The Personal is P/o/l/i/t/i/c/a/l/ Professional

Of course my background as a science fiction fan had an influence on my decision to move from my original research field of computer mathematics into information ethics. This new professional interest has been reflected back in my personal social life, in particular in appearances on panels at conventions discussing surveillance in fiction and reality and other information ethics topics. I’ve wanted to bring the SF into the professional side for a while but saw few opportunities, other than the GikII conference. Last year I put a lecture on Surveillance in Science Fiction into my Information Ethics module, including setting one student an essay on this topic. This year I’m doing the same with the Information Society module – though only because the one student taking that module this term is studying American Literature as their main course and as they’re the only student I can adjust the content somewhat to suit the student’s background. I’ve managed to stick another little bit of SF into another of my modules as well. In the session on digital entertainment in the Social, Legal and Ethical Aspects of Computing module, which includes video/computer games as well as TV and other digitised entertainment, I’ve set the discussion topic (which leads to a student presentation and essay) on Alternate Reality Gaming and hence set Halting State by Charles Stross and This Is Not A Game by Walter Jon Williams as follow-up reading.

Current Mood: busy

Current Music: Dr Who Season 1 Soundtrack

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info