Being a data professional : give voice to value in a data driven society

Data Analytics needs to have ethical standards. There are numerous examples of why this is so, and the paper cites four particularly egregious ones. The paper offers both reasons why such standards are currently missing or inadequate, and how they might best be introduced, or refined. Some Codes of Ethics, such as the Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice, the ACM and IFIP Codes of Ethics, and the Web Analyst’s Code of Ethics are discussed, compared, and contrasted. The paper offers a comparative study, to help inform the process of the drawing up of guidelines where it is best undertaken, within the profession itself

Ethical issues in neuromarketing

ABSTRACT Title: Ethical issues in neuromarketing Seminar date: 29th of May, 2013 Course: BUSN29, Degree project in Global marketing Authors: Egle Arlauskaite and Alexandra Sferle Supervisor: Annette Cerne Keywords: Neuromarketing, neuroscience, neuromarketing research, ethical issues, marketing ethics, ethical theories, ethical codes, textual analysis. Thesis purpose: The purpose of this study is to define ethical issues that raise criticism towards neuromarketing and explore how companies are currently addressing these issues. Methodology: Due to the sensitivity of the subject authors decided to use the least biased researched method – document analysis. 17 ethical codes or codes of conduct (used by the companies that conducting neuromarketing research) were analyzed. Theoretical perspective: The thesis is based on traditional marketing ethics and marketing research ethics theories. After reviewing existing ethical theories Crane & Matten (2007) model of solving ethical dilemmas was chosen as a basis for the data analysis. Empirical data: Ethical guidelines provided in companies’ ethical codes were used as empirical data for the research. Some ethical codes were found on internet, on companies’ websites. However, the majority of ethical codes were acquired after contacting the companies personally by email. Conclusion: Neuromarketing is a field that offers considerable potential for market research; efficiently helping the match of consumer needs and provided goods and services. Manipulation or violation of autonomy and privacy cannot be reached through the tools that today’s neuroscience disposes of; therefore companies involved in this kind of research should direct efforts towards the aim of making the large public aware of this. This includes measures regarding updating their ethical codes with more specific and explicit sections related to neuromarketing but, more importantly, efficiently informing the stakeholders about the existence of such ethical codes and the commitment towards respecting them

Ethical Evidence and Policymaking

EPDF and EPUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. This important book offers practical advice for using evidence and research in policymaking. The book has two aims. First, it builds a case for ethics and global values in research and knowledge exchange, and second, it examines specific policy areas and how evidence can guide practice. The book covers important policy areas including the GM debate, the environment, Black Lives Matter and COVID-19. Each chapter assesses the ethical challenges, the status of evidence in explaining or describing the issue and possible solutions to the problem. The book will enable policymakers and their advisors to seek evidence for their decisions from research that has been conducted ethically and with integrity

Ethical research in public policy.

Public policy research is research for a purpose, guided by a distinctive range of normative considerations. The values are the values of public service; the work is generally done in the public domain; and the research is an intrinsic part of the democratic process, which depends on deliberation and accountability. Conventional representations of ethical research typically focus on ‘human subjects’ research, which raises different kinds of ethical issues to public policy research. Existing research ethics advice does not address the issues surrounding public policy research. Such research is typically concerned with collective action and the work of institutions, and the central guiding principles are not about responsibility to research participants, but duties to the public, as seen in principles of beneficence, citizenship, empowerment and the democratic process

AI ethics and higher education : good practice and guidance for educators, learners, and institutions

Artificial intelligence (AI) is exerting unprecedented pressure on the global higher educational landscape in transforming recruitment processes, subverting traditional pedagogy, and creating new research and institutional opportunities. These technologies require contextual and global ethical analysis so that they may be developed and deployed in higher education in just and responsible ways. To-date, these efforts have been largely focused on small parts of the educational environments leaving most of the world out of an essential contribution. This volume acts as a corrective to this and contributes to the building of competencies in ethics education and to broader, global debates about how AI will transform various facets of our lives, not the least of which is higher education

