Using Data Without Losing Your Soul

Wary of well-intentioned yet preachy conversations involving data and ethics? Weary of overally idealistic discussions about data and ethics that don't understand organizations do have an obligation to stay in business? Come listen to an irreverent yet earnest ethical consequentialist information technology professor ponder how you can keep a data-dependent organization alive (and pay the bills and the employees) without losing its (or your) soul! We are all here because we know that data rules the world, or, at least, the enterprise. It's amazing what data can accomplish, if applied properly, but there is a "creepy" perceptual line organizations can cross when working with data.

Yes, organizations have to obey compliance laws...but while you're at it, rather than merely check some boxes, how about honoring the good intentions of those policy and legal obligations in a way that not only keeps your organization going, but also lets you sleep at night and look in the mirror in the morning? It's important for organizations to consider data and ethics issues and determine for themselves what works best - to "own" ethical data practices and believe in their worth, in a way that is practical and authentic to their brand. Laws haven't covered everything (yet) so ethics needs to fill the gap. And, really, from a purely practical standpoint, you don't want your organization to be featured in a negative way on the evening news, Twitter, or the Daily Show ;-)

Karla Carter is an Associate Professor in the College of Science and Technology at Bellevue University, in Bellevue, Nebraska. Drawing on over 20 years of information technology experience, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Information Technology Ethics, Enterprise Data, Emerging Technologies, Social Engineering, and Web Development, and has been awarded Bellevue University's Excellence in Online Teaching Award. Karla's research interests focus on the intersection of information technology and society, particularly in the areas of social media and privacy – and she cannot resist new trolley problems. In addition to being Vice Chair for ACM SIGCAS, she is curious, intense, and irreverent, and can be found on Twitter at @professorkarla