According to Chapter 5 in TCT there are 3 main types of ethics. There are personal ethics, social ethics, and conservation ethics. When I think about the ethics involved in my previous instructions project the first thing that comes to mind is plagiarism. Many of us were creating instructions on how to use products that I believe most all of which already have instructions about them. It would have been very easy for someone to just look at some existing instructions and copy that down for their instruction set. The want to pass the class and our personal and social ethics took over however. We didn’t just copy the already created instructions. Some of us may have looked at some existing instructions and improved them by creating our own new instructions. I think the same thing is true for the white paper project. There are many white papers available online for many products. It could be very tempting to use information from these and not site our source. One important part of this current project will be remembering to document and site our sources properly to avoid some of these ethical problems.
One of the areas that I normally don’t think of with ethics is conservation ethics. I hadn’t ever really thought of this as ethics until reading this chapter. Since lots of these white papers may pertain to using one type of technology over another it brought to my mind conservation ethics. If we are writing a paper that may persuade a reader to replace a type of technology with another there may be some device that is getting tossed in the trash. I feel that how that device is disposed of closely relates to your conservation ethics. Do you just throw it out in your normal garbage? Do you take the time to find a place that is willing to recycle your used electronics? I think these questions are answered by how strong your conservation ethics are.
Original R14
I also find it interesting that, as you say “many of us were creating instructions on how to use products that I believe most all of which already have instructions about them.” If you take a step back and think about plagiarism I find it kind of weird that presenting the same idea in a different way is considered original work even if you really don’t bring up any good new points. But that’s just how it is and if you properly cite your sources and make sure you’re putting your own thoughts on the paper then so be it. I especially think good citing is important so the reader can understand your method.
Shane
Good Citations
Shane makes a good point about citing your sources well "so the reader can understand your method." Citing your sources is good not only to let the reader in on your method, but also helps your avoid plagiarism, obviously. But also, citing your sources can let your reader know where to find more information. A lot of times for projects, when I need more sources, or I want to find more sources on a particular subject that I already have a source on, I'll scan the bibliography of that source or look at the citations in the text in order to find more information. Obviously some of the information (the stuff that's cited) will overlap, but those sources no doubt have more to offer that's related to the topic at hand.
Kristin
R-E-C-Y-C-L-E Recycle~
You make a good point about conservation ethics. I have not thought about it until you mentioned it. My group’s white paper involves software technology rather than hardware but it still makes you think. Recycling our electronics to help Mother Earth is a good ethical decision. I also believe many of the companies that replace their old technology do this. This could mean taking them to a specialized area that disposes of them properly or they could donate their old computers to a poorly funded school. Not only is this the right decision but I will also bet that these companies get a little bit of a tax break for their generous services.
Conservation Ethics
Conservation ethics are becoming more and more important in this day and age. Everything is going green. I can’t even buy a toaster without deciding if I want a ‘green’ toaster or one that will kill the pandas. But conservation is a very serious thing to consider. I don’t want my kids to grow up in some toxic waste dump because too many people decided to buy the panda killing toaster. It seems like every decision that we make these days involves conservation ethics in some way or another. In can be as simple as having a more efficient light bulb or sticking with that gas guzzling SUV.