GREAT AWAKENING 2020: THE NEOLIBERAL WELLNESS JOURNEY DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

2020 was a good year for conspiracy theory. From COVID denialism to QAnon, the usual cast of conspiracy influencers was joined by mommy bloggers, yoga teachers, and social media opportunists to spread disinformation and sow doubt in the American psyche across the vast network of the internet. While the news media and popular entertainment often portrays the conspiracy theorist as a paranoid quack, the reality is far more conventional. We are all conspiracy theorists, in one way or another. Each of us arrive at a conspiracy theory with unique worldviews which include our political and spiritual belief systems. We are influenced, and not always in the ways we imagine, by every stimulus around us. These influences range from our upbringing, the media we consume, the education we’ve had, the people we follow on social media, the way we worship, and how we take care of our health. Perhaps most influential of all are the systemic realities we exist within, our country of birth, global capitalism, race, class, gender identity, and so much more. Not to mention that the whole of human history is littered with very real conspiracy. Individuals lie, proximity to power can corrode ethical responsibility, the media reports on novelty, and our institutional systems are rife with racial and economic injustice. People aren’t crazy to be suspicious or believe in conspiracy theory. Conspiracy theorist can better be understood as occupying a wide spectrum. On the far end of the spectrum one finds grand conspiracy narratives, or all-encompassing alternate explanations for observable reality. Many conspiracy theories are folded into alternate histories and explanation for current events in which society is ruled by a small cohort of “they,” powerful conspirators bent on global domination. The grand conspiracy narrative, which is often conveyed as a battle between dark and light, leaves no common ground for productive, nuanced discourse. Grand conspiracists craft a new impenetrable black and white, good and bad binary. Adopters of the grand conspiracy narrative get to be forever and always firmly on the side of right, light, and love, while the rest of us are brainwashed by delusion fed to us by “the mainstream media,” science, and academia. These grand conspiracy narratives became popular during the COVID-19 global pandemic with many groups including supporters of Donald Trump as well as those within spiritual wellness communities. My central curiosity became “why wellness?” What about mainstream wellness culture could lead many within that space to adopt and widely disseminate grand conspiracy narratives during the COVID-19 global pandemic? It is my hypothesis that the emphasis on individual responsibility to one’s health and spiritual wellbeing embedded in the neoliberal wellness project creates the conditions for conspiracist ideation within the wellness space. Wellness entrepreneurs are encouraged to “heal the self,” “speak their truth,” and manifest their reality. All of these erode collective bonds including shared reality and personal responsibility to systemic struggles. Conspiracy wellness influencers occupy the extreme both of wellness and conspiracist ideation. A grand conspiracy narrative serves as reinforcement to the health and spiritual orthodoxy created by a wellness entrepreneur and social media influencer. The conspiracy theories expressed on their platform become a marketing tool, attracting those suspicious of institutions in an age of decaying trust in establishment authority. In another ironic twist, when the conspiracy influencer is criticized for their wellness protocols or extreme politics, the conspiracy theories themselves act as a shield from wrongdoing and ultimately allow the influencer to position themselves as the marginalized one for simply “speaking their truth,” regardless of their position within society. The branded messaging of self-responsibility for personal health and spiritual freedom that the grand conspiracy narrative buttresses perpetuate the neoliberal social project in real time

Media and information literate citizens: think critically, click wisely!

