Time Schedule:
John Christiansen
IMT 550
Seattle Campus
Select concepts, processes, and issues related to the organizational contexts within which information professionals practice. Topics include information as public/private good, intellectual property, privacy, confidentiality, information liability, and information policy. Focus on contemporary issues affecting the role of the information manager.
Class description
This course examines legal and ethical issues affecting information professionals, with an emphasis on problems involving competing values. Topics include the interaction of government and law with privately-owned information networks, the duties and roles of information professionals in legal compliance and organizational governance, the protection and use of information as intellectual property, and the tension between privacy and proprietary rights against governmental surveillance and private tracking.
Student learning goals
The goal of this course is to sensitize information professionals to situations presenting possible legal risks or ethical conflicts, learn to spot and navigate conflicting values affecting information management decisions, work with complementary professions in solving organizational compliance problems, and participate in the development of public policies affecting information use and management.
General method of instruction
Most class sessions will combine lectures, student-led discussions and general discussion. I usually will not cover reading materials specifically, but will assume students have read the materials. In addition to your active participation in discussions, I will consider contributions of additional information, materials and resources developed through independent research as important participation factors.
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
In addition to readings and class participation, the following assignments will be considered in your grade:
1. Team Case Discussion. Students will form teams to identify, research, and report on a real case or cases involving some of the issues covered in the course. Each team will develop a brief written report and present to the class on its case. Specific issues and schedules will be selected within the first two weeks of class.
2. Information Professional Role Analysis. This will be one of two individual writing assignments. In this assignment I will ask you to discuss and analyze the role(s) and duties of information professionals in connection with legal compliance, ethical questions and risk issues, as you understand them at the time of the assignment. I will ask you to conduct independent research and assessment, but I principally intend this assignment as a vehicle for you to consider and articulate your professional goals and ethical stance in relation to public policy development and legal compliance.
3. End User License Agreement Analysis. This will be the second of two individual writing assignments. This is an exercise intended to help you “think like a lawyer” about information management documentation, by analyzing the terms of an end user license agreement or terms of use for an online service. This analysis will also require independent research and analysis, and is principally intended to demonstrate your ability to identify areas of sound or questionable legal compliance, and possible ethical issues such as legally acceptable but misleading or incomplete disclosure of risks to users.
4. Compliance and Risk Mitigation Project. This will be a team project including both a written report and in-class presentation. (Any team electing the Virtual World project may choose to present in-world if they prefer, subject to our assurance we can make the technology work for the whole class.)
A specific book or report will be assigned in each topic area, but teams will be expected to conduct substantial additional research and analysis. Outreach to experts for advice in the project area will be encouraged, and facilitated when possible.
Each team will develop a report and presentation on the issues presented by a proposed information technology implementation in one of the following three scenarios:
A. Virtual World Consultation Site. The project proposal is for the implementation of a virtual world site where very high net worth individuals can consult by avatar with the avatars of their financial and legal advisors about sensitive business and personal matters, from anywhere around the world. The report and presentation will be for consideration by a venture capital group and their legal advisors. Reading: Duranske, Virtual Law (2008)
B. Personal Health Records for Specialty Practice. The project proposal is for the implementation of personal health records (“PHRs”) for an alcohol and drug treatment facility. The PHRs will be outsourced for hosting and management by a major technology company, and will be used by patients to store and share their health information with their care professionals at the facility, their regular care providers, and other parties. The report and presentation will be for consideration by the executive team of the facility, their risk managers and legal advisors. Reading: National National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, Personal Health Records and Personal Health Record Systems (2006)
C. Radio Frequency Identification Devices for Educational Facility. The project proposal is to implement RFIDs, with RFID monitors at key perimeter and internal locations, to track all books, equipment and portable computers used on the campus of a public high school, and require all students, teachers and staff to carry RFIDs in their school IDs at all times, to prevent theft and other criminal activities. The report and presentation will be for consideration by the school’s principal, school board members, the local police chief, and the school district’s legal advisors. Reading: Albrecht & McIntyre, Spychips (2006)
General grading information for the University of Washington is available at: http://www.washington.edu/students/gencat/front/Grading_Sys.html. Grades in this course in particular will be based on the following activities: Individual Participation: 10% Team Case Discussion 30% Written Report 15% Class Participation 15% Information Professional Role Analysis: 15% End User License Agreement Analysis: 15% Compliance and Risk Mitigation Project: 30% Written Report 15% Classroom Role-Playing 15% In particular, these activities will require the following:
