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Course module: FRRMV16017
FRRMV16017
Digital Ethics
Course info
Course codeFRRMV16017
EC5
Course goals
• Mastery of key concepts and methods for engaging in research in ethics related to digital technology, including confidentiality, fraud, risk, responsibility, privacy, and piracy.
• Critical examination of implications for ethics research of emerging technologies such as automatized decision-making and data visualization.
Content
As a field of the humanities, ethics involves systematic reflection on normative issues.  In this context, digital ethics focuses on an important aspect of working effectively with digital materials and systems: understanding the methods, principles, procedures, and institutions that govern the appropriate use of digital technology. Central here are ethical concepts of confidentiality, fraud, risk, privacy, responsibility, and piracy, as well as metaphysical issues related to causality and virtual reality. The course will examine several pivotal cases that raise fundamental issues regarding the responsible use of digital technology, such as the unintentional discovery of confidential information in medical scans or database searches, or disputed claims to authenticity or ownership related to digital reproduction.
 
In addition, the field of ethics is itself subject to transformation to the extent to which a variety of digital methods are increasingly used to assist, automate, or even replace decision-making.  Central here are questions regarding of the implications of Big Data processing, “smart” searchbots, automated decision supports, and techniques of data visualization for ethical judgments, including the judgments that underlie the ethical theorizing of academic researchers.
 
Drawing on current approaches to research ethics, ethics of technology, and computer and information ethics, students will develop their own ethical analyses of two concrete cases at the intersection of humanities research and digital technology. 

Interested M.A. exchange students with a strong background in philosophy may qualify to take the course; however, they should first contact the RMA Philosophy coordinator:  j.h.anderson@uu.nl
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Kies de Nederlandse taal