Technology and society: responsibility and challenges of information professionals

Abstract

Over the past few years, the exponential increase in the volume of information available in digital environments and the undeniable influence exercised by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in contemporary society have brought about significant changes in the scope of work of information professionals. Currently, the information is presented as one of the most valuable consumer goods, and this prospect information professionals assume a dominant role in contemporary society. Whereas technologies change our habits and values, influencing a process of "cultural reconstruction" sought, from an interdisciplinary dialogue, analyze the fundamentals that allow light of the literature of Information Science major ethical dilemmas arising from the use new digital technologies and responsibilities of information professionals in a society characterized by increasingly virtual interactions, investigating some of the major ethical issues identified in new and complex landscape of online communities, in order to delineate the responsibilities of professionals information in the era of network society. For this, a study of theories related to technological development and analyzed new practices identified in contemporary society, contextualizing them from the theoretical base of the area of ​​Information Science. Thus, it becomes evident that in the midst of the technological development of recent years have created a host of other social, economic, political and cultural, which have scarcely been addressed, or often even identified, both in theoretical and practical in this context and information professionals have great responsibilities and challenges in development of new routines representation, processing, organization, retrieval and dissemination of informational content in digital environments, based on ethical principles which respect the specificities, exclusives cultural identities and cultural values ​​of each user and of society itself.