Workshop updates

September 28, 2009 -- Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Professor of Public Engagement, and EPSRC Senior Media Fellow at the University of Sheffield, is the third speaker to be added to the roster of the PAIT workshop. He joins Fred H. Cate, Distinguished Professor and C. Ben Dutton Professor of Law, IU School of Law, and Director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University Bloomington, and Helen Nissenbaum, Associate Professor in the Department of Culture and Communication and Senior Fellow of the Information Law Institute at New York University.

In addition to formal presentations by these three distinguished scholars, the workshop will feature panel presentations and small-group breakout discussions. We already have an outstanding group of registrants and look forward to welcoming more.

August 24, 2009 -- We have posted a case study for comments and discussion at our blog.

August 21, 2009 -- If you are thinking about participating in the PAIT workshop and wondering whether the annual meeting of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics (which convenes the day after PAIT in the very same hotel) is for you, consider these two events:

• Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), will deliver the keynote address on March 5.
• A mini conference, “Engineering Towards a More Just and Sustainable World” will be held Saturday afternoon, March 6, through Sunday March 7 at noon.

For details, see the Association's Web site.

August 3, 2009 -- We have posted a call for participation and a working definition; please feel free to comment on or discuss the latter at our blog.

July 31, 2009 -- We have a new tool for communicating with people interested in the PAIT workshop, a blog that can be found at http://ethicalpait.blogspot.com/. The other updates for today are already on that blog and repeated below.

I'm already sending updates to more than 100 people, and I will continue to do so; if you would like to be on that list, please let me know.

If you like the other items on the blog – so far mainly items from the media – you can subscribe to it and keep up-to-date via Google, Bloglines, netvibes, newsgator, My Yahoo!, and Atom.

I will also continue to post updates here, but this one might lag a bit behind the blog and the e-mail.

Other updates: From the navigation bar to the left, you can now find

• The workshop registration form
• The policy and application form for travel subsidies to make it a bit easier for members of underrepresented groups in science and engineering to participate in the workshop (select "Travel subsidy")
• Links to many people with an interest in ethical issues associated with pervasive computing, autonomous systems, ubicomp, ambient intelligence, and the like (select "Links page")

If you'd like your name added to the list of people, please let me know. I'm also interested in adding to the list of meetings and educational efforts on that same page; please send along any relevant links.

Ken Pimple, PAIT Project Director

July 7, 2009 -- The PAIT Planning Committee is actively seeking experts interested in joining one or more informal working groups to help prepare for the workshop.

Working groups are formed around important themes that should be represented at the workshop; as details on each group's area are developed, those details will help determine the structure of the workshop, the particular sessions, and speakers or discussion facilitators. Each working group will include at least one member of the Planning Committee and may include non-members. Working groups will typically meet via telephone, e-mail, or other forms of technological mediation.

The working groups will (a) extend the reach of the Planning Committee by supplying ideas for publicity, existing resources, links to similar meetings, etc; (b) bring additional, focused expertise to workshop planning; (c) serve as outreach, increasing interest in the workshop among group invitees, members, and their contacts; and (d) provide a possible source of speakers/facilitators at the workshop. In addition, some working groups may decide to work on products (cases, etc.) for presentation at the workshop and/or products that result from the workshop (journal articles, conference papers, etc.). Additional groups will be added as needed.

Current working groups are focusing on autonomous IT and robots; geographic information systems (GIS) and related spatial technologies; international issues in PAIT; legal and policy issues in PAIT; and teaching materials. If you are interested in being involved, or have a suggestion for an additional working group, please get in touch with the project director.