Graduate Ethics Curricula for Future Geospatial Technology Professionals

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting
December 14-18, 2009, San Francisco, CA

Paper IN34B-01 in Special Session IN34: Emerging Issues in e-Science: Collaboration, Provenance, and the Ethics of Data

DJ Wright

Dept of Geosciences, Oregon State Univ

Corvallis, OR 97331-5506

dawn@dusk.geo.orst.edu

D DiBiase

John A. Dutton e-Education Institute

The Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA

F Harvey

Department of Geography

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis MN

M Solem

Association of American Geographers

Washington, DC

Professionalism in today's rapidly-growing, multidisciplinary geographic information science field (e.g., geographic information systems or GIS, remote sensing, cartography, quantitative spatial analysis), now involves a commitment to ethical practice as informed by a more sophisticated understanding of the ethical implications of geographic technologies. The lack of privacy introduced by mobile mapping devices, the use of GIS for military and surveillance purposes, the appropriate use of data collected using these technologies for policy decisions (especially for conservation and sustainability) and general consequences of inequities that arise through biased access to geospatial tools and derived data all continue to be challenging issues and topics of deep concern for many. Students and professionals working with GIS and related technologies should develop a sound grasp of these issues and a thorough comprehension of the concerns impacting their use and development in today's world. However, while most people agree that ethics matters for GIS, we often have difficulty putting ethical issues into practice. An ongoing project supported by NSF seeks to bridge this gap by providing a sound basis for future ethical consideration of a variety of issues. A model seminar curriculum is under development by a team of geographic information science and technology (GIS&T) researchers and professional ethicists, along with protocols for course evaluations. In the curricula students first investigate the nature of professions in general and the characteristics of a GIS&T profession in particular. They hone moral reasoning skills through methodical analyses of case studies in relation to various GIS Code of Ethics and Rules of Conduct. They learn to unveil the "moral ecologies" of a profession through actual interviews with real practitioners in the field. Assignments thus far include readings, class discussions, practitioner interviews, and preparations of original case studies. Curricula thus far are freely available via gisprofessionalethics.org.

INDEX TERMS: [0820] EDUCATION / Curriculum and laboratory design, [1928] INFORMATICS / GIS science, [0850] EDUCATION / Geoscience education research.

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