Please join us on Monday February 20, 2017 for  a public lecture on “Information Domains, Information Ethics”  by Gary Burnett and Kathleen Burnett from School of Information, Florida State University.  The talk will be held from 1:30PM to 3:ooPM at Mahachakrisirindhorn Building Room 601/17.

About the lecture

Information is the backbone of our 21st century global economy. These two talks will begin with a discussion of the three “domains” within which information exists and has relevance: the cognitive and affective domain of the individual, the collective domain of the social, and the domain of signification, which consists of a set of representational tools and practices that people use to embody and communicate information. The talks will continue with a discussion of three ethical paradoxes that have emerged as digital technology has become more and more pervasive in our lives. Sharing and exchange of digital information across national boundaries requires mutual respect and consensus regarding basic principles of information ethics. Individual, social, linguistic, cultural, and political differences are seemingly insurmountable obstacles in obtaining consensus regarding the value of information, and therefore must be directly addressed in any effort to establish a cross-cultural code of information ethics.

About speakers

Gary Burnett is a Professor at the School of Information at Florida State University; he received his PhD in English from Princeton University and his MLS from Rutgers University. His research focuses on the text-based information environments and social norms of virtual communities; the relationship between information exchange and social interaction; and a theoretical approach to “Information Worlds,” which explores the social, political, and economic contexts of information access and exchange within specific communities. His book, titled Information Worlds: Social Context, Technology, & Information Behavior in the Age of the Internet and co-authored with Paul Jaeger of the University of Maryland was published by Routledge in 2010. His work has also been published in journals such as Information Research, The Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Library Quarterly, The Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, and Library and Information Science Research. At the School of Information, he teaches technical and professional writing courses, as well as courses in information organization, the information needs of adults, the social worlds of information use, and a doctoral theory seminar. During fall, 2016, he is a Visiting Professor at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea.

Kathy Burnett is F. William Summers Professor and Director at the School of Information at Florida State University. She received MLS and PhD degrees in Library & Information Studies (the latter with a focus on the History of Printing and Publishing) from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research interests include: social informatics; gender, race, and ethnicity and IT; and disciplinary identity. She is currently working on a book about the history of information as an academic discipline, and will be traveling throughout Asia interviewing iSchool deans and directors this spring. Her work has been published in journals such as The Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Library Quarterly, Interacting with Computers, and the Journal for Education in Library and Information Science. She served as co-editor of JELIS for five years. At the School of Information, she teaches information ethics, information education, digital storytelling, and theory development. During fall, 2016, she was a Visiting Professor at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, South Korea.

Public Lecture: “Information Domains, Information Ethics”