Events to examine ethical questions surrounding drones
Panel discussion
A panel will address "Drones and the Ethics of a Camera in the Sky" at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in 105 Bernhard Center. Panelists include:
- Dr. Anna Popkova, WMU assistant professor of communication
- Jeremy Davidson, of Image Stream-Creative Communications
- Capt. Russell Kavalhuna, executive director of flight operations in the WMU College of Aviation
- Leonard Horton, an award-winning journalist and professor of broadcast journalism at Missouri State University. Horton will be participating remotely via one of the robots from the Communication and Social Robotics Lab in the School of Communication.
Dr. Chad Edwards, WMU associate professor of communication and co-director of the robotics lab, will serve as moderator.
Panelists will explore the ethics of using drones for aerial cinematography and photography. They also will discuss issues related to laws and regulations of flying unmanned aerial vehicles, the risk to other aircraft or property, privacy and security, and general perceptions of a flying camera in the sky.
Lecture
At 6 p.m. in the same location, Dr. Richard Wilson, who currently teaches for the computer science and philosophy departments at Towson University in Towson, Maryland, will speak on "Drones, UAV's and the Reconfiguration of Space: A Domestic and Military Anticipatory Ethical Analysis."
The subject of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, is often approached from the perspective of those who defend their use as necessary in a time of continual terrorist threats and perpetual warfare. Less attention is paid to the domestic use of drones. In his presentation, Wilson will engage in an exploratory analysis of how drones and UAVs reconfigure people's conceptions of space.
Richard Wilson
Wilson is a specialist in practical and applied ethics and has taught courses in many areas of practical ethics, including medical ethics, bioethics, business ethics, media ethics, environmental ethics, and engineering ethics and computer science ethics. Most recently, he designed the curriculum for two engineering ethics and computer science ethics classes. His current interests include technological ethics and information communication technology ethics.
The WMU School of Communication is co-sponsoring both events.
For more information, visit wmich.edu/ethics.
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