IS Serving the Community: The Pragmatic, the Ethical and the Moral Questions

Public sector information systems (IS) may produce unintended negative consequences that are very challenging to predict in advance. In this paper we seek to answer the following critical research questions: How does a democratic society identify and deal with ethically and morally problematic effects of public sector IS? What does it mean for public sector IS to be ethically and morally justified? What principles and norms should govern the discourse in a society to ensure resolution (and prevention) of these ethically and morally problematic effects? We answer these questions by providing empirical and theoretical argument, based on our investigation of My School – an Australian Government portal providing performance data about more than 9500 schools. By drawing from Habermas’ discourse ethics we identify problems in the current discourse on My School and propose principles for conducting public discourse to ensure resolution of pragmatic, ethical and moral concerns through a democratic process.