Virtual Freedom: Issues of Freedom of Speech in the Virtual Workplace

Session Submission Type: Paper Session

Abstract

While basic communication and information expectations may share similarities today to expectations during the industrial revolution, communication in the workplace has undergone significant changes over the last century. We organize through communication. New technologies have changed the very way we organize and
communicate and, thus, have impacted organizational expectations from both internal and external perspectives. This has affected daily business operations and customer service expectations. It has also impacted the public nature of messages and as such free speech issues. This panel examines those free speech issues that arise in our new virtual reality. We also examine where these new dialogic technologies might take us in the next five years.

Sub Unit

• Freedom of Expression Division

Chair

• Leigh Makay, Heidelberg College

Individual Presentations

• Second Life: Virtual Reality with Real Free Speech Issues - Edward Brewer, Appalachian State Univ

• ‘Cuz It’s My Computer—That’s Why: When Private Ownership Trumps Free Speech - Juliet Dee, University of Delaware

• Can there be Freedom of Speech within Facebook? - Sheryl Lidzy, Emporia State Univ

• Virtuality and the 24/7 Workweek's Impact on Freedom of Expression - Julie Woodbury, Hamline University

Respondent

• Susan Balter-Reitz, Montana State Univ, Billings

Session Organizer

• Edward Brewer, Appalachian State Univ