Friends and Members of the IIMA
We hope that you continue to be well and are managing your new style of working during the COVID crisis.
You are probably wondering what is happening about the conference this year. We have the call out here: http://iima.org/wp/31st/ Clearly COVID19 is a major consideration for all conferences but as the situation is changing rapidly we have deferred any decision for another month. We remain hopeful but we are considering online and rescheduling options. This may depend on the community’s position to travel so if you have information or views please let the Chairs know to help inform the final decision (Conference Chair Diana Boekman diana.boekman@hu.nl; Conference Co-Chair René Boekman rene.boekman@gmail.com).
At the last conference we agreed to establish a series of webinars to develop the work across our community. There seems like there is no better time than the present when we are all working online anyway. I am delighted therefore to be able to announce that the we have an event planned for the 4th June at 4pm UK time (5pm in West Europe; noon EST; 8am PST) on “AI and Ethics” and planning another one for 24th June 4pm on “how open government data could have helped to address the challenges in managing COVID 19”. The second one is still a tentative title and the speakers are developing the details.
HOLD THESE DATES and we will send further details shortly on how to register and how to link to the webinar. Below is a brief outline of the first webinar. This is an open webinar and we will be inviting colleagues from UCLAN as well as other interested parties, so feel free to include your colleagues.
I would be very interested to hear from you if you wish to run or host a webinar. It can be any format – talk, demonstration, discussion – so please get in touch if you or someone you know could run a session, particularly if it is COVID related perhaps. My team are also running some general webinars related to COVID (these are not all computing/information management focused but about building resilience in the recovery and reflect the breath of expertise in my Faculty / University). You can find details of these here: https://www.uclan.ac.uk/news/free-webinar-series-to-reveal-covid-19-lessons.php
So until we meet online or in person – stay safe!
Regards and best wishes
Ian
Professor Ian Allison
Executive Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology UCLan and President of IIMA
4th June AI and Ethics.
4pm UK time (5pm in West Europe; noon EST; 8am PST) via MS Teams
Ethical questions in Artificial Intelligence were one of the few topics that achieved world-wide attention prior to Covid-19 and alongside climate change. From the Vatican, to the UNESCO, to the World Economic Forum, and the European Commission, people are asking what are the top ethical issues in artificial intelligence and how can they be resolved. These questions are often under valued by technologists but are becoming more prominent in the public and political landscape.
This webinar will be in the form of an interview of two global leaders in the question of ethics and technology based here in the UK.
- Prof. Bernd Stahl, Director of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility at De Montfort University, UK and former President of the IIMA
- Prof. Doris Schroeder, Director of the Centre for Professional Ethics, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK.
Bernd you may know as he is one of our former Presidents and now leading the highly-regarded Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility. The Doris is a Professor at my university who has led the development of the Global Code of Conduct for research in resource-poor settings now adopted by the EU and UNESCO among others.