Professional Ethics

Its not all about right & wrong

What is Ethics?

• Dictionary.com defines Ethics as:“a system of moral principles”

and

“the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.”

Ethics is not…

• Laws or rules

• However, most believe ethics is related to what’s right and wrong

Code of Conduct

• A set of rules to guide behavior and decisions.

• A code of conduct can outline Professional behavior • Doctor, Lawyer, Military, etc.

Acceptable Use Policies

• AUP = Acceptable use policy• Guidelines that outline what an organization finds

acceptable or unacceptable for use of the Internet

• Can apply to internet, computer, or network usage

• Look at the district AUP

©opyright and Licensing Laws

• Copyright is the right to control how your art, literature or other work is used.

• Purpose: to advance the progress of knowledge by giving the creator an economic incentive to create new works.

• It has to be tangible to be copyrighted.

• A document may be copyrighted even if it doesn’t state that it is.

Fair Use Laws

User must weigh four factors:The purpose and

character of the use

The amount and substantiality of the portion used.

The effect on the potential market for the copyrighted work.

The nature of the copyrighted work

Trade Secrets

• The FBI reports that over $13 Billion was lost by businesses in 2012 due to trade secrets and intellectual property theft- article

• A trade secret is a formula, practice, process, design, instrument, pattern, or compilation of information which is not generally known or reasonably ascertainable, by which a business can obtain an economic advantage over competitors or customers. 

• Another item of concernthat is often stolen or sold:• Customer Lists

Plagiarism & Internet Cheating

• Plagiarism is taking the work of someone else and submitting it as your own.

• Many view work on the Internet as public domain or free for the taking, however if you didn’t write it, it must be cited.

• There are lots of applications available to detect plagiarism.

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Evaluating Information Accuracy

The Web offers information from around the world and information can appear fairly anonymous—How do you know the information is trustworthy and accurate?

Consider the following: authorship, point of view or bias, verifiability, currency of information. How do you do this?

When you use an electronic library the information has already been evaluated by experts.

Professional Ethics

Its not all about right & wrong