Week 7 Reflection

While reading the article Nobert Wiener and the Rise of Information Ethics by Terrell Ward Bynum I came across some things that I found quite interesting. The first being that Wiener was a child prodigy, he graduated high school at 11 and finished his undergrad at 15. He went on to get graduate degrees in biology, philosophy of scientific ethics. At such a young age he did all of these things and was so successful it gave me the confidence in my abilities to do my school work at my age. Another thing I learned from this article was that Wiener created the field of information ethics and a new branch of science: cybernetics. He did this while trying to develop a new war machine. This was the notion that he could develop something that gathered information processed and then made a decision about what to do, just as humans do. “Many animals, especially humans, can store information within their bodies and use it to adjust future activities on the bias of past experiences” (Bynum, 2009). My biggest take away from this article was towards the end when they discussed how unbiased Wiener was about not only his work but his colleagues as well. This is so important because being able to disconnect yourself from your work allows you to see errors and fix them. This is something I look to do in my work as well.

When reading Kenneth C. London’s Ethical Concept and Information Technology it gave rise to some good points. This article was overall explaining the ethics in cyberspace and how/why it is different than the real world. It made the point that ethics are completely different and or gone when in cyberspace. It is described as “the ethical vacuum in cyberspace,” meaning all ethics are sucked away when you are in cyberspace, along with the consequences (London, 1995). In this article they also explained how there is “no map of the IT ethics domain” which is true, there is no set list of rules when dealing with cyberspace (London, 1995). My favorite part about this piece was the different perspectives on ethics, the article explained in detail how it is important to know that everyone has different ethics and that everyone should be accepting of that. When it comes to some of the major things they should all be the same but the day to day ones will differ. Another perspective was set in the workplace, “individual vs. collective,” which means essentially boss vs. employee and how that will differ. You as a worker may not see eye to eye with your boss but you have to decide whether or not that is something you are okay with or you are not and must leave. I think overall, this has been the most interesting article for me thus far in the semester.

These past two weeks have helped me learn how to prioritize homework/projects and how to manage my time better. We were introduced to this essay prompt last week when our topics got approved. That day I started to form a plan on what I needed to get done by each date to be able to finish my paper on time but also to not overwhelm myself with work at the end. It has been going well and hasn’t been stressful thus far. As for what I believe I have learned this semester the biggest thing I have personally taken away from this class is how to better read, comprehend, and draw conclusions while making connections. Since we have readings and discussions each week I have been able to practice this skill and use it in my other classes. I have enjoyed this class so far and the topics we have covered.