My Interests

Today's blog is about my interests. What do I like? In a sense, this is a lot about what I want to be when I grow up! Heck, I am already 41 (soon to be 42), so I guess I should start figuring that out. On the other hand, there is a lot to be said for never growing up completely! I am planning on proceeding on with my Ph.D. here at BG in the Communication Studies department where I intend on focusing on mass media. I have been accepted into the program by the graduate committee at the Communication Studies department, but am waiting for full faculty approval and for news of a funded position. Lately, I have become interested in ethical standards in relation to blogging and I am considering this topic as a possible thesis. However, I have many varied interests. ANYTHING technology related kind of fits into that mix. When it comes to computers and the internet, I find myself drawn to all aspects including hardware, software, networking/internet, coding, and so on and so forth, etc. etc. etc.!

Back to the blogging discussion and ethical standards. There is a conversation started on Blogging, Journalism and Credibility by Rebecca MacKinnon, who is with Harvard Law school's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. In addition, check out this site by Martin Kuhn, a Ph.D. student at UNC who is currently studying the issue of blog ethics. The Harvard site is actually a discussion based on a code of ethics Kuhn has proposed.

What is interesting to me about the whole notion of an ethical code of conduct for blogging is that at first glance it seems useless. How do you enforce such a code? Can you? Is enforcement necessary or is the code simply a set of guidelines? Blogging seems to be an ever-changing, growing, organic activity and it would be difficult at best to try and enforce a code. How do you police something that is in a continual state of change?

If you take the notion that this type of code is not supposed to be enforced, then why bother having a code at all? The same question has to apply to other codes though. What about codes of ethics for legal, medical, human resource, marketing, and accounting professionals? Boy Scouts? What purpose do the codes serve if they cannot be enforced. There certainly could be legal and professional ramifications in some industries. Quite honestly, I do not know enough about this topic yet to answer these questions (which makes it a good project for research I guess!). I could go on and on, but I think I will stop for now until I have learned more about the topic. Until then, happy blogging.