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Why Should we Care about Information Ethics? Why teach it?

So what?

  • Information is what makes the world go 'round.
  • Most people deal all the time with information or artifacts for dealing with information
  • Money, entertainment, culture: all are transmitted as information

Can Ethics be taught or learned?

  • Yes. Fundamentally, values are learned.
  • Most values (ethics, perspectives...) are learned while we are younger
  • Information ethics come later, and today's generations might not get them from parents or early education. Why not?
    • People might not have used computers while they were younger, or not for communication and information intensive activities
    • Parents and teachers might not have a good grasp of information ethics
    • New computer users tend to focus on the interface and steps to accomplish tasks, not the concepts behind them
    • Sophisticated analytic thought does not occur as much in youngsters - usually, analytic thinking skills are not well developed until the late teens

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