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INFORMATION ETHICS IN THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY Arun Kumar Chakraborty, Ph.D., Librarian, Bose Institute, Kolkata, [email protected], [email protected] Shyamal Kr. Roy Choudhury, Ph.D., Director, Library Science Education & Training, Bengal Library Association, [email protected] Gopa Dasgupta, Bose Institute, Kolkata, [email protected] Abstract Ethical principles for the knowledge society include the right to freedom of expression, universal access to information, specially that which is in the public domain, the right to education, the right to privacy and the right to participate in the cultural life. One of the most challenging ethical issues now is the inequality of access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) between the countries and between urban and rural communities within the countries. It has been observed that there are several benefits of a digitally connected world in the knowledge society. But there are also the threats of misuse and abuse of such digital connections. Information ethics is “the branch of ethics that focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination and use of information, and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society”. It is considered now as a confluence of the ethical concerns of media and press, journalism, library and computer science, computer ethics, cyber ethics, bioinformation ethics, ethics related to management information systems, E-governance, E-business and internet etc. This paper highlights a brief history of information ethics, its nature and scope in the knowledge society along with some specific topics in computer ethics. Key Words Information ethics, knowledge society, Information & Communication Technology, Computer ethics. employment, medicine, security, transportation, entertainment etc. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has affected community life, family life, human relationship, education, career, freedom and democracy. Information ethics and computer ethics are that branch of applied ethics which studies and applied such serial and ethics impacts of ICT. Computer ethics has been used to refer to kind of professionals apply codes of ethics and standards of good practice within their profession. Cyber ethics and internet ethics have now been used to refer to aspects of computer ethics associated with the internet. Information ethics is not the exclusive possession of the discipline of information science. It is now considered as a confluence of the ethical concerns of media and press, journalism, library and information science and computer ethics, cyber ethics, bio-information ethics, ethics related to management information systems, E-governance, Ebusiness and the internet. Information ethics is a dynamic and evolving field. It is flowing from various disciplines and perspectives and cultures. INFORMATION ETHICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The Information ethics is the branch of ethics which focuses on the relationship between the creation, organization, dissemination and use of information and the ethical standards and moral codes governing human conduct in society (Joan, Reitz M. “Information Ethics”, online dictionary for library and information science. (http://www.abc-clio.com/ODLIS/oldis/-i..aspx) INTRODUCTION The domain of information science has been changing fundamentally since the last decade with the evolution of knowledge society perception. The centre of information science has now shifted from a predominant concern with techniques (topics like acquisition, cataloguing, conservation, user education etc.) to engagements with various issues (like intellectual property, user privacy etc.) in which ethical dimensions predominate. COMPUTER ETHICS AND INFORMATION ETHICS Information revolution has changed many aspects of modern life significantly. These are commerce, Information ethics is concerned with the question of who should have access to what information. The core issues of information ethics are intellectual freedom, equitable access to information, information privacy and intellectual property. It provides a framework for considering moral issues concerning (a) Informational privacy, (b) moral agency (whether artificial agents may be work), (c) new environmental issues (specially how agents should behave in the info sphere), (d) problems arising from the life cycle (creation, collection, recording, distribution, processing etc) of information (specially ownership, and copyright, digital divide and digital rights). Information technology affects some issues like copyright protection, intellectual freedom, accountability, privacy and security. Many of these issues are difficult to resolves due to fundamental differences between western moral philosophy and Eastern moral philosophy and Eastern traditional cultures. Recent advances in information technology have made the general population very much aware of these issues. KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY According to Loretal (2007), the four pillars of a knowledge society are: ICTs and connectivity Content and usability Infrastructure other than ICTs and Human capacity. In a Knowledge Society (KS), the levers of development are creation, circulation and appropriation of knowledge. LIBRARY INNOVATIONS AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONDITIONS IN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY Table1 shows Library innovations and sociocultural conditions in Knowledge Society [Stchr, N (1999), Drotuer, K(2005)]. Table 1: Library innovations and Socio-cultural conditions in Knowledge Society Criteria 1. Aim of library use 2. Definition of library/Librarian 3. Definition of material/Content 4 .Definition of user Knowledge Society (from mid 1990) 1. Universal and free access to information and fictionMultimodal literacy 2. Knowledge facilitator (library as a multimodal knowledge centre) 3. Material art facts and nonmaterial processes- Information and fiction 4. Knowledge producer, cooperator and cultural citizen. NATIONAL KNOWLEDGE COMMISSION (NKC) GOVT. OF INDIA AND LIBRARY National Knowledge Commission (NKC), Govt. of India, in a report published in February2007 is of the opinion that “libraries have a recognized social function in making knowledge publicly available to all. They serve as local centers of information and learning and are local gateways to