COURSE SYLLABUS - VIRTUAL SEMINAR IN ETHICS FOR GIS PROFESSIONALS (FALL 2005)

Welcome to the Virtual Seminar in Ethics for GIS Professionals!

First time here? Click on the "New? Start Here!" button to begin the site orientation (required!)

Ready to begin? Click on the Lessons tab (in ANGEL) to access the online course materials.

Need help? Click on the "Help" button to access course-specific help resources!

Course Overview | Course Timeline | Required Materials | Technical Requirements | Assignments

Course Overview

VIRTUAL SEMINAR IN ETHICS FOR GIS PROFESSIONALS. Exploration of ethical issues associated with the development and use of geographic information technologies.
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor at a participating UCGIS or WUN member institution.

The Virtual Seminar enables students at participating member institutions of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS) and Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) to study with leading scholars across the country and around the world. Participating institutions include

• Penn State University (GEOG 597e and GEOG 480)
• University of Minnesota (GEOG 8291)
• University of Wisconsin-Madison
• University of Bristol
• University of Kansas
• Oregon State University (GEO 599)
• Ohio State University (CE 899 and GEOG 899), and
• Leeds University.

The topic of the 2005 Virtual Seminar was inspired by the Geographic Information Systems Certification Institute's publication earlier this year of a GIS Code of Ethics. Seminar readings, presentations, and discussions will foster students’ ability to recognize and respond appropriately to ethical problems encountered in professional practice. The seminar will also cultivate among aspiring geographic information scientists a critical awareness of the implications of technologies used to track people and monitor facilities, as well as their potential to foster social justice.

The Virtual Seminar will span ten weeks in the Fall of 2005, from 12 October through 21 December. It will be hosted by Penn State, using the Penn State online course management system, known as "ANGEL." Each week, students will be expected to log in to the seminar space in ANGEL, read assigned literature, view a presentation (live or recorded, via a Web conferencing system), and respond with comments and/or questions posted in an online discussion forum. With guidance from local seminar coordinators and support staff, students will also be expected to develop, and publish on the Web, a project report that investigates in depth one of the issues raised in the seminar.

What is expected of seminar leaders?

Seminar leaders will include faculty members at participating institutions. An instructional design specialist from Penn State’s e-Education Institute will help facilitate faculty participation.

Seminar leaders may participate as presenters and/or as coordinators of seminar sessions at their home institutions.

Presenters are expected to:

1. Assemble a collection of readings to be assigned to students over one or more weeks
2. Prepare an oral presentation accompanied by PowerPoint slides (or other computer-based presentation)
3. Record the presentation for later viewing by seminar participants (Penn State will provide the necessary software, equipment, and training)
4. Respond to questions and comments from students and faculty members who participate in the “live” presentation by Web conference
5. Read and respond to comments posted by students in the asynchronous discussion forum associated with your presentation
6. Read and critique student presentations at conclusion of seminar

Coordinators are expected to:

1. Assure that assigned readings are available at local campus library, bookstore, etc.
2. Supervise weekly “debriefings” during which students discuss seminar presentations, readings, and discussions, identify problems in seminar delivery, and plan seminar projects.
What is expected of students?
3. Complete assigned readings on schedule (see Course Timeline)
4. View weekly presentations on schedule
5. Post comments and/or questions
6. Create, and publish on the Web, a semester project that investigates in depth some aspect of the presentations or readings
1. Penn State MGIS students develop individual projects
2. Students participating from other institutions develop group projects under supervision of local coordinators.

What is expected of students?

1. Complete assigned readings on schedule (see Course Timeline, below)
2. View weekly presentations on schedule
3. Post comments and/or questions
4. Create, and publish on the Web, a semester project that investigates in depth some aspect of the presentations or readings
1. Penn State MGIS students develop individual projects
2. Students participating from other institutions develop group projects under supervision of local coordinators.

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Course Timeline

Below you will find a summary of the weekly topics, facilitators, and student activities for this course and the associated dates. Specific details for each activity can be found in the online course materials under the Lessons tab in ANGEL.

Week 0: Wednesday, October 5 through Tuesday, October 11

Facilitators: David DiBiase and Ann Luck, Penn State

Student Activities:

1. Acquire course readings (listed below - students should consult local instructors for information about how and where to acquire course readings).
2. Read: Wright, D. J., 1999, "Virtual" Seminars in GIS: Academic Future or Flash in the Pan?, Geo Info Systems, 9(3): 22, 24-26. http://dusk.geo.orst.edu/virtual.html
3. Students not registered at Penn State:
• Apply for ‘Friend of Penn State’ (FoPS) account at https://fps.psu.edu/
• Report FoPS account information to virtualseminar@geog.psu.edu - Seminar facilitators at Penn State will add student to course roster.
• Facilitators will notify participants when they can log into Penn State ‘ANGEL’ course management system at http://cms.psu.edu/
4. Post personal introduction in seminar message board.
5. Review project assignment and discuss with local seminar supervisor.

