SIS Announces Spring Research Forum March 28

The School of Information Sciences is pleased to announce its spring research forum with two lectures by researchers who will speak on social justice as a moral norm and our global information society’s impact on ethics and diversity.

In the first lecture you will be reminded of Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Moral Man and Immoral Society”— why dominant groups rarely yield their privileges except under pressure when challenged by countervailing social forces. The lecture introduces seven categories of justice that can be applied to address the main ethical challenges of the Global Information Society.
In the second lecture you will hear why and how librarianship has long struggled with being a “whitebread” profession, and how the role of diversity in the practice of LIS can change this image. Referring to the work of Drucilla Cornell, a feminist theorist, you will hear the resuscitating of some categories, such as the person, privacy, and rights that much post- structuralist thinking had presumed DOA.

These presentations will be webcast live and recorded for future playback here.
Olson & Britz
Dr. Johannes Britz is dean of the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Dr. Hope Olson is a professor at UW-M. Their talks will be given at UT Hodges Library Auditorium on March 28 at 11:30.
This event is free and open to the public.
What: SIS Research Forum
When: March 28, 11:30 – 1:00
Where: UT Hodges Library Auditorium
PART 1: Johannes Britz
Making the Global Information Society Good: A Social Justice Perspective on the Ethical Dimensions of the Global Information Society
Abstract:
The global Information Society is seen as a continuation of relationships that have been altered by the use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT). Dr. Britz will discuss social justice as a moral norm that can be used to address the ethical challenges facing us in the global Information Society. He will provide a brief overview of the main socio-ethical issues facing the Society, identify four interrelated characteristics of the Society, illustrate how social justice as a moral tool with a universal moral validity can be used to address these ethical challenges, and argue that the scope of justice is no longer limited to domestic issues.
Dr. Britz will distinguish among three core principles of justice and introduce seven categories of justice that can be applied to address the main ethical challenges of the global Information Society.
Johannes J. Britz is dean and professor at the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
PART 2: Hope A. Olson
Diversity and Librarianship: A Postcolonial, Post-structural Project for the Profession
Abstract:
Librarianship has long struggled with being a “whitebread” profession. As a profession we still strive to fulfill the ideal of successfully serving diverse populations. Dr. Olson will examine in fresh ways the nature of libraries as they connect people and information by drawing on ideas from postcolonial critic Homi Bhabha. She will analyze the role of diversity in the practice of LIS with help from poststructural theorist Drucilla Cornell. She will uncover the unexpected problems behind values of universality, equality, sharing, and objectivity. And, finally, she will demonstrate the possibility of addressing, through LIS education, the need for diversity in the fundamental professional practice, the focus of the field, the epicenter of LIS: the organization of information. The IMLS-funded project described supports 21 students in studying the core area of our discipline is designed to create a cadre of strong, well-prepared, committed professionals to carry forward the mission of diversity.
Hope A. Olson is a professor at the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.