Reflections on My Semester-Long Blog Project

                In creating posts for this blog, I have explored the different facets of how social media and librarianship interact. As educators, librarians can help develop people’s critical thinking skills so they can identify fake news, become better digital citizens, and avoid scams. Librarians can also use social media to connect to their patrons and customize services, but at the risk of breaching privacy. Library 2.0 and the tailoring of library services to individuals has a lot of promise, but many perils as well. The topic of social media use and abuse in librarianship is broad, and I did not realize at first how many different foci there were within that umbrella topic. I think if I started over again, I might narrow the topic to keep the blog more focused; but, at the same time, if I had begun with a narrow focus I may not have discovered all the information that I have, and formed the perspective that I have now.

                As privacies in America continue to erode, I wonder where libraries will stand in that fight. In theory, we are on the side of maintaining privacy. But, as technology allows us to track patrons better and better, will the allure of making the library more “user friendly” compete with our value of anonymity and privacy? This is not something that will be fought out in theory, but in the libraries and courts (of law and public opinion).

Cumulative References

Allan, Mark A., and Mary Dewinter. 2018. "Is It Fake News?" Presentation, Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, April 5, 2018.

American Library Association. 2006. “Core Values of Librarianship.” Last modified July 26, 2006. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/corevalues

American Library Association. 2017. “Professional Ethics.” Last modified May 19, 2017. http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics

Beasley, Berrin, and Haney, Mitchell R. (Eds.). 2013. Social Media and the Value of Truth. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Brantley, Peter, Marshall Breeding, Eric Hellman, and Gary Price. 2015. “CNI: Swords, Dragons, and Spells: Libraries and User Privacy.” YouTube video, 44:23. January 23, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQeK0rCQpmo

Common Sense Media. n.d. “Educator Programs.” Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/educator-programs

Ethics and Information Technology, Netherlands: Springer, ISSN: 1388-1957 (Print) 1572-8439 (Online), http://link.springer.com/journal/10676 

Henderson, Jennifer Jacobs. 2013. "Searching for Ethics in Social Media." Journal of Mass Media Ethics 28, no. 3: 217-219. Book Review Digest Plus (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed February 12, 2018).

Stuart, David. 2013 “Social Media: Usage and Impact," Online Information Review 37 Issue: 3, 486-487. https://doi-org.ezp.twu.edu/10.1108/OIR-04-2013-0092

Higgin, Tanner. 2017. “Making Media Literacy Central to Digital Citizenship.” MindShift. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/49607/making-media-literacy-central-to-digital-citizenship

InCtrl. n.d. “Teaching Digital Citizenship.” Accessed April 17, 2018. https://www.teachinctrl.org/

Johnson, Doug. 2003. “Librarians and ethics in use of technology.” Blog post. http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/librarians-and-ethics-in-use-of-technology.html

Journal of Media Ethics, Philadelphia, PA: Routledge, ISSN 2373-6992, http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hmme21/current

Kegley, J.A. 2013. "Social media and the value of truth." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, July 2013, 2029. Literature Resource Center. Accessed 12 Feb. 2018.

Mackay, Jenn Burleson. 2013. "Social media and the value of truth." Journal Of Mass Media Ethics 28, no. 3: 222-223. Social Sciences Citation Index, EBSCOhost (accessed February 12, 2018).

Microsoft. 2016. “Digital Citizenship.” Course. Posted December 8, 2016. https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/digital-citizenship

Moody Foundation. n.d. “Moody Foundation.” Homepage. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://moodyf.org/

Newseum. n.d. “Is This Story Share-Worthy? Flowchart.” Newseum ED. Accessed April 19, 2018.  https://newseumed.org/activity/is-this-story-share-worthy-flowchart-mlbp/

Noor Al-Deen, H. S., & Hendricks, J. A. (Eds.). 2011. Social media: Usage and impact. Maryland: Lexington Books.