national and global knowledge”. The prime focus of the National Knowledge Commission (2007) is on five key areas of the knowledge paradigm. Those are shown schematically below (Scheme-1) Scheme-1 Key areas of knowledge paradigm Access to knowledge Knowledge concepts Knowledge Creation Knowledge Application and Development of better knowledge services. Several recommendation have been made by the National Knowledge commission (NKC -2007) to transform India into a vibrant knowledge – based society where information ethics is of prime importance. CODES MANIFESTOS AND CHARTERS Code of ethics is a list of guiding principles for ethical behaviors. Codes of ethics are bases of a system of discipline for information professions. In a code, the professions its members what they should consider when faced with an ethical dilemma. But codes can not provide everything that is required to cope with the moral ambiguities which are seen in the professional life. A professional sometimes may have to take a decision which may or may not derive from the principles laid down in a code. Many of the Code of ethics of the professional journalists of the present society may be included under the heading “Seek the Truth and Report It”. It also deals with other topics like accuracy, balance, citation of sources when possible avoidance of plagiarism, representation of minority and encouragement of open government and access to official information. There is difference of approach in formulating codes of ethics and professional conduct of different professions. There are also national differences which are based on the culture and history (Sturges, 2003). MANIFESTOS, DECLARATIONS AND CHARTERS In addition to codes of ethics, other formal policy documentation like ‘Declaration’, charter and manifestos should also be considered. The Association for progressive communications’. Internet Rights charter (http://rights.apc.org/charter.shtard) deals with some themes. These are (i) Universal access to internet (ii) freedom of expression and access to knowledge (iii) sharing of knowledge through open source (iv) privacy and surveillance (v) internet governance and (vi) protection rights in the context of internet. THE LITERATURE Luciano Floridi (1999, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008) has published many significant papers on the philosophy, nature and scope of information ethics. Capurro (2006) has suggested a philosophical basis for the information ethics which is different from that developed by Florida. Moor (1985) has published a significant paper on computer ethics. CONFERENCES, EDUCATION AND TRAINING It is well known that professional and academic conferences are the ways through which any emerging discipline or sub- discipline like information ethics may be recognized. UNESCO has given approval of information ethics in the form of INFO ethics. Conferences of invited experts and other significant workers in 1997, 1998, 2000, ETHICOMP, began in Leicester, UK in 1995, is the oldest established and most frequent information ethics conference. It has been recognized that Education in information ethics as urgently needed. The presence or absence of information ethics in the academic curricula have been observed within IFLA, FAIFE has, since 2005, had the financial means to undertake an extensive and systemic education/ CPD programme. A conference on the subject “IFLA/ UESCO Internet Manifesto” was held in 2007 in Costa Rica. UNIQUENESS AND GLOBAL INFORMATION ETHICS Gorniak hypothesis (Gorniak 1996, Gorniak 2005) was a significant contribution to uniqueness debate. Maner (Maner 1996) suggested that information technology “forces us to discover new moral values, formulate new moral principles, develop new polices and find new ways to think about the issues presented to us” (Maner 1996). CONCLUSION In the present Knowledge Society, information ethics is well established since the first decade of the twenty first century. It has now become a sub-discipline of information science. The development of information ethics encourages a principled reflection on different aspects of information and communication. It also opens up the potential for cross-disciplinary enquiry and debate in a knowledge society. REFERENCES [1] Bynum, T. (2000),”The Foundation of Computers Ethics”, Computers and Society 30(2):6-13 [2] Capurro, R (2006), Towards ok Ontological Foundation Ethics”, Ethics and Information Technology, 8(4) :157-186 [3] Drotner, Kirsten , Library Information for the knowledge society, Scandenavian Rutlie, Library Quarterly, v.32,no.3 (2008) [4] Floridi, L. (1999),”Information Ethics: On the Theoretical Foundation of Computer Ethics”, Ethics and Information Technology, 1(1):37-56 [5] Foridi, L. (2001),”Information Ethics:an environmental approach to the digital divide “Philosophy in contemporary world,vol.9(No.1)pp.1-7 [6] Floridi, L. (2005),”Internet Ethics:The Constructions Values of Homo Preticus”, Information: R.Cavalier (ed.),”The Impact of the Internet on our most lives,Albeay:Suny Press,195-214. [7] Floridi, L. (2008),Information Ethics:Its Nature and Scope”, InJ.VAndea Hover and J. Weekert (eds.) Information Technology and Moral Philosophy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,40-65 [8] Forester, T. and Morrison, P. (1999) Computer Ethics, 2nd ed. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press [9] Gorniak-Kocikowska, K (1996), The Computer Revolution and Problem of Global Ethics, In: T.Bynum and S. Rogerson (eds), Global Information Ethics, Guildford, UK, Opragen Publications, 177-190 [10] Gorniak-Kocikowaska, K. (2005), ”From Computer ethics to the Ethics of Global ICT Society ,In: T. Bynum, G. Collste and S. Rogerson (eds); Proceedings of ETHICOMP 2005 (CD-ROM), Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, Linkopings University . [11] Lord (Petern Jhan) and Britz (Johannes Jacobus). Is a knowledge Society possible without freedom of access to information? (2007). Journal of Information Science V.33(4) ,pp 387-397 (2007) [12] National Knowledge Commission, Govt. of India, Dharma Marg , Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-21 (2007). Available at : www.knowledgecommission.gov.in [13] Stchr (Nico). Knowledge Societies, London, Saga (1999) [14]Sturges, P. (2003) It’s not cricket: laws of the game, or guidance in ethical reflection for information professionals in Western Europe Available at http://www.ifla.org/files/faife/publications/sturges/notcricket