What is "Ethics"?
How do we identify if we are presenting information ethically? Ethics is the state of living rightly, but communicating ethically requires that we consider how the audience will consider and use the information (personal communication, F. Kemp, August 2012). That is, we must know our audience and understand the perspective that the audience will have when audience members consume the information. And we need to ensure that we provide enough information for the safety of our readers.For example, if you are publishing a blog about canine care, you must ensure that you are providing information that is appropriate for the audience. You would be writing unethically if you wrote a blog with a general audience but you wrote about veterinarian medicine and showed images of vet surgery.
Even more important, if you are publishing a Web site about hiking, you must ensure that you consider your reader's safety: You warn your audience members of possible hazards that they may face when they hike, and you need to address precautions that they must take when they use your information to go hiking.
Why do Ethics Matter in Content Design?
Frequently, we do not consider our ethical responsibility when we publish online. But we need to think through how we design and present information; we need to analyze all constraints and elements that can affect our writing before we write. We need to plan. We need to consider writing as a process: not just sitting at the computer and typing a message but analyzing the working through the writing process, as I addressed in my previous post about the writing process.Ethics are important when we write because as information designers, we are a source of information for our readers. We are responsible for effectively and accurately providing information, and we build our credibility with our audience members if we consider what is "right" and provide them with accurate information that they can trust. We do good for ourselves and for our audience.
