Teaching Ethics with spatial thinking and GIS
Why | How
My pathway and focus.
Joseph Kerski: My pathway through 4 sectors of society--nonprofit, government, academia, and private industry.
One of Joseph's teenaged maps.
The Spatial Reserves book and blog.
1. Why do ethics matter in teaching with GIS?
Why and how can ethics be taught?
(1) Knowing that maps are powerful means of communication, you should take that responsibility as map author seriously.
With great capability comes great _____ responsibility.
(2) Everyone is now a map producer.
Implications for data quality and ethics.
(3) Maps still have an aura of authenticity--they tend to be believed. Take that responsibility seriously, and do not intentionally or unintentionally mislead your audience.
A good map teaches you to ask a better question.
Maps are representations of reality.
This is a key time to teach ethics: (1) Rise in geo-awareness and geo-technologies in society. (2) New codes of ethics and mapmakers mantras. (3) Initiatives: American Geographical Society's Ethical Geo Column, Esri's social science inclusion, AAG-Esri Geo-Ethics summit at UCSB.
2. How can I effectively teach ethics through GIS?
(1) Through GIS and non-GIS courses.
(2) In interesting and practical ways through examining data through hands-on activities, reflections, discussions, and presentations.
Tenet: Ethics is too important to be relegated to a place at the end of a course: Integrated into any course that asks “where” and where communication matters.
Let's get personal: Location Privacy.
(1) How many of your phone's apps are sharing your location right now?
(2) When should you share your mapped data? Who should you share it with?
THINK: Is the map: True, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, Kind?
Effective technique: Show bad maps, such as my set here : Bad maps abound, and even live data feeds can be in error!
What's wrong with this map?
What's wrong with this map II?
I know it gets hot in Texas, but ...
The 4 C's of data quality:
1. Complete: Is everything here that’s supposed to be here?
2. Coherent: Does all of the data “add up?”
3. Correct: Are these, in fact, the right values?
4. aCcountable: Can we trace the data?
Imagery must also be viewed critically—it could be intentionally o ffset from vectors or selectively o ffset from vectors or selectively r emove items, such as moving vehicles.
Example of offset imagery.
Data could even be intentionally faked.
Faked imagery example.
Is this real? Creating weather is possible in ArcGIS 3D Scenes. Redlands, California USA.
Key information may be left out of the metadata can only be resolved by talking to the data creator with an old-fashioned call as was the case when I was revising m y Lyme disease map of Rhode Island.
Mapping Lyme disease in Rhode Island.
Another effective teaching technique: Make clear that even when you are mapping your own data, data quality and ethical decisions frequently arise, as I point o ut in these field examples.
Be critical of the data - including when it is your OWN data!
Use case studies in your ethics instruction. One set is from David DiBiase at Penn State.
Another set is an 8 part video series on geoprivacy from Dr Seidl in my own state of Colorado. Including REPO MAN!
Repo Man! Takes pictures of potential repossessed vehicles.
Another way to teach ethics are to examine these gigapan images . I included this image from this tower in China in discussions in my course in modern GIS.
Gigapixel image.
Turn issues of copyright, such as “can I use that picture in my story map” into short effective instructional moments in ethics. This fosters discussion about best practice aided by my f avorite decision-making graphic on this topic.
Decision-making tree: Can I use that picture?
Next, ask, “Should I use that picture?” Potential harm can occur to natural spaces, for example , from geotagged photographs from tourists that result in a place being “over-loved” or to rare and endangered species .
Another way of teaching ethics is to foster a debate using the GIS Certification Institute’s C ode of Ethics . Pose a few scenarios and under each scenario, ask students, “when does the obligation to society outweigh the obligation to the employer, funder, or colleagues?”
GISCI Code of Ethics.
Model good metadata strategies! First, examine the metadata. Then: Teach: (1) Truth in Labeling (TIL); (2) Fitness for Use (FFU).
When students ask: "Is my map right?" Respond: 1. "Does it aid in your understanding of the issue? 2. Can you justify the choices you made in creating the map?"
3. To dig deeper, see:
Ethical Geo essay.
2. My ethics essays on the Spatial Reserves data blog.
Guess where?
4. AAG paper out for review on locational privacy and the public interest.
