On theory, practice, and responsibilities: A conversation with Robert Hauptman

In January 2008, Dr. Robert Hauptman, Editor, Journal of Information Ethics, and Professor Emeritus, St. Cloud University, sat down with Elizabeth Buchanan, from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Information Studies' Center for Information Policy Research, to talk about the field of information ethics, its major issues, and the state of librarianship. As is widely known, Robert Hauptman, the author of hundreds of articles, is considered one of the founders of the field of information ethics. The formal application of ethical theory to information is termed “information ethics,” concurrently coined such by Robert Hauptman in the United States and Dr. Rafael Capurro in Germany in the mid 1980s. Laying the groundwork for the discipline of information ethics, was Hauptman's 1976 experiment. This was a seminal moment in reference, information ethics, and professional ethics, a moment to which information professionals, today, in the age of the Patriot Act, mass surveillance, and mass privacy violations, consider instrumental in understanding privacy, responsibility, and professional duties. This interview provides some insights on information ethics past, present, and future, from this transcendent scholar.