[OSGeo-Discuss] GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues

[Suchith Anand]

Dear colleagues,


GeoEthics is an important topic that needs more attention and GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are a way to  build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business practices.



Why there is a need for GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues?


“The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not everyone's greed."  - Mahatma Gandhi


There is a need to promote greater understanding of GeoEthics and ethical business practices.  There has been some information of unethical business practices by some GIS vendors from pay discrimination against female employees to  vendor lobbying to racism etc . GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are a way to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business practices. These GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are informal and can be part of any meetings, events etc (for example in Geography awareness week, GIS Day, OGC meetings, GEO meetings etc) to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business practices in all GIS companies and organisations.  Some example ethics topics below.



Say NO to pay discrimination against female employees


GIS vendor was found by U.S. Department of Labor for pay discrimination against female employees. Details at
https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ofccp/ofccp20220803


What policies are there to ensure that there is no pay discrimination against female employees in any GIS companies?




Say NO to corruption, Vendor lobbying and unethical business practices by GIS vendors


https://www.rd-alliance.org/group/geospatial-ig/post/ethical-query-vendor-lobbying-giseo


https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/esri-agrees-pay-550000-settle-allegations-government-contract-fraud


https://esriunearthed.substack.com/p/esri-and-jerry-lewis




Say NO to Racism in GIS


It is disappointing to learn about the scale of Racial discrimination in the UK work environments. Details at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/01/more-than-120000-workers-quit-jobs-because-of-racism-uk-study-suggests


Study to understand the scale of Racial Injustice in Geographic Information Science/Earth Observation Research and Education

https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2022-August/006179.html




Is it Ethical for any GIS Vendors to use  “Science” as part of marketing/sales/promoting any vendor brand/products/services?



Is it Ethical for any GIS Vendors  (Vendor X or Y , it doesn’t matter) using “science” as part of marketing strategy for selling/promoting their products/services/brand. Is using “science” as part of marketing for selling/promoting products/services/brand by GIS vendors misinformation ?

http://lists.ogc.org/pipermail/geoethics/2022-August/000045.html


http://lists.ogc.org/pipermail/geoethics/2022-August/000040.html



GeoEthics is an important topic that needs more attention and GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are a way to discuss and share information in GeoEthics topics.  So start GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues in your organisations, universities , companies, SMEs etc  to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business practices.


These GeoEthics Awareness Dialogues are informal and can be part of any meetings, events, conferences etc in the GIS community (for example in Geography Awareness week, GIS Day,  GEO meetings, GEO week,  OGC meetings etc) to build and share ideas for developing GeoEthics and ethical business practices.


Ethical frameworks in governance at all levels (from global to national to local) are important to protect democracy, protect human rights and prevent corruption.


Best wishes


Suchith




Dr Suchith Anand

Senior Adviser to Governments and International Organisations | Scientist | Board member | Governance | Policy | Consultant in Data Science and Data Ethics | Global Citizen | SDG Volunteer and Advocate


https://council.science/profile/suchith-anand/

https://www.rd-alliance.org/users/suchith-anand





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