Course Description:

"The seminar consists primarily of directed research and reading in the context of Media Ethics, Internet and Society. The seminar first provides a media ethical basis to understand ethical challenges in journalism and mass communication. It also analyzes journalism and the Internet from a media-critical and ethical point of view. It focuses on unintended consequences of digital technology for journalism and the society at large, as well as the changing roles of journalists, democracy and the Internet. Finally, it also investigates the connection between social media, big data, and privacy. Participants are welcome to incorporate their own research into this class, as long as there is sufficient overlap with the overall course topic.

This seminar is a learning opportunity for you, for your peers, and also for me. I am open to your opinion, suggestions and critique—but I expect you to be open to the course content and the others, as well.

Course Objectives and Outcomes

• to understand the ethical role of journalists and journalism in our society;

• to develop a good understanding of media ethics and its applications;

• to analyze ethical issues of journalism and the Internet and reflect on journalists’ new roles and professional values in a global and diverse society;

• to raise awareness of ethical and policy issues of the Internet and online journalism, their social impact, such as privacy policies, big data, digital divide, diversity, net neutrality, etc.;

• to understand (un)intended consequences of Internet and computer technology, such as privacy and cyber-security, intellectual property, or virtual reality (focus may vary, see schedule).

Learning outcomes are continuously evaluated through the assignments."

The work samples shown here include a personal ethics statement and a final paper for the class.

Final Paper: Ethical Issues of Emerging Technologies in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and the Metaverse

For my final paper, I looked at the technologies portrayed in popular media about VR such as the 2018 Spielberg film "Ready Player One" to see how close they were to reality.  Since many people think of those portrayals when they hear talk about VR, I wanted to see how accurate those ideas were and what ethical challenges they might pose in the real world in light of Mark Zuckerberg's announced plans for creating the Metaverse.