Can we improve our societies by clicking wisely? Content providers such as libraries, archives, museums, media and digital communications companies can enable inclusive and sustainable development. However, they do not always live up to these ideals, which creates challenges for the users of these services. Content providers of all types open up new opportunities for lifelong learning. But at the same time, they open up challenges such as misinformation and disinformation, hate speech, and infringement of online privacy, among others. Media and information literacy is a set of competencies that help people to maximize advantages and minimize harms. Media and information literacy covers competencies that enable people to critically and effectively engage with: communications content; the institutions that facilitate this content; and the use of digital technologies. Capacities in these areas are indispensable for all citizens regardless of their ages or backgrounds. This pioneering curriculum presents a comprehensive competency framework of media and information literacy and offers educators and learners structured pedagogical suggestions. It features various detailed modules covering the range of competencies needed to navigate today’s communications ecosystem. This resource links media and information literacy to emerging issues, such as artificial intelligence, digital citizenship education, education for sustainable development, cultural literacy and the exponential rise in misinformation and disinformation. With effective use of this media and information literacy curriculum, everyone can become media and information literate as well as peer-educators of media and information literacy

Decision-making processes in the context of ethical dilemmas: a study of accountants in training

The ability to make sound decisions when faced with ethical dilemmas lies at the heart of being a professional accountant. Yet many of the recent corporate reporting disasters demonstrate that, despite being over a century old, the accounting profession has yet to find a way of dealing effectively with ethics. This is reflected in the ethical training of accountants which tends to follow a rules-based approach to instruction, thereby producing accountants who are often criticized for being rules-followers at a time when many are calling for a more principles-based approach. Within a qualitative framework, the study explored the difficulties trainee accountants confront in constructing a decision-making process whilst seeking to maintain the stance expected of them by, inter alia, professional codes. This is in contrast to mainstream, mainly positivist, research efforts which measure those factors influencing accountants? and accounting trainees? decision-making. Rule-following and deference to one?s profession is regarded as symptomatic of low-level ethical awareness and impedes ethical development (Harris and Brown 1990). The study will therefore be of interest to educators and the profession alike, both of whom seek to have graduates enter the profession with high-level ethical awareness. This study adopts a social constructivist and interpretive research approach informed by structuration theory and uses vignettes to explore accounting trainees? decision-making processes. Semi-structured interviews were held with 12 BA (Honours) Accounting students in their final year of study. Field notes and participant feedback augmented interview data. Thematic analysis, coding and categorization applied through template analysis was used to explore both students? decision-making inclinations and the structural elements reported as impacting on decisions at a particular point in time. A cross-case comparison showed that, contrary to much of the literature, students adopted a principles-based approach to decision-making. This finding, in itself, may have far-reaching implications for the way in which ethics is taught, whether by business schools or by in-house organizational programmes

fMRI for severely brain injured patients: A media analysis

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University .This thesis is set in the context of social science’s interest in the generation of expectations, the news media, and neurotechnologies. It is a qualitative case study that examines the nature and impact of news media reporting of some pioneering research, which used functional magnetic resonance imaging in an attempt to diagnose and communicate with severely brain-injured individuals. Previous news media studies exploring neurotechnologies have been quantitative, or have tended to focus on how or why the news media represents neurotechnologies and/or the impact of the reporting, but rarely all three together. My thesis looks at all three aspects of the news media reporting of my case study. I draw on three sets of empirical data. First, those related to the production of the media - the press releases which reported the research; ten semi-structured interviews with science press officers; and the relevant expert comments posted on the Science Media Centre’s website. Second, 51 newspaper articles reporting the research. Third, five semi-structured interviews with relatives of severely brain-injured patients. I show that the mood of excitement and ‘breakthrough’ present in the press release reporting of this research was closely echoed in the news coverage. This excitement influenced the views and beliefs of only some of the relatives I interviewed. I then examine the nature of hype and by drawing on Haraway’s concept of ‘situated knowledges’ (1988) I argue that individuals view hype differently depending on their profession, industry and/or socio-cultural background. Finally, I show how whilst both the news media and the scholarly literature portrayed this research as ethically contentious, the issues most prominently discussed by scholars and/or journalists do not necessarily equate with relatives’ concerns. My findings aim to contribute to the sociology of expectations, media theory, the sociology of bioethics and the public understanding of science