New grounds for ontic trust: Information objects and LIS

Issue title: Philosophy of Information

Guest editors: Jesse David Dinneen

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Van der Veer Martens, Betsy

Affiliations: School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma, Tulsa, OK, USA. E-mail: bvmartens@ou.edu

Abstract: The information ethics of Luciano Floridi's well-known Philosophy of Information (PI) project are explored as potential foundations for a deepening sense of stewardship in library and information studies (LIS) practice. The implications of PI's world view of ``information objects'' as having intrinsic value and resulting moral rights within the evolving ``infosphere'' are discussed in the context of current professional standards for collection management and preservation. Richard Fyffe's recent critical reconstruction of Floridi's concept of ``ontic trust'' as it might apply to librarianship as stewardship of the semantic environment is extended to better ground Floridi's conceptualization of the ``infosphere'' itself.

Keywords: Documents, information ethics, information objects, ontic trust, philosophy of information, stewardship

DOI: 10.3233/EFI-170988

Journal: Education for Information, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 37-54, 2017