NPR. 2017. “Social Media: The NPR Way.” Last updated July 2017. http://ethics.npr.org/tag/social-media/

Rutgers SC&I. 2017. “Rutgers SC&I Social Media & Society Cluster channel.” Last updated November 20, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqkEaHo6pqb7IyiE1WZ9sug

Texas State Library and Archives Commission. 2018. “Grants and Funding.” Last modified January 25, 2018. https://www.tsl.texas.gov/landing/libfunds.html

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. n.d. “The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.” Homepage. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://mellon.org/

Vallor, S. 2012. Flourishing on Facebook: virtue friendship & new social media. Ethics and Information Technology, 14(3), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-010-9262-2

Wasike, Jotham. 2013. "Social Media Ethical Issues: Role of a Librarian." Library Hi Tech News 30 (1): 8-16. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07419051311320922.

Newseum infographic

Fake news wouldn't be a problem if we stopped sharing it and giving it life. This infographic from Newseum, while not explicitly about ethics, is a decision-making tool to help people decide if something is "share-worthy." The steps include critically thinking about whether the story is true, biased, or useful to a cause. If everyone integrated this sort of decision-making to their shares, the epidemic of social media abuse via fake news would certainly decrease.

Click image to view full size 

https://newseumed.org/activity/is-this-story-share-worthy-flowchart-mlbp/

"Is It Fake News?" Conference Session from TLA 2018

At the 2018 Texas Library Association’s Annual Conference in Dallas, TX, I attended a session about fake news presented by Mark A. Allan and Mary Dewinter. The session, “Is It Fake News?” addressed why fake news exists, how it works, the ways it spreads, and what tools librarians have to teach people about it. I chose this session to write about on this blog because it is explicitly part of librarianship to provide accurate information to patrons, and fake news – often spread through social media -- is making that fight harder. The ALA’s Professional Code of Ethics states that librarians provide “accurate, unbiased, and courteous responses to all requests” (American Library Association, 2017). The ALA’s Core Values of Librarianship includes intellectual freedom, the public good, service, and social responsibility (American Library Association, 2006). The professional ethics of librarianship require that we work against fake news and help educate our patrons on how to identify it themselves.

            The session was split into two parts, each presenter speaking separately. Mary Dewinter reviewed how fake news is created. She said that on the internet, clicks equal cash. There are fake news articles generated for money, often in countries where this job yields a much higher pay than any local opportunities. She explained that fake news usually appeals to people because of novelty and some sort of emotional trigger in the article. Since most kids get their news from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, social media plays an active role in the spread of fake news links. Some of the resources she recommends include a website called Factitious, a “Fake News Real News” card game, Richard Byrne’s blog, Ted Ed videos, the Hoaxy website, and NY Times’ learning network. She defined “news literacy” as the ability to use critical thinking skills to judge the reliability and credibility of a news piece, and introduced an evaluative tool: ESCAPE. Evidence, Source, Context, Audience, Purpose, and Execution. She said that the addition of fake audio and doctored photos to stories adds a sort of “evidence” to fake news. The intended goal of this part of the presentation was to get to the final “how to win” section, where Dewinter said we need to give students the ability to read freely and critically, teach them to be critical consumers of news, and share what we are reading with students to model.

            Mark Allan’s part of the presentation focused on confirmation bias and the role that it takes in the spread of fake news. He questioned whether “fake news” is news one does not agree with, or false information that is spread for a purpose, to mislead. Librarians use credibility tests, but is that enough to account for the bias of the audience or the researcher themselves? Allan defines confirmation bias as “seeking and favoring stories that fit your world view” (Allan and Dewinter, 2018). He recommended the book “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Kahneman, and read a piece from the book about heuristics – mental shortcuts – that can lead to bias. He talked about filter bubbles, and how our digital platforms shape our worldview. The goal of his presentation is to explain how modifying our current credibility tests could help us to think more critically about our own bias. Credibility tests can help us slow down our thought process and be more deliberate about our thinking, but we bring our own biases to these tests. He proposed a modification to the CRAAP test, making it SCRAAP instead. The S is self-reflection/self-analysis/self-examination. He prefers this because it addresses bias first.

The ethical imperative in librarianship to fight against fake news is not new, but it has recently taken on new importance as social media has made it easier than ever to spread misinformation. The educational resources that Allan and Dewinter presented, the creditability tests, and the strategies for overcoming fake news were helpful and gave me some insight into the problems that the unethical use of social media can exacerbate.

