I really enjoyed Siva Vaidhyanathan’s piece on
Critical Information Studies (CIS). I think the author effectively demonstrated
the rising importance of this discipline (Vaidhyanathan Siva, 2006, p. 292-315).
The author’s example on electronic voting devices, which deals with the unauthorized
obtainment as well as dissemination of what a company would consider copyright
material, successfully illustrates the kinds of situations that CIS would help
us manage (Vaidhyanathan Siva, 2006, p. 292-295). As information professionals
we must explore difficult questions such as whether the dispersal of copyright information
should be permissible if the information exposes some truth about a product,
like in the voting device example, which the public may feel they should have a
right to know (Vaidhyanathan Siva, 2006, p. 292-295). Does anyone have any
opinions in this regard?
References
Vaidhyanathan,
Siva (2006). Afterword: Critical information studies: A bibliographic manifesto.
Cultural Studies 20(2-/3): 292-315.
Good point Alicja! I agree, I think this is a challenging point that we as information professionals need to consider. Where do we draw the line of what technology users can access freely? The author brings up a great point in the article, stating that for centuries, copyright laws regulated the production and distribution of cultural materials (Vaidhyanathan Siva, 2006, p. 298). These laws protected the social and economic well-being of authors, publishers, government officials and artists. With the evolution of technology, users no longer feel that they should be limited in their access of these materials. Technology has impacted how users are able to access cultural materials (texts, images and information) that were once protected by these copyright laws and has made many feel that they are free to access any information of their pleasure. When it comes to materials such as voting information and government documents, I feel that there are precautions that must be taken to protect the information and opinion of users. A lot of it depends on what the information is being used for. Society should be informed, but this information should not be accessed if there is a possibility that it could be used maliciously.
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