Timothy Reilly

Article Evaluation

This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.

• Name of article: Ethics of technology (Ethics of technology)
• This article explains the moral dilemma of the Technology Age. Is the development and evolution of technology ethical or unethical? As technology itself and the access to technology expands their is no clear boundary to where laws or regulations reside. When discussing the ethics of technology we have to consider some of the following: accountability, digital rights, privacy rights, and security. This topic has been very prevalent especially as our world has turned more digital in the past few months and something I have been interested in. There have been a lot of past data breaches of consumers personal information, the use of drones for temperature checks, and placing RFID chips into people.

Lead

Guiding questions

• Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic?
• Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?
• Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article?
• Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed?

Lead evaluation

The articles lead is very concise and straight to the point. It covers the definition of what ethics of technology mean and introduce two thought leaders behind ethics and technology. The lead doesn't indicate all of the topics they will be discussing throughout the article covers multiple topics. The lead defined ethics in technology and introduced the word technoethics, but did not define it. The lead brief discussed Hans Jonas and Mario Bunge as pioneers on ethics in technology, but he does not discuss their contributions to the field later in the article. The lead is very concise as it is only a quick definition of what the article will discuss more in detail.

Content

Guiding questions

• Is the article's content relevant to the topic?
• Is the content up-to-date?
• Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong?
• Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics?

Content evaluation

This topic of this article is very brand and vague- Ethics of Technology. Since it is so broad, it covers a lot of information on different areas of technology including cybercriminals, privacy vs security, drones, and GPS technologies. It introduces you to the history of cyber crime and how in the early stages people were easily hacked. It discusses the history of techno-ethics and how and why the term techno-ethics was coined since technology has become an integral part of our daily lives. The content in this article is up to date as it refers to technological advances that are happening now, such as pet cloning. The article is very extraneous and goes into detail in each topic that and everything flows even from chronological order. Since the topic of the article is vague, all of the content discussed fell under the category of ethics and technology. This article does not directly deal with Wikipedia's equity gap. The article discusses how laws are in place to protect people from doing wrong, but when it comes to technology certain laws may take peoples freedoms away. This brings up the question of ethics: should we let people decide what is right and wrong so we do not suppress their freedoms and rights or do we create laws that restrict technology usage or the ways technologies are developed to protect people?

Tone and Balance

Guiding questions

• Is the article neutral?
• Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position?
• Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented?
• Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another?

Tone and balance evaluation

The tone of this article is neutral as it really only states facts/definitions of topics discussed not really tapping into any clear bias. The article discusses how technology can be used in dangerous or unethical ways, but does not convince you or persuade you to believe if something is ethical or unethical they let the reader decide. The article sticks to discussing facts and providing examples of use cases on a variety of topics that fall under Ethics and Technology. There is very little position being taken place from the author as he discusses each side of common technology that we see today.

Sources and References

Guiding questions

• Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information?
• Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic?
• Are the sources current?
• Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible?
• Check a few links. Do they work?

Sources and references evaluation

This article uses many different sources and articles to back up the facts, use cases, and topics discussed throughout. The sources used vary from websites, academic books, to databases and are written by authors who have different backgrounds and areas of expertise. The sources range in publication date, which is expected since this article discusses technology and how it has developed and evolved over the years. The links bring you to the appropriate website or academic journal that the source is hosted on.

Organization

Guiding questions

• Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read?
• Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors?
• Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic?

Organization evaluation

The article is very clear and easy to follow. The author does an excellent job in conveying his point and leading with examples that the average person would understand. The article has been organized well, starting with content list that links to each subsection of the article. If the reader is only interested in one topic, they can click on the hyperlink and just read that particular section. As stated earlier, since the topic is so vague all of the points discussed encompass the topic well and provide relevant contextual information.

Images and Media

Guiding questions

• Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic?
• Are images well-captioned?
• Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations?
• Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way?

Images and media evaluation

The article does not include any images. Images and media would of been a nice additional to the article to show imagery of what particular technologies look like (ie- drones, types of biometrics). If a reader saw an image of a technology that they recognized it would grab their attention.

Checking the talk page

Guiding questions

• What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic?
• How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects?
• How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class?

Talk page evaluation

The topic of technology have become more prevalent as technology evolves and people become more reliant on technology. As more data breaches occur, technology evolves, and our privacy diminishes some conversations being had are: How does one persons ethics of technology differ from somebody else's as they do in real life? How can you protect yourself from harmful hackers over the internet to secure your safety? How can companies protect you from hackers? Can companies protect all of your information? Are drones going to become new cameras and will the government be able to watch each neighborhood in the United States? These questions are just a few we need to consider as our society becomes more reliant on technology. This article is part of WikiProjects as well as Wikipedia Education.

Overall impressions

Guiding questions

• What is the article's overall status?
• What are the article's strengths?
• How can the article be improved?
• How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed?

Overall evaluation

This article was very easy to read and information. It makes the user reflect on technology, how it affects society, and our daily lives. Most people view technology as this great and helpful thing, until something goes wrong. Since the topic of the article was vague it allowed the author to expand in various directions and touch on a lot of emerging technology. This article could of used images/media to enhance the end-reader experience. Overall, this article was educational and concise I would definitely recommend it to people who are learning about ethics in technology. The article's organizational made it easy to read, understand, and access particular information at the click of a button. The informational was written in a way that anyone could follow and understand it, even if they don't work in a technology field. The examples given to support the topics were well thought out as well.

Optional activity

• Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback

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