Week 1: Wednesday, October 12 through Tuesday, October 18

Presenter: William J. Craig, University of Minnesota - "The GIS Code of Ethics"

To view a recording ("archive") of the presentation:

Student Activities:

1. Read:
• Geographic Information Systems Certification Institute. A GIS Code of Ethics, 2005. Online at http://www.gisci.org/code_of_ethics.htm
• Huxhold, William E. and Craig, William J. “Certification and Ethics in The GIS Profession.” Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, 15(1) 2003, pp.51-64. Online at http://www.urisa.org/Journal/Vol15No1/huxhold.pdf
• Craig, William J. 2004. "GIS Ethics: Understanding Implications of Action," GIS Development. Online at http://www.gisdevelopment.net/magazine/years/2004/july/14.shtml
• Crampton, Jeremy, 2005. Do We Need a GIS Certificate? Geoplace.com. Online at http://www.geoplace.com/uploads/FeatureArticle/0504gis.asp
2. View live presentation via Horizon Wimba - Friday, October 14, 2:00 p.m. EST
   (An archive of the presentation will be available after the event for those who are not able to attend live.)
3. Post one comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation to the online weekly discussion forum, or post response to instructor or other student’s comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation
4. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 2: Wednesday, October 19 through Tuesday, October 25

Presenter: Steve Ventura, University of Wisconsin - "Other Organizations’ Codes of Ethics"

• Go to http://www.e-education.psu.edu/horizonwimba
• Click on the "Participant Login" button Enter "MGIS" (all caps, but without the quotation marks) as the "Room ID" and your own name for "Name, then click "Enter"
• Click on the small "Click Here" link to enter the Lobby
• From the Lobby, click on the "Archives" tab and click on the link to the presentation

Student Activities:

1. Readings and site visits:
• Edson, Curtis, Brian Garcia, Jordan Hantman, Nicole Hartz, Hannah Jensen, Jill Leale, Kelley Lewelling, John Marks, Jeff Maxted, Bruce Moore, Brendan Vierk Rivera, Anna Weitzel. 2001. “Code of Ethics for GIS Professionals,” paper for IES 400, GIS and Society, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Online at http://www.ersc.wisc.edu/academics/courses/IES400GISandSociety/Code%20of%20Ethics/ethics_code1.pdf
• Craig, William J. "A GIS Code of Ethics: What Can We Learn from Other Organizations?" Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, V(2), Fall 1993, pp. 13-16 (also published in an earlier form in Proceedings of the 1993 URISA Conference, 2:1-9 ). Online at http://www.urisa.org/certification/craigeth.pdf
• American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 2004. Code of Ethics. Online at http://www.asprs.org/membership/certification/appendix_a.html
• Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions. Online at http://www.iit.edu/departments/csep/
2. View live presentation via Horizon Wimba - Wednesday, October 19, 9:30 a.m. EST
   (An archive of the presentation will be available after the event for those who are not able to attend live.)
3. Post one comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation to the online weekly discussion forum, or post response to instructor or other student’s comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation
4. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 3: Wednesday, October 26 through Tuesday, November 1

Presenter: Richard Harris, University of Bristol - "Troublesome Technologies and Furrowed Brows – Understanding Hostilities towards GIS"

• Go to http://www.e-education.psu.edu/horizonwimba
• Click on the "Participant Login" button Enter "MGIS" (all caps, but without the quotation marks) as the "Room ID" and your own name for "Name, then click "Enter"
• Click on the small "Click Here" link to enter the Lobby
• From the Lobby, click on the "Archives" tab and click on the link to the presentation

Student Activities:

