97 Things About Ethics Everyone in Data Science Should Know

Preface

The intersection of ethics with the world of analytics and data science is a topic that I have become passionate about in recent years. I’ve written a variety of blogs and papers on the topic. I’ve also spoken about the need for attention to ethics at numerous public conferences and at many private meetings with corporate clients. What I discuss is based upon my concerted and ongoing effort to learn what others are thinking and saying about the ethics of analytics. I also receive feedback during these interactions that enables me to continue to evolve my own viewpoints as I recognize gaps in my thinking.

What I have consistently found in my interactions is that people are very receptive to giving ethics more attention once their eyes have been opened to the fact that the need for ethical consideration is much broader and more important than they realized. The vast majority of the examples I’ve seen where something unethical occurred with analytics and data science were not driven by anyone operating with bad intent. Rather, it is usually the case that the ethics of the situation simply weren’t thought through well enough, if at all.

When O’Reilly approached me about partnering on this project, I knew it was something I had to do. I was excited about the opportunity to see what hundreds of other people had to say about ethics. I firmly believe that as more of these types of conversations about ethics occur among members of the analytics and data science community, we can ...