One of the most appealing aspects of the blogosphere is the free flow of unfiltered ideas and conversation it permits; however, this same freedom can be abused and all together discarded. In the most extreme cases, blogs have been used to target individuals to the point where they fear for their own lives.
In order to protect the rights of others while balancing a blogger’s right to freedom of expression; I support the implementation of a code of ethics for bloggers.
“The aim of [a] code is not to homogenize the Web, but to make clearer the informal rules that are already in place anyway,” said David Weinberger, a well known blogger and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, during an interview for the article “A Call for Manners in the World of Nasty Blogs.”
In order to bring a sense of civility to the blogosphere, I think a code of ethics (similar to the one included below) should be implemented immediately:
An alternate code of conduct for bloggers and commenters:
-Be courteous.
-Give accurate information in the spirit of being helpful.
-Respectfully disagree.
-Use the correct venue for your post.
-Admit the possibility of fault and respect different points of views.
-If you screw up, take responsibility in your actions.
This code of ethics should be implemented immediately because I believe bloggers have a responsibility to up hold certain regulation, especially if blogs are to become the Fifth Estate. Since adhering to a code of ethics will be voluntary, the community will have to police itself; however, I do believe the principles would carry a lot of weight even if not everyone agrees on them.
While others may disagree that a code of ethics is necessary, or even reasonable, as it can even be considered an attack on free speech; however, Tim O’Reilly, a founder of online discussion and debate, stated the best possible rebuttal for this statement:
“That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make – believing that uncensored speech is the most free, when in face, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech,” he said. “Free speech is enhanced by civility.”
week 9: how technology shapes the world « Social Technologies, Media and Politics said,
May 27, 2008 @ 10:24 am
[...] Kendra: Bringing manners to the blogosphere [...]
kegill said,
May 28, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Hi, Kendra! You’ve taken a different approach from the standard — and I think it works! This code of ethics would apply equally well to comment participants, for example.
The “big” missing piece, I think, is that of transparency.