Allan, Mark A., and Mary Dewinter. 2018. "Is It Fake News?" Presentation, Texas Library Association Annual Conference, Dallas, TX, April 5, 2018.

American Library Association. 2006. “Core Values of Librarianship.” Last modified July 26, 2006. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/corevalues

 American Library Association. 2017. “Professional Ethics.” Last modified May 19, 2017. http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics

For the visual learners out there!

Brantley, Peter, Marshall Breeding, Eric Hellman, and Gary Price. 2015. “CNI: Swords, Dragons, and Spells: Libraries and User Privacy.” YouTube video, 44:23. January 23, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQeK0rCQpmo

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This video is a presentation from the Coalition for Networked Information Fall 2014 Membership Meeting, held in Washington, D. C. This recorded session is specifically about user privacy in libraries, and what the major issues are in that area. Adobe Editions’ recording of user data is referenced as a revelation for many people. Social media, and the Library 2.0 customization that is impending, is a major concern when it comes to privacy and intellectual freedom. This presentation covers privacy and electronic security in libraries overall, and is an excellent primer in the topic. Eric Hellman focuses on social media and their potentially insidious intentions, and how advertisements connect our browser history to our social media and beyond.

The ethical implications of these problems is not as central to the presentation as the technology involved, but it is there. Intellectual freedom and the privacy-protecting mission of libraries is addressed, and with some amount of ruefulness and concern. The presenters don’t just question the intentions of social media companies and other internet entities, they name them as infiltrators of our lives. 

This recording falls more into the “internet safety + privacy + intellectual freedom” flavor of this blog, and while it does reference social media, it goes far beyond it as well. Web savviness goes further than digital citizenship and netiquette, and this video reveals the types of complex problems that libraries are facing as Library 2.0 becomes a reality. The presenters offer some guidance, but mostly this is a call to awareness, as many users and library professionals may not be aware of just how easy it is to expose your data and compromise privacy.

Funding for a Program

http://www.quickmeme.com/p/3vzc9c

It always comes down to money. Programs don’t fund themselves! In looking for funding resources for social media ethics, I explored what sorts of programs there already were out there in the world that were being funded, and the buzzword in education when it comes to social media and ethics is often “digital citizenship.” It is a more broad term, and encompasses all sorts of information literacy that does not necessarily fit my focus, but it showed me where to look when it came to funding institutions and the types of programs they were interested in funding. Here are three potential sources for funding, and a few other free resources for instruction and curriculum that could save money by taking the place of more costly resources in a program.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

https://mellon.org/

The Mellon Foundation supports a broad range of programs, but one would be particularly applicable to a Digital Citizenship or Information Literacy program: Higher Education and Scholarship in the Humanities. The Foundation has many subsections to this area, and they include “Faculty growth as teachers, scholars, and academic citizens across the stages of a professorial career,” and “Programs that scale up training for humanistic engagement with the digital.” Both of these descriptors lead me to believe they would be receptive to a grant proposal for a social media ethics program.

The Mellon Foundation accepts proposals all the time, and they are presented to the Board of Trustees on a quarterly basis. They work with applicants to revise and refine proposals before bringing them to the board, so it’s best to leave plenty of time for that process.  A grant from the Mellon Foundation could fund salary and wages (or stipend) for a librarian to teach a course, the cost of equipment and supplies for the program, marketing and advertising, and more.

Moody Foundation

https://moodyf.org/

                The Moody Foundation’s main goal is to “make a difference in the lives of the people of Texas.”  They fund a wide variety of programs, granting funds to libraries, universities, and other organizations. Some recent grants include $250,000 to the Galveston Rosenberg Library for renovations, $150,000 to the University of Texas at Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art for educational programs, and many more. 

                The Foundation accepts proposals all the time, and meets for grant approvals quarterly. They warn that the entire process may take up to 6 months, and to budget your time for that. The funds that the Moody Foundation grants are general, and can be used on teaching stipends, supplies, marketing, etc.

