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dc.contributor.author | Lor, Peter Johan![]() |
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dc.contributor.author | Wiles, Bradley![]() |
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dc.contributor.author | Britz, Johannes J.![]() |
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dc.date.accessioned | 2022-05-16T10:37:19Z | |
dc.date.available | 2022-05-16T10:37:19Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2021-02 | |
dc.description | According to Merriam-Webster.com, the term “infodemic” (a portmanteau of information and epidemic) was coined by political scientist David Rothkopf in a 2003 Washington Post column addressing the shortcomings of official responses to the SARS epidemic and other public emergencies at the time, both major and minor: https://www. merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/words-were-watching-infodemicmeaning. However, a 2002 editorial in The American Journal ofMedicine by Gunther Eysenbach described a new discipline and methodology called information epidemiology, or infodemiology, that “identifies areaswhere there is a knowledge translation gap between best evidence (what some experts know) and practice (what most people do or believe), as well as the markets for ‘high-quality’ information.” His article asserts that the first infodemiological study occurred in 1996. | en_US |
dc.description.abstract | The COVID-19 pandemic is an international public health crisis without precedent in the last century. The novelty and rapid spread of the virus have added a new urgency to the availability and distribution of reliable information to help curb its fatal potential. As seasoned and trusted purveyors of reliable public information, librarians have attempted to respond to the “infodemic” of fake news, disinformation, and propaganda with a variety of strategies, but the COVID-19 pandemic presents a unique challenge because of the deadly stakes involved. The seriousness of the current situation requires that librarians and associated professionals re-evaluate the ethical basis of their approach to information provision to counter the growing prominence of conspiracy theories in the public sphere and official decision making. This paper analyzes the conspiracy mindset and specific COVID-19 conspiracy theories in discussing how libraries might address the problems of truth and untruth in ethically sound ways. As a contribution to the re-evaluation we propose, the paper presents an ethical framework based on alethic rights—or rights to truth—as conceived by Italian philosopher Franca D’Agostini and how these might inform professional approaches that support personal safety, open knowledge, and social justice. | en_US |
dc.description.department | Information Science | en_US |
dc.description.librarian | am2022 | en_US |
dc.description.uri | http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/libr?rskey=xWLhgy&result=249&q= | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Lor, P., Wiles, B. & Britz, J. 2021, 'Re-thinking information ethics : truth, conspiracy theories, and librarians in the COVID-19 era', LIBRI, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 1-14. | en_US |
dc.identifier.issn | 0024-2667 (print) | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1865-8423 (online) | |
dc.identifier.other | 10.1515/libri-2020-0158 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/85218 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.publisher | De Gruyter | en_US |
dc.rights | De Gruyter | en_US |
dc.subject | Alethic rights | en_US |
dc.subject | Conspiracy theories | en_US |
dc.subject | COVID-19 pandemic | en_US |
dc.subject | Infodemic | en_US |
dc.subject | Information ethics | en_US |
dc.title | Re-thinking information ethics : truth, conspiracy theories, and librarians in the COVID-19 era | en_US |
dc.type | Article | en_US |