Thursday, March 22, 2012
Ethical Use of Presentation Media
With the wide range of presentation media available to public speakers today, there are definitely advantages and disadvantages to using them. As with research using the internet, using audio and visual files should be done with care. One concern is whether the video or audio clip is legitimate. There is so much available on the internet and a lot of it has been enhanced or is completely false, so the speaker has an ethical responsibility to check the validity of any media they are choosing to use. Video and audio clips are sometimes used to elicit an emotional response. The speaker must choose carefully and make sure that while eliciting this response the clip is not offensive or too strong of a message. As far as being able to alter visual, audio,or taped media it is clear what the ethical responsibility is. The speaker has a message to offer the audience, and the purpose of presentational media is to enhance the message. The audience needs to be able to trust that any audio, video, or taped conversations incorporated in the speech are true to their original intent and content. Anything that needs to be altered to fit a speech should not be used in the speech. When using citations within a speech the audience is under the impression that you are directly relating what you learned from your source. In the same way your presentational media should be passed on conveying what the original content was. Any alteration makes the source invalid. In order to give an honest, strong, clear message the speaker needs to make sure that any videos, sound bytes, or taped conversations have not been altered to fit the speech.
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Hey there Jessielou,
ReplyDeleteWas there a section on this in the book? I admit that I went back and skimmed though the reading again, but I couldn't find anything. I ask because our approach to the question is completely different. (And your answer sounds so much more bookworthy than mine.) Which I think is really interesting. You brought up a lot of points that I had not considered in my little mini rant. You are absolutely right that altering digital content renders the source invalid. (And in that regard, is it possible to really, truly PROVE anything found in internet resources? ) The audience places their trust in the speaker to present valid data to support their claims, and to do otherwise is highly unethical. And it is wise to make sure your digital content isn't going to offend anyone in the room, especially in a class as small as ours. Talk about wanting to put your foot in your mouth.
I'm an artist, so when asked this question my brain immediately went to the idea of giving proper credit to the source of the image/data/whatever. Sourcing references is a pretty big deal in the online art communities because how easy it is to hit "copy, paste, upload." People download other artists' artwork and upload it as their own all the time, and it's a great way to turn the art-o-sphere into an angry mob complete with virtual pitchforks. There are even instances of people downloading artwork, altering it and removing the signature, and then selling prints of it in stores or online.
Mainly, my point is that it is really interesting what a broad topic this is, and how it affects us on many different levels. Now I am more interested to see how other people respond to the question. Good luck with your speech and see you in class!