1. Read (required):
• Harris, Rich (2005) 'Towards an understanding of research ethics for computational, e-social science: a geographical perspective.' Proceedings of the First International Conference on e-Social Science. (Online at http://www.ncess.ac.uk/events/conference/programme/papers/ncess2005_paper_Harris.pdf)
• Schuurman, Nadine. (2000) Trouble in the heartland: GIS and its critics in the 1990s. Progress in Human Geography, 24(4), pp. 569-590.
2. Read (recommended):
   • Burrow, R., Ellison, N., and Woods, B. (2005). Neighbourhoods on the net: The nature and impact of internet-based neighbourhood information systems. Bristol: Policy Press (in association with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation). Available from http://www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/eBooks/1861347723.pdf
3. Read (optional):
   • Curry, Michael. (1997) The Digital Individual and the Private Realm. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 87, pp. 681-699. (Online at http://www.jstor.org/ - Penn State students can access the article through http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/eresources/JSTOR)
   • Dodge, Martin, and Kitchin, Rob (2005) The ethics of forgetting in an age of pervasive computing. CASA Working Paper 92. (Online at http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/publications/)
   • Flowerdew, Robin (1998) Reacting to Ground Truth. Environment and Planning A 30, pp. 289-301.
   • Goss, Jon. (1995) 'We Know Who You Are and We Know Where You Live': the Instrumental Rationality of Geodemographic Systems. Economic Geography 71, pp.171-198. (Online at http://www.jstor.org/ - Penn State students can access the article through http://alias.libraries.psu.edu/eresources/JSTOR)
4. View live presentation via Horizon Wimba - Monday, October 31, 11:15 a.m. EST
   (An archive of the presentation will be available after the event for those who are not able to attend live.)
5. Post one comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation to the online weekly discussion forum, or post response to instructor or other student’s comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation
6. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 4: November 2 through Tuesday, November 8

Presenter: Jerome E. Dobson, University of Kansas - "Human Tracking and Geoslavery"

• Go to http://www.e-education.psu.edu/horizonwimba
• Click on the "Participant Login" button Enter "MGIS" (all caps, but without the quotation marks) as the "Room ID" and your own name for "Name, then click "Enter"
• Click on the small "Click Here" link to enter the Lobby
• From the Lobby, click on the "Archives" tab and click on the link to the presentation

Student Activities:

1. Read:
• Dobson, Jerome E. and Peter F. Fisher, 2003. Geoslavery. IEEE Technology and Society Magazine. Spring, pp. 47-52.
2. View presentation live or archived
3. Post one comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation to the online weekly discussion forum, or post response to instructor or other student’s comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation
4. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 5: Wednesday, November 9 through Tuesday, November 15

Presenter: Francis Harvey, University of Minnesota - "Questions About Ethics for GIS Professionals"

• Go to http://www.e-education.psu.edu/horizonwimba
• Click on the "Participant Login" button Enter "MGIS" (all caps, but without the quotation marks) as the "Room ID" and your own name for "Name, then click "Enter"
• Click on the small "Click Here" link to enter the Lobby
• From the Lobby, click on the "Archives" tab and click on the link to the presentation

Student Activities:

1. Read:
• Berdichevsky, D. and E. Neunschwander (1999). "Towards an ethics of persuasive technology." Communications of the ACM 42(5): 51-58.
• Black, E. (2000). "IBM: And that’s How the Trains Ran on Time." Retrieved 26Feb2002, 2002, from http://hnn.us/articles/655.html.
• Chrisman, N. R. (1992). Ethics for the practitioners of geographic information systems embedded in 'real world' constraints of guilds, professions and institutional sponsorship. GIS/LIS 92, pp. 129-137.
• Clark, M. J. (1998). "GIS--democracy or delusion?" Environment and Planning A 30(2): 303-316.
• Crampton, J. (1995). "The ethics of GIS." Cartography and Geographic Information Systems 22(1): 84-89.
2. View presentation live or archived
3. Find example of LBS and examples of surveillance from ethical perspectives
4. Post one comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation to the online weekly discussion forum, or post response to instructor or other student’s comment or question with reference to assigned readings and presentation
5. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 6: Wednesday, November 16 through Tuesday, November 22

Presenter: Francis Harvey, University of Minnesota - "GIS and Communities"

• Go to http://www.e-education.psu.edu/horizonwimba
• Click on the "Participant Login" button Enter "MGIS" (all caps, but without the quotation marks) as the "Room ID" and your own name for "Name, then click "Enter"
• Click on the small "Click Here" link to enter the Lobby
• From the Lobby, click on the "Archives" tab and click on the link to the presentation

Student Activities:

1. Read:
• Ghose, R. and S. Elwood (2003). "Public Participation GIS and Local Political Context: Propositions and Research Directions." URISA Journal 15(APA II): 17-24. Online at http://www.urisa.org/Journal/protect/APANo2/Ghose.pdf
• Kwaku Kyem, P. A. (2004). "Of intractable conflicts and participatory GIS applications: The search for consensus amidst competing claims and institutional demands." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 94(1): 37-57.
• Mugerauer, R. (2000). Qualitative GIS: To mediate, not dominate. Information, Place, and Cyberspace. Issues in Accessibility. D. G. Janelle and D. C. Hodge. Berlin, Springer Verlag: 317 - 338.
2. View presentation live or archived
3. Post 50-word abstract and URL of a community GIS application/project in weekly discussion forum
4. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 7: Wednesday, November 23 through Tuesday, November 29

Facilitator: Francis Harvey, University of Minnesota - Review and advise project proposals

Student Activities:

1. Individuals (Penn State) or groups (other institutions) post project proposal in weekly discussion forum
2. Post critique of at least one other proposal to the weekly discussion forum
3. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 8: Wednesday, November 30 through Tuesday, December 6

Facilitators: David DiBiase and Ann Luck, Penn State

Student Activities:

1. Post draft projects in weekly discussion forum or in local Web space
2. Consult with facilitators and local specialists about presentation techniques
3. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 9: Wednesday, December 7 through Tuesday, December 13

Facilitators: David DiBiase and Ann Luck, Penn State

Student Activities:

1. Post final projects in weekly discussion forum or in local Web space
2. View other students’ project postings
3. Post peer review of at least one other project to the weekly discussion forum
4. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

Week 10: Wednesday, December 14 through Tuesday, December 20

Facilitators: David DiBiase and Ann Luck, Penn State

Student Activities:

1. Read review by instructor or local coordinator
2. Attend debriefing session with local seminar leader

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Required Course Materials

There are no required textbooks for this course. However, in order to take this course, you need to have an active Penn State Access Account user ID and password or a "Friends of Penn State" account (used to access the on-line course resources). Approximately two weeks prior to the course start date the World Campus will mail a course Welcome Letter to you, which includes important information about the course and step-by-step directions for how to begin!

If you do not receive your Welcome Letter, please contact the World Campus' Student Services group immediately so that they can send you the information you need. They can be reached at 1-800-252-3592 in the US or internationally at 814-865-5403 (country code 1). You may reach them by e-mail at psuwd@psu.edu.

Recommended materials: To participate in the live presentation sessions via Web conference, we recommend that you acquire a USB headset/microphone, such as the Plantronics USB headset DSP 300 (approx. $55).

Using the Library

Participants at institutions other than Penn State:

Many of the required readings for this course are available online and linked to the seminar materials. Participants from institutions other than Penn State will acquire readings not available online through their local institutions. Please see your local seminar coordinator for more information.

Penn State participants:

Required course readings not already linked to the seminar materials are available to Penn State students through Penn State’s electronic reserves system, which is accessible through our seminar space in ANGEL (see the “Library Reserves” link under the Tools tab).

In addition to the Library Reserves, many of Penn State's library resources can be utilized from a distance by Penn State students. Through the Library Resources and Services for World Campus and Distance Education site, Penn State Access Account holders can...

• access electronic databases, and even full text articles, from the LIAS Fast Track,
• borrow materials and have them delivered to your doorstep...or even your desktop,
• access materials that your instructor has put on Electronic Reserve,
• talk to reference librarians in real time using the "Virtual Reference Service",
• ...and more.

NOTE: You must be a Penn State student and registered with the University Libraries in order to take full advantage of the Libraries' resources and services. Registration and services are free.

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Technical Requirements

For this course we recommend the minimum technical requirements outlined on the Penn State World Campus "Technical Requirements" page, located at https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/public/diagnostics/General.shtml

Not sure if your computer is set up correctly? You can use the links below to test your settings:

If you need technical assistance at any point during the course, please contact the World Campus Help Desk.

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Assignments

Local coordinators will establish local evaluation criteria and will evaluate their students’ projects and contributions to seminar discussions.

Evaluation criteria for Penn State students:

• Timely and thoughtful participation accounts for 50% of grade
• Seminar project accounts for 50% of grade

A rubric that outlines evaluation criteria in greater detail will be distributed to students prior to the due date for project proposals.

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Disclaimer: Please note that the specifics of this Course Syllabus can be changed at any time, and you will be responsible for abiding by any such changes. Changes will be posted to the course discussion forum.

This course was developed and is maintained by the e-Education Institute.

It is being delivered through Penn State's World Campus.

Questions/Comments? E-mail: psuwd@psu.edu
or phone 1-800-252-3592 (toll free within the U.S.) or +1-814-865-5403 (international calls)