A Student’s & Teacher’s

Information

Code of Ethics

Seek Truth and Express It

Teachers and students should be honest, fair, and courageous in gathering, interpreting and expressing information for the benefit of others. They should:

• Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error.
• Always identify sources. The consumers of your information product must be able to make their own judgment of its value.
• Always question the sources’ motives.
• Never distort or misrepresent the content of photos, videos, or other media without explanation of intent and permission from the information’s owner. Image enhancement for technical clarity is permissible.
• Tell the story of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
• Examine your own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
• Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
• Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.
• Distinguish between opinion and fact when expressing ideas. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

Minimize Harm

Ethical teachers and students treat information sources, subjects, colleagues, and information consumers as human beings deserving of respect.

• Gathering and expressing information should never cause harm or threaten to be harmful to any one person or group of people.
• Recognize that private people in their private pursuits have a greater right to control information about themselves than do others.
• Consider all possible outcomes to the information you express, guarding against potential harm to others.
• Never use information from another person without proper citation and permission.

Be Accountable

Teachers and students are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and to each other.

• Clarify and explain information and invite dialogue about your conduct as a communicator.
• Encourage the information consumer to voice grievances about your information products.
• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
• Expose unethical information practices of others.

Respect Information and its Infrastructure

Information, in the Information Age, is property. Information is the fabric that defines much of what we do from day to day, and this rich and potent fabric is fragile.

• Never undertake any action that has the potential to damage any part of this information infrastructure. These actions include, but are not limited to illegally hacking into a computer system, launching or distributing viruses or other damaging software, physically damaging or altering hardware or software, or publishing information that you know is untrue and potentially harmful.
• Report to proper authorities any activities that could potentially result in harm to the information infrastructure.

By David Warlick, (http://davidwarlick.com/)