Davis A. Foulger, Ph. D.

Visiting
Professor
Fall, 2005-Spring, 2006
and Fall 2001-Spring 2003

COM 380: Communication Ethics: Term Paper

Topic Choice

  1. Pick a medium of communication. A medium of communication, broadly defined, is a system/process that enables people to communicate with one another. This includes mass media like television, radio, newspapers, and magazines. It also includes art media like oil paintings and films, correspondence media like letters and memos, telephonic media like cell phones, family radio, and intercoms, and propinquitous media like face-to-face interaction, intimacy, classes, and live speeches. Here are several lists of media:
    1. A list of over 200 media that I'm working with for the book I'm writing: Characteristics of Media.
    2. A list of nearly 100 media, organized within nine broad categories, largely compiled from the following sources:
      1. a descriptive list of 52 media from my Ph.D. dissertation. The names of some electronic media are dated.
      2. a newer but smaller set of 38 media generated by Hoffman and Novak (1995).
      3. An older taxomony of 28 telecommunications and recording media by Bretz (1971). Several media in this taxonomy no longer exist.
      4. A quirky collection of at least 46 media by Ciampa (1989)
  2. Having selected a medium, do one of the following:
    1. Identify the roles associated with that medium of communication. What ethical responsibilities, options, and choices, exist for each role. Note that this option can only be selected where you can identify four or more distinct roles associated with the medium.
    2. Identify a key role associated with that medium of communication. Identify the moral and ethical rules and responsibilities associated with that role within the medium. Talk about why those rules and responsibilities exist. What are their origins in history and practice.

I have not found that the research literature is terribly helpful in identifying the roles that are normally associated with specific media, but that there is usually copious information about specific roles within specific media. I have, however, collected a variety of resources that identify various roles associated with different media:

You will have to decide what roles are associated with the media you select. I will be happy to help, of course.

The interesting part of the paper is associating the roles with specific ethical responsibilities. This is the part you have to think about, and which I expect your references will be most strongly oriented to. The only paper I have been able to find in the literature that attempts to associating a variety of generic roles in a variety of generic types of media with a specific set of legal and ethical responsibilities is my National Science Foundation conference submission: Rights, Responsibilities, Metaphors, and Electronic Media (1992). It may be a useful starting point and/or reference in your papers. It is probably important to note that the most relevant information is found near the bottom of the paper. I also got some things wrong, most notably in my assignments of responsibility for harms in Interpersonal media. If I had to do it over again (and I probably will), I would scale the level of responsibility in some way: most likely by assessing the number of people affected by a harm and the length of time a harm persists as it is committed in different media. I hope to extract the key content in that paper into something more accessible.

If you want to get a more accessible introduction to the theory of media this assignment is loosely rooted in, you might check out Bridging Media: Computers and Human Communication.

Note that I will consider alternative paper proposals on a case by case basis. I am open to having you do something different if you have a strong interest in a particular communications ethics related topic.

Expectations

The term paper is due on December 5.

I operate on the 10/10/12 rule:

If you have any questions, send me e-mail, drop by during office hours, or catch me in class. Class discussion about the term paper can be conducted here.