ALISE 2022: Call for Proposals for Information Policy SIG Panel

​​Overview

In January of 2021, Aaron Ansuini, a student at Concordia University (Canada) posted the following tweet: 

“HI EXCUSE ME, I just found out the the prof for this online course I’m taking *died in 2019* and he’s technically still giving classes since he’s *literally my prof for this course* and I’m learning from lectures recorded before his passing

……….it’s a great class but WHAT”

The instructor, François-Marc Gagnon passed away in 2019 at age 83. The disclosure that Gagnon had died—but was still teaching from the grave—went viral on social media and was picked up by Slate, Reuters, and The Chronicle of Higher Education, among other outlets. About the situation, Ansuini later said in an interview, “It was very strange, I thought maybe it was a mistake at first.” But it was no mistake. Concordia hired a visiting professor, Marco Deyasi, to effectively administer Gagnon’s course with limited student interaction. Deyasi only found out about Gagnon’s death after Ansuini’s tweet went viral. As reported in The Chronicle, Deyasi was, understandably, surprised: “I saw that thing from the student, and I was like, ‘Really? Oh, damn.’ You know? I just thought Professor Gagnon retired.” Tamara Kneese, writing for Slate, homed in on the key issues at stake: “This case may be particularly egregious, but it intersects with larger questions about copyright and control over faculty members’ online course materials and the various ways faculty labor within higher education is degraded and devalued,” all of which have become sharper and more important given the en masse move to online education during COVID-19

Focus

There are norms, ethics, and policies at stake concerning the creation, use, and distribution of online course designs and learning objects (e.g., quizzes, lectures). A central issue is that online courses are often embedded in institutionally managed learning management systems (LMS), such as Canvas and Blackboard, and other educational technologies. All of the digital artifacts, then, are able to be duplicated, remixed, shared and reused – with or without the original instructor’s knowledge or express permission. While it is the case that face-to-face courses can and do use elements of an LMS or are supported by some educational technology, their designs are not nearly as dependent on technology as online courses are; in addition many online instructors are paid stipends to develop new online courses, thus complicating the notion of ownership. The result is that online instructors are much more susceptible to having their intellectual labor and property exploited by their institutions to serve administrative and financial interests. 

Institutional policy is often written to allow for this wide-ranging reuse of online course content without meaningful instructor consent or consultation. For instance, Indiana University claims that it may use “Online Instructional Materials” for “administrative purposes” or “other functions”; further, it forces instructors who leave the university to grant “a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, unlimited license to use the Online Instructional Materials for Online Instruction, including the right to revise such Online Instructional Materials.” Administrations have and continue to turn to online education as a way to alleviate financial pain points, regarding both low enrollment and tenured/tenure-track faculty costs. Claiming ownership of online materials further enables administrators to take advantage of—and literally profit from—the difficult labor of putting together quality online courses.

The American Association of University Professors’ (AAUP) Statement on Online and Distance Education states that:

The institution should establish policies and procedures to protect its educational objectives and the interests of both those who cre­ate new material and those who adapt material from traditional courses for use in dis­tance education. The administration should publish these policies and procedures and distribute them, along with requisite information about copyright law, to all concerned persons [….] Provision should also be made for the original teacher­[/]creator, the teacher­[/]adapter, or an appropriate faculty body to exercise control over the future use and distribution of record­ed instructional material and to determine whether the material should be revised or with­drawn from use [emphasis added].

Sponsored by the Information Policy special interest group (SIG), this proposal is for a traditional speaker panel format to address the intersection of policy and ethics regarding online instructors’ intellectual property, with special emphasis on AAUP’s point that online instructors should be able to control their use of their course designs and artifacts. The panelists will address relevant case studies, institutional policies, lived experiences, and strategies for protecting one’s intellectual property and advocating on behalf of their colleagues—especially those who are professionally at risk (e.g., teaching assistants, graduate student instructors, adjunct instructors, pre-tenure professors). The panelists will be selected on the basis of their knowledge of and/or experience with the issues addressed in this call for proposals.

Call for Proposals

The SIG seeks abstracts from potential panelists that address the focus area above. Abstracts should contain the following information:

  1. A title.
  2. A brief panelist biography including: name; email; most recent position/title, department/program affiliation, and institutional affiliation; and, a one sentence description of core research interests.
  3. The proposal narrative that extends no more than 500 words, excluding any references if they are provided.

The abstracts should be attached to an email in PDF format and sent to Dr. Margaret Zimmerman, the SIG convener, at Margaret.Zimmerman@cci.fsu.edu.

Important Notes

The Information Policy SIG aims to expand the diversity and breadth of its membership and participation in SIG activities. To that end, the SIG highly encourages potential panelists whose research and scholarship, demographic background, and/or professional status does not situate them in traditionally privileged positions or that are not widely reflected in scholarly conversations. More specifically, but not exclusively, the SIG welcomes participation by doctoral students, new or potential members of ALISE, and individuals who are situated outside of the United States. The SIG convener and selected SIG members are willing to work with panelists who identify as scholars at risk in order to explore alternative presentation strategies.

