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A Compass for What Matters: Applying Virtue Ethics to Information Behavior
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A Compass for What Matters: Applying Virtue Ethics to Information Behavior

Tim Gorichanaz
OPEN INFORMATION SCIENCE, v 7(1)
24 Jul 2023
url
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10092-8View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)CC BY V4.0 Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1515/opis-2022-0151View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

information behavior information ethics information literacy virtue ethics
Out of the three major approaches to ethics, virtue ethics is uniquely well suited as a moral guide in the digital age, given the pace of sociotechnical change and the complexity of society. Virtue ethics focuses on the traits, situations and actions of moral agents, rather than on rules (as in deontology) or outcomes (consequentialism). Even as interest in ethics has grown within information behavior (IB), there has been little engagement with virtue ethics. To address this lacuna and demonstrate further research opportunities, this article provides an overview of virtue ethics for application in IB (broadly defined). It provides a primer on virtue ethics, gives examples of existing IB work that is compatible with virtue ethics, and suggests avenues for further virtue-oriented research in IB.

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