Overview

Fortner’s introduction to media ethics challenges students to confront the impact of the digital world on their lives. Ethics in the Digital Domain addresses the principal ethical issues created or enhanced by life increasingly conducted in digital environments. Chapters discuss social media, the construction and maintenance of identity, the incursion of robots into the workplace and their replacement of work, the increasing reliance on artificial intelligence and the likely future of its implementation, the arrival of alternative realities, such as virtual and augmented reality, even reality after death. Fortner explores what constitutes truth in what many consider a post-truth world, and the implications of our new digital age for the maintenance and conduct of democracy. This book raises significant questions about how the digital age may change our conception of our selves, our friendships and marriage opportunities, our conception of the value and concept of work and career, along with the necessity of navigating through both physical and digital (or artificial) life quickly becoming dominant in the human experience. The second edition includes expanded treatments of truth, politics, identity construction and maintenance, and social change resulting from our increasing existence within digital realities. It includes new chapters on the consequences of incorporating robots into everyday life, and both virtual and augmented realities’ realities for human flourishing. It asks the question of what “human” means in this new set of environments and whether people’s understanding of their own humanity, or that of others, will change as technology advances. Features include a glossary of keywords highlighted throughout the text;case studies in each chapter that allow students to debate significant ethical issues in the digital age;discussion questions at the end of each chapter to further explore the issues raised in each chapter; andfigures that illustrate the realities of this digital age;

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Reviews

""Robert Fortner has written a deep, humane book for an increasingly dehumanized world, challenging digital citizens to act responsibly. Fortner addresses the urgent issues of Artificial Intelligence, social media, and virtual reality-and answers clearly why we should bother with digital ethics."" --Stephen J. A. Ward, Distinguished Lecturer in Ethics, University of British Columbia, Canada ""Ethics in the Digital Domain is an uncanny snapshot of the Janus-like nature of the digital world. Robert S. Fortner covers the benefits and convenience of the digital landscape and uncovers the sinister side of the wide world of ones and zeroes. Fortner provides a crucial call to think deeply and critically about the ethics of casual and deliberate use of all things digital in the world of media, medicine, political science, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and the humanities. The work is a useful textbook for users and creators of the digital world, and a breezy read for readers who wonder what tomorrow holds."" --Michael Ray Smith, Chair and Professor of Global Business and Public Engagement, LCC International University, Lithuania ""Robert Fortner approaches difficult topics of ethics, morals, and meaning with a fresh interpretation of today's newest and most complicated technologies and contexts. Readable prose prompts critical thinking and links concepts clearly and profoundly. This book is grounded in social theory and everyday practice to stimulate questions and provide needed answers."" --Jarice Hanson, Professor Emerita, Department of Communication, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA ""Ethics in the Digital Domain challenges us to question how we make our ways through our mediated world. Here is a resource for humane living, one that is engaging, reliable, timely, and important."" --John P. Ferré, Professor of Communication, University of Louisville, USA

Author Information

Robert S. Fortner is a research professor of communication at the University of Illinois. He has published widely on international communication, global public diplomacy, the history of international media, media ethics, and media theory. He has extensive experience teaching, lecturing, and interacting with media practitioners in various countries around the world from Moscow to Nairobi and Abidjan to Ulaanbaatar.

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