Finally, the Information Policy SIG recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic is still active and affecting the work and livelihood of many of ALISE’s members and non-member allies. It understands that while the 2022 ALISE annual conference is slated to be on site in Pittsburgh, PA (USA), there is still a chance that:

  1. The conference format will be moved to a hybrid or fully online mode,
  2. and some ALISE members and non-members may not be able to physically attend due to institutional and national travel restrictions.

The SIG intends to conduct the panel physically in Pittsburgh, but is ready and able to transition to an online environment if circumstances dictate such a change. The SIG is willing to accommodate panelists who are unable to participate on site by providing a synchronous, online presentation method (e.g., Zoom).

ALISE 2022: Call for Proposals for Information Ethics SIG Panel

​​Overview

On June 29, 2021 the American Library Association (ALA) Council officially approved a ninth principle to be added to the ALA Code of Ethics. The principle reads, “We affirm the inherent dignity and rights of every person. We work to recognize and dismantle systemic and individual biases; to confront inequity and oppression; to enhance diversity and inclusion; and to advance racial and social justice in our libraries, communities, profession, and associations through awareness, advocacy, education, collaboration, services, and allocation of resources and spaces.” This principle is in keeping with the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Ethical Guidelines for Library and Information Science Educators: “As LIS educators, we respect and uphold academic freedom and protect the freedom to learn and to teach. We resist censorship and actively promote access to diverse points of view.” In both instances the primary thrust is equity, diversity, inclusion, decolonization, and justice.

Focus

Sponsored by the Information Ethics special interest group (SIG), this proposal is for a traditional speaker panel format to address the ALA Code of Ethics, with special attention to the ninth principle. The panelists will address the core meaning of the principle to determine what it portends for education for library and information professionals. The principle is designed to guide action though praxis. The panelists will examine the degree to which that objective is met by the principle. The panelists will be selected on the basis of their knowledge and experiences related to the content and intention of the ninth principle (along with the ALISE guideline).

The panelists will examine a set of questions related to the principle: How praxis can address systemic inequity and oppression; how diversity and inclusion manifests itself in praxis; how the advancement of racial and social justice through education can be introduced in the workplace; and how the insertion of these goals can be made into the institutions in which graduates work. The matter of the pressures in which educators work related to racial and social justice work will also be brought up. Throughout the investigation of these matters, the overarching concern of the panelists will be the insertion of the matters into the educational milieu. The panelists will bring to the fore their extensive knowledge and experience in their examination. They will not only provide analyses of the elements of the ninth principle, but will raise questions about the implementation of the principle into the education of professionals. 

The panelists will guide the audience in a discussion of the meaning of the ninth principle, but will also have the opportunity to compare it with the ALISE guideline and to offer suggestions regarding the implementation of the tenets of the principle into education (including which kinds of curricular elements are best suited to the insertion of the ALA Code of Ethics into instruction and discussion).

Call for Proposals

The SIG seeks abstracts from potential panelists that address the focus area above. Abstracts should contain the following information:

  1. A title.
  2. A brief panelist biography including: name; email; most recent position/title, department/program affiliation, and institutional affiliation; and, a one sentence description of core research interests.
  3. The proposal narrative that extends no more than 500 words, excluding any references if they are provided.

The abstracts should be attached to an email in PDF format and sent to Professor Toni Samek, the SIG convener, at toni.samek@ualberta.ca or asamek@ualberta.ca.

Important Notes

The Information Ethics SIG aims to expand the diversity and breadth of its membership and participation in SIG activities. To that end, the SIG highly encourages potential panelists whose research and scholarship, demographic background, and/or professional status does not situate them in traditionally privileged positions or that are not widely reflected in scholarly conversations. More specifically, but not exclusively, the SIG welcomes participation by doctoral students, new or potential members of ALISE, and individuals who are situated outside of the United States. The SIG convener and selected SIG members are willing to work with panelists who identify as scholars at risk in order to explore alternative presentation strategies.

Finally, the Information Ethics SIG recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic is still active and affecting the work and livelihood of many of ALISE’s members and non-member allies. It understands that while the 2022 ALISE annual conference is slated to be on site in Pittsburgh, PA (USA), there is still a chance that:

  1. The conference format will be moved to a hybrid or fully online mode,
  2. and some ALISE members and non-members who may not be able to physically attend due to institutional and national travel restrictions.

The SIG intends to conduct the panel physically in Pittsburgh, but is ready and able to transition to an online environment if circumstances dictate such a change. The SIG is willing to accommodate panelists who are unable to participate on site by providing a synchronous, online presentation method (e.g., Zoom).