what transpired online.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the MIX event as well and felt we were just skimming the surface -- the conversation could have gone on for twice as long! One thing to keep in mind about si.all.open, to respond to Shauna's post, is that many on si.all.open are still growing into professionalism, not fully "fledged."
ReplyDeleteI agree that it's important as a defining attribute of a profession to have a code of ethics, and that thinking about ethical issues is definitely something that should be in the scope of professionals.
ReplyDeleteBut I want to push back a little on the idea that ethics is outside the scope of paraprofessionals or "employees," especially in the settings some of us are going to work in. In lots of libraries today, for a lot of reasons, I would imagine paraprofessionals (or student workers!) are doing a lot of work that used to be done by librarians. In the archives and cultural heritage fields, the lines are even blurrier. A lot of cultural heritage institutions do things with no "professional" staff-- or even all volunteers in some cases-- that are identical to what's happening at other institutions led by "professionals." There aren't enough resources (i.e., money to pay salaries) to go around in the field as a whole that enable these institutions to hire "professionals" to do this work. Especially if we want to encourage greater cooperation among institutions, having the attitude that some things are the exclusive province of "professionals" isn't going to be very helpful. Rather, we should make it about what "professionals" (which is just shorthand for "people with master's degrees" in our field, right?) can teach their non-professional counterparts, and vice versa, because their experiences and backgrounds are different. This extends to ethics as much as anything.
And I know this all is only tangentially related to libraries... getting off my soapbox now.