Texas State Library and Archives Commission

https://www.tsl.texas.gov/landing/libfunds.html

          Through the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, the current grant cycle is for fiscal year 2019, and the deadline was March 8^th, but the term will reset next year. Last year, awards included $8,996 to Houston Public Library for promoting digital literacy, $10,000 for the University of North Texas to create webinars to promote digital literacy, and more. Those examples fell under “Impact Grants,” and that seems like the most likely route for a digital citizenship program. A TSLAC document describes Impact Grants for Library Innovation and Improvement as being for a “new idea for serving your community,” “implement[ing] a best practice that will improve service delivery,” and “innovative notion[s] you want to test.” These awards cannot exceed $10,000, and the funds do not require matching.

The award funds can cover staff, equipment, supplies, and more, but are not to cover “building construction,” “food, beverages,” “awards, honoraria, prizes, or gifts,” and any expenses that develop that are not specifically for the program funded by the grant.

          

     

Basic information about “Digital Citizenship:”

https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/49607/making-media-literacy-central-to-digital-citizenship

Free educator resources:  

Common Sense Media

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/educator-programs

InCtrl

https://www.teachinctrl.org/

Microsoft’s Digital Citizenship training

https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/digital-citizenship

Research Article Analysis -- "Social Media Ethical Issues: Role of a Librarian"

Wasike, Jotham. 2013. "Social Media Ethical Issues: Role of a Librarian." Library Hi Tech News 30 (1): 8-16. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07419051311320922.

Wasike, writing from the perspective of a librarian in Kenya, takes a look at social media privacy concerns. The problem he identifies is that most users do not really understand or employ privacy settings effectively on social media platforms, and this leads to personal information being more accessible than the users intend. He also notes that there is a conflict between the needs of users for privacy and the social media platforms for profiting off the use of personal information. Wasike also brings up the near impossible task of policing social media users’ behavior, in terms of compliance with platforms’ terms and conditions of use. Fake accounts used to troll, sabotage, and spread rumors are difficult to spot and rely on users to report abusive behaviors. In turn, false reports occur as well. The platforms themselves are immune from blame for the behavior of their users, and give no guarantees as to the quality of the content that users post. Social media can be part of the “Library 2.0” approach, making libraries more of an interactive environment for patrons.

The author states that “Social media ethics are informed by normative theories that aim to develop a set of best practices governing human conduct” (8). He says that virtue ethics also come into play, and “individual users engage in ethical conduct by following principles and rules, or adopting habits and behaviors seen as ethically virtuous” (8). Not clearly stated but clearly implied are the use of the professional ethics of librarians as a group, in the protection of users’ rights and privacy. This article is essentially a literature review with conclusions and opinion based on that research.

Wasike does not think there has been enough research and academic attention paid to social media use by libraries. He suggests that librarians should learn more about social media’s pitfalls and ethical implications, and that the librarian’s focus should be on balancing privacy protections with access. One interesting issue he brings up is that social media platforms, like other online resources that libraries use, capture information about users that has the potential to be used against them. By inviting patrons to participate on a library’s social media account, is the library then responsible for the risk those users take in leaving breadcrumbs of their online activity? The benefit of connecting with patrons online does not come without risk.

The conclusions that Wasike reaches include a few recommendations for how librarians should move forward in the Information Age. He says librarians need to be educated about social media and the greater context of the online environment wherein it exists. He also says that librarians need to be active shepherds of effective and ethical use of social media. He takes special note, as a Kenyan, that censorship and oppressive political environments can be a great threat to free use of social media. The way forward includes librarians as navigators for users who need help differentiating good resources from bad in an online world where all resources are presented as equal. He says that social media use by librarians should comply with professional ethics, and that librarians need to actively explore and research the development of ethical issues in social media. Librarians, as information professionals, are uniquely poised to have an impact on the field of social media ethics. 

