Blurred

Yesterday I returned from a wonderful vacation to Ruidoso New Mexico where we escaped the hotter than an oven Texas summer heat. I wish I had Emeril's smell-o-vision to share thearoma of pine needles in the NM mountain air. Mmmm! We enjoyed the Ruidoso Arts Festival and geocaching as well as eating lots of great food and playing/learning bridge (my family loves to play cards!).

Today, as I watched the washing machine churn through the pile of dirty laundry, I listened to NPR and tried to read all of the blogs and websites I normally read every day. As I digested all of this digital and audio media, the theme of ethics (or the lack thereof) emerged. Then I heard a story on NPR "Mom Bloggers Debate Ethics of 'Blog-Ola" and I groaned as mom-bloggers cross the ethical line.

With mothers controlling upwards of 80 percent of household spending, it was only a matter of time before mommy bloggers, and now Twitterers, were reviewing and promoting products and services.

Companies from Wal-Mart and Kmart to Ragu and Michelin tires work with mom bloggers, and in some cases, Gumbinner says, lines are being blurred.

The lines are blurred. Sounds like the ongoing ethical reality of social work practice as applied to the digital world. How do we establish ethical social work practice in the Web 2.0 world? How do we live up to the CSWE Core Competency

Educational Policy 2.1.2—Apply social work ethical principles to guide professional practice. Social workers have an obligation to conduct themselves ethically and to engage in ethical decision-making. Social workers are knowledgeable about the value base of the profession, its ethical standards,and relevant law. Social workers

• recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide

practice;

• make ethical decisions by applying standards of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and, as applicable, of the International Federation of Social

Workers/International Association of Schools of Social Work Ethics in Social Work,

Statement of Principles;

• tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts; and

• apply strategies of ethical reasoning to arrive at principled decisions.

At the end of the report, I heard about Blog With Integrity - then I nodded my head in approval, visited the link, and signed the pledge.

Everyone who reads blogs (or any source of information) needs to praactice critical thinking. Blog of Integrity is a great tool for critical thinking. How do you critically evaluate blogs or digital meda?