Understanding Digital Ethics

Rapid changes in technology and the growing use of electronic media signal a need for understanding both clear and subtle ethical and social implications of the digital, and of specific digital technologies. Understanding Digital Ethics: Cases and Contexts is the first book to offer a philosophically grounded examination of digital ethics and its moral implications. Divided into three clear parts, the authors discuss and explain the following key topics: • Becoming literate in digital ethics • Moral viewpoints in digital contexts • Motivating action in digital ethics • Speed and scope of digital information • Moral algorithms and ethical machines • The digital and the human • Digital relations and empathy machines • Agents, autonomy, and action • Digital and ethical activism. The book includes cases and examples that explore the ethical implications of digital hardware and software including videogames, social media platforms, autonomous vehicles, robots, voice-enabled personal assistants, smartphones, artificially intelligent chatbots, military drones, and more. Understanding Digital Ethics is essential reading for students and scholars of philosophical ethics, those working on topics related to digital technology and digital/moral literacy, and practitioners in related fields.

Digital Ethics delves into the shifting legal and ethical landscape in digital spaces and explores productive approaches for theorizing, understanding, and navigating through difficult ethical issues online. Contributions from leading scholars address how changing technologies and media over the last decade have both created new ethical quandaries and reinforced old ones in rhetoric and writing studies. Through discussions of rhetorical theory, case studies and examples, research methods and methodologies, and pedagogical approaches and practical applications, this collection will further digital rhetoric scholars’ inquiry into digital ethics and writing instructors’ approaches to teaching ethics in the current technological moment. A key contribution to the literature on ethical practices in digital spaces, this book will be of interest to researchers and teachers in the fields of digital rhetoric, composition, and writing studies. Chapter 9 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book explores a wide range of topics in digital ethics. It features 11 chapters that analyze the opportunities and the ethical challenges posed by digital innovation, delineate new approaches to solve them, and offer concrete guidance to harness the potential for good of digital technologies. The contributors are all members of the Digital Ethics Lab (the DELab), a research environment that draws on a wide range of academic traditions. The chapters highlight the inherently multidisciplinary nature of the subject, which cannot be separated from the epistemological foundations of the technologies themselves or the political implications of the requisite reforms. Coverage illustrates the importance of expert knowledge in the project of designing new reforms and political systems for the digital age. The contributions also show how this task requires a deep self-understanding of who we are as individuals and as a species. The questions raised here have ancient -- perhaps even timeless -- roots. The phenomena they address may be new. But, the contributors examine the fundamental concepts that undergird them: good and evil, justice and truth. Indeed, every epoch has its great challenges. The role of philosophy must be to redefine the meaning of these concepts in light of the particular challenges it faces. This is true also for the digital age. This book takes an important step towards redefining and re-implementing fundamental ethical concepts to this new era.

This book brings together international experts from a wide variety of disciplines, in order to understand the impact that digital technologies have had on our well-being as well as our understanding of what it means to live a life that is good for us. The multidisciplinary perspective that this collection offers demonstrates the breadth and importance of these discussions, and represents a pivotal and state-of-the-art contribution to the ongoing discussion concerning digital well-being. Furthermore, this is the first book that captures the complex set of issues that are implicated by the ongoing development of digital technologies, impacting our well-being either directly or indirectly. By helping to clarify some of the most pertinent issues, this collection clarifies the risks and opportunities associated with deploying digital technologies in various social domains. Chapter 2 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book introduces an events-based approach to understanding digital experience. Focusing on the event-ontologies of Bergson and Whitehead’s process metaphysics, it explores subjective experience and objective reality as unified ‘events’ in the form of concrete slabs of existence. Such slabs are temporally defined by a term or period, in which all physical-chemical processes and personal subjective experience are included. Bringing together insights from a range of different specialisms, it urges us to consider a science of nature that includes both physical and non-physical realities and, from this ontological position, draws on philosophy, media, and user experience practice to provide a new account of the technological or virtual world of today. An examination of the manner in which process philosophy may be applied to contemporary digital experience, this volume will appeal to scholars of philosophy, science and technology studies and information systems.

Higher education serves many purposes, one of which is to prepare college and university students with the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary for employment. Some would argue that this is the primary and even sole purpose of collegiate education. However, many also contend that university education is intended to broaden students' minds and enable them to question, investigate and think critically in order to be productive and engaged citizens. Regardless of the lens through which higher education is viewed, within any of these purposes is the need for ethical practices in teaching, learning, student engagement, and overall operational structures. Truly, in every facet of university life, ethical practices exist. If institutions of higher education are the places where, in part, the global future is shaped, then it is imperative that these same organizations be the exemplars of ethical practices.The Practice of Ethics in Higher Education includes chapters that explore and examine topics such as teaching of ethics, ethical practices on campus, ethics of clinical practices, ethics and leadership in the academy, ethics in hiring practices at colleges/universities, ethics and campus-sponsored research, as well as other topics relevant to higher education. In addition to drawing attention to the successes and challenges regarding ethical practices in higher education, this book aims to encourage future research initiatives and collaborations.

The digital age has brought about significant changes to our society, creating a complex and ever-evolving digital landscape. To navigate this landscape effectively, it is crucial to foster a deep understanding of ethics and citizenship in all domains of life. This imperative holds true at every level of education, and it is equally important to explore the historical origins of these concepts. Critical Roles of Digital Citizenship and Digital Ethics delves into the multifaceted realm of digital ethics and citizenship, shedding light on the latest research studies conducted in the educational field, as well as insights from the humanities, history, social sciences, sociology, and civics. This comprehensive research handbook provides a platform for in-depth discussions and empirical investigations into the philosophical foundations and practical implications of digital citizenship. By examining how digital ethics have been and continue to be shaped, the book offers valuable insights into the ways in which educators and researchers can approach these topics in the realm of education. Designed for researchers in humanities, sociology, and educational fields, as well as students seeking a deeper understanding of the historical and contemporary dimensions of digital ethics and digital citizenship, this book offers a rich exploration of their roots and current implications. It explores the historical underpinnings of these concepts, advocates for asset-based approaches to digital citizenship, and examines the current educational strategies implemented at both the K-12 and post-secondary levels. Additionally, it delves into the theoretical foundations of digital ethics and citizenship, considering the impact of digital landscapes on young learners, adolescents, and adults. The book also presents insightful reports on the latest studies pertaining to digital ethics and digital citizenship.