I think that Wasike makes some very valid points, but the article does seem to lack focus in some ways. The article seems more about the risks of social media use, rather than the ethical issues concerned. I would like to see more of a structured exploration of the ethical obligations of librarians in a social media environment. I have a lot of questions that I hoped this article might approach, but did not – for instance, considering how social media blurs the lines of professional and personal life, how much of an obligation do librarians have to educate friends (or strangers) online about media literacy when they encounter things like fake news or the use of dubious sources? Can we break that down by using a variety of ethical approaches, and do they tend to agree or disagree on the conclusions? I hope to keep searching for more articles that go deeper into the ethics of social media interactions, but this article was a good overview of issues and the reference list looks to have a lot of good stepping-off points to further reading.

On a side note, this infographic from International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is an example of how information professionals can influence and guide the behavior of users online. Graphics are an effective way to catch the attention of people online, and promoting good "digital citizenship" is a practical use of virtue ethics, which encourages conversation and interaction of people to enhance ethical habits.

https://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?articleid=192

Websites: A Thematic Collection

These websites represent a small collection of resources available on the web for research in the area of social media ethics. I have created a Venn diagram to illustrate how these resources overlap and interact thematically.

ALA: Professional Ethics

http://www.ala.org/tools/ethics

This page can be seen as an extension of the ALA Code of Ethics. It contains questions and answers about ethical situations that have been adopted by the ALA Committee on Professional Ethics. The section on “Questions & Answers on Ethics and Social Media” is of particular interest. It answers several broad ethical questions that relate to librarians’ obligations to patrons, fact-checking “shared” material on social media, etc. This is a very useful page, both because it directly relates to my theme of social media ethics in librarianship, and because it is issued from my primary professional organization.

Social Media: The NPR Way

http://ethics.npr.org/tag/social-media/

This page is a subsection of the NPR Ethics Handbook. The handbook targets journalistic ethics, and NPR’s approach/standards specifically, however, it ends up being a wonderful guide for any purported “professional” to follow, especially information professionals. In many ways, librarians and journalists share similar roles on social media – sharing accurate and timely information with a wide variety of patrons, in an unbiased and accessible manner. This guide is broken up into sections with themes like “Excellence,” “Accuracy,” “Honesty,” etc. There are links to further resources, like the National Press Photographers Association’s code of ethics, and pertinent articles with examples. I selected this resource because although the professions are different, these are still professional ethics, and journalists are having to face social media ethics the same way that librarians are, by mapping “analog” ethical standards to this new media. In the context of this collection of websites, it overlaps the ALA webpage above in addressing professional ethics in social media.

YouTube: Rutgers SC&I Social Media & Society Cluster channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqkEaHo6pqb7IyiE1WZ9sug

This YouTube channel’s “About” section explains that the people behind it are “a transdisciplinary group of faculty at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information whose research explores social media and society.” I selected this webpage because of the fantastic videos on social media, like “Librarians as Social Media Curators,” and “Social Media and Connective Journalism.” The topics of these videos start with social media as a core topic and create bridges to other relevant topics, like librarianship, journalism, analytics, and various social concepts. While there are not a huge number of videos, the page appears to still be active, and the videos are worth watching. This webpage helps put social media in context of a greater society and the technological changes that affect us all.

Librarians and ethics in use of technology

http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/librarians-and-ethics-in-use-of-technology.html

The umbrella website that this page is on is Doug Johnson’s blog, subtitled “Writing, Speaking and Consulting on School Technology and Library Issues.” The entire blog is worthy of inclusion, but I want to focus on one particular post, because it is so interesting an informative. This blog post is essentially a chapter from a larger book, cited as “Chapter five: Ethics in use of technology, from Ethics in School Librarianship: A Reader.” While Mr. Johnson is active in professional organizations, well-published, and very experienced, this blog is not the “official word” on anything, like the ALA and NPR sites are, but rather must be viewed as opinion-based (although well researched and not to be taken lightly). Mr. Johnson goes through the ALA Code of Ethics piece by piece to comment on how technology affects the Code, dilemmas that technology has brought about that the Code applies to, and more. This is specifically aimed at School Library Media Specialists, but it contains important ethical explorations that are relevant to all of librarianship. This chapter is 15 years old now, and can be looked at as a warning of things to come, problems that have only grown and have yet to be solved. I would recommend starting with this page, then moving on to other content, like his ethics guide on teaching information technology ethics to children and young adults at http://dougjohnson.squarespace.com/ethics/