Basic Ethical Framework: Guidance for Environmental Informatics towards a Sustainable Information Society

Abstract

In this paper a basic ethical framework is presented. It provides useful guidance for environmental informatics' contribution to design towards a sustainable information society. In more detail the framework is illustrated by a set of three essential verifications concerning human, social, and environmental acceptability. Computer scientists should consider these verifications as minimum when they take their responsibility to contribute reaching the goal of a sustainable information society. The framework is seen as pioneering effort both, in order to present a solid underpinning, and also to conceptualise ethical thinking within environmental informatics' contribution and computer scientists' responsibility to design towards a sustainable information society. According to the above-mentioned purpose basic ethical aspects are situated in the centre. The tangible object of this paper is twofold while writing half-way between popular and very academic: firstly, as a larger goal, to make ethical thinking quite accessible to non-philosophers while its content is of interest to professional philosophers, and secondly, more precisely, to stimulate reflection and encourage awareness that the challenge to design towards a sustainable information society is indispensably an normative-laden question which requires reflection on ethics. Therefore a basic ethical framework is proposed by a lucid and informative way. The paper is divided into four sections: 1. Interrelations between information society and sustainability, including a mind map of information society's characteristics as chance society and risk society. 2. Hidden ethics: Basis to design towards a sustainable information society. 3. Guidance by ethics and responsibility of environmental informatics. 4. Verifications to design towards a sustainable information society. Keywords: Chance society; computer scientist; environmental informatics; ethics; informationand communication-technologies (ICT); information society; responsibility; risk society; sustainability.