This summer, I’m taking a class on information ethics. That is, ethics as applied to information. As one can imagine from that description, it’s a pretty broad field! And it’s condensed into 7 weeks, which is going to make it extra challenging for me as someone who needs longer than a neurotypical person to digest information. I’m a week into the course at this point, and the pace is definitely faster than spring semester was.
Over the course of the summer, in addition to the readings and the class discussions, I am to develop a presentation on an information ethics topic of my choice. I have an idea of what I’d like to do with that opportunity. I don’t know whether or how I’ll post the results here. We’ll find out together! Here are some of the ideas I’ve had about possible topics for the presentation:
- Open education resources and their role in closing the racial divide in education
- The Big Five’s monopoly of the textbook industry
- The dangers of using third party chat software for reference transactions that will mine patrons for info they can sell, violating privacy tenants
- Combating the spread of misinformation through information literacy programs and the challenge of doing that in the face of the current AI propaganda blitz
- The EU’s attempt to destroy end-to-end encryption in the name of security and how that plays into capitalist playbooks
- Cultural mores and how they restrict the flow of information, like when janitors don’t report that they’re out of cleaning supplies or discuss it among themselves because of fear of losing their jobs
- The ethics of book bans and how they target minorities
- The role of self-publishing in information distribution
- Elsevier’s monopoly on research publication vs the growth of the open access movement
- The ethics of the ableist language in the RUSA behavior guidelines that disadvantage neurodivergent librarians and harm neurodivergent patrons
- The requirement of a driver’s license to get a library card and how that frustrates immigrants and people who can’t drive
- How late fees and fines punish people who are economically disadvantaged
- Bathroom access for homeless people
- The use of electronic piracy tools to access information that isn’t available due to book bans and great firewalls, violating the right to read
- Access to DIY healthcare information
- Environmental responsibility in the information lifecycle
- Accessibility around the library, eg bicycle lanes, bus routes, and sidewalks so people can physically get to the library
- Ethical considerations in how accommodations can be provided to disabled LIS grad students so that the program doesn’t just become possible, but requires an effort expenditure comparable to their non-disabled peers
Of course, every one of these would make a good presentation, and also would make a good blog post.
The challenge for me with the presentation (aside from picking a topic) is probably going to be the narration. Last semester with the same professor, I was allowed to use AAC for narrating a short video. But that process takes roughly 4x longer than simply narrating it would, and while I can afford that for a short video clip, trying to use AAC for a 15-minute presentation recording is going to take so much time I don’t know how I’ll be able to finish it by the deadline. Remember, accommodations don’t make things easier for me than my peers. Using AAC for tasks like this is a significant time and cost investment compares to my peers who can simply record themselves speaking. Accommodations don’t make my workload comparable to my peers, but rather they make something that would typically be impossible for me, and make it possible with great effort. The playing field is not level, even with the accommodations I am offered. And that’s frustrating.