Information Ethics in Knowledge Sharing, Transfer, and Translation

Technology development practices in many low-income countries result in less-than-optimal outcomes for their intended beneficiaries. Information and Communication Technologies for Development projects aim to mitigate such inefficiencies and inequities. One means is through knowledge sharing, and its encompassing functions: knowledge transfer and knowledge translation. The practices may have unintended detrimental consequences, which we scrutinize through the lens of information ethics. We present examples from an Emergency Medicine project in the Democratic Republic of Congo to explore the ethical imperatives associated with enabling access to information and the need for knowledge translation. Findings from three focus group discussions are presented that draw attention to moral obligations of agents engaging in knowledge sharing, and the importance of addressing information ethics in related initiatives.