PR for People Monthly APRIL 2017 | Page 22

I taught my two last classes of the winter quarter this week.  In each of the courses, students made “executive presentations” of their long papers. In the information ethics, policy and law course the topics reflect both the readings we’ve done, the discussions we’ve had, but also what many of us have been thinking about as we move further forward into a new administration. The subject area most frequently addressed is the Fourth Amendment and one form or another of surveillance.  The next most popular topic area was intellectual property, ranging from copyright protection for information professionals to digital rights management, followed closely by papers that examine digital divides in China and Africa and another that looks at types of whistleblowers.  Intriguing topics around ethics – spying on children with digital tools and another on ethics and artificial intelligence (AI) -- were complemented by an examination of the consequences of mindless automation, and another that looks at our fractured digital attention spans. I would say that, almost without exception, the question asked in each of these papers is “Do we know what we are doing? Do we need a course correction? Do I have a recommendation?”

As my students presented and then analyzed complex issues, the theme from the White House continued to be significant disruption, not just of our working assumptions, but also disruption of people’s lives --  low income citizens’ expectation, for example,  that health care will continue to be available. Of course, repeal and passage of a new health insurance program assumes that the various Republican factions can be united behind a plan that both AARP and the American Medical Association have spoken against.   While the legislative process plays out and anxiety levels rise, we see actual disruption of families as ICE and CBP agents move into action to enforce immigration laws that have been on the books for years, but in a way we have never previously felt.  (There is no policy yet, so whether or not mothers are separated at the border from their children depends on the agents involved in the case.)  We have moved from an immigration policy that said "deport hardened criminals" to one that says "deport them when you can find them."  In the meantime, the White House finally released a revised version of its

Channeling

Nelson Mandela

by Annie Searle

Growth & Funding Strategist