I have updated the evaluation criteria for oral exams (rubric, Bewertungsschema). While it now only consists of 6 categories (losing some detail from the 7 categories before), this results in the same grading scheme that I use for my term papers: In order to get the best score overall (1.0), you need to achieve the best score (very good) in each category.
The rubrics are currently only available in German:
A new open access article of mine, titled “Trust in technology. Ethical contributions to technology assessment beyond acceptance and acceptability?” has been published in TATuP 30 (2). It is a discussion on the potential of “trust in technology” and “trustworthy technology” as part of a ethics contribution to technology assessment. Its genesis is quite closely connected with a recent collaboration with Linus Feiten (University of Freiburg) on privacy respecting video surveillance and the need for a socio-technical conception of trust. The collaboration resulted in another journal article (accepted by JICES, scheduled to appear in October 2021), which is a trans-disciplinary, application focused contribution. In contrast to this, the TATuP article is a more general philosophical discussion in the context of technology assessment. Here’s the citation information and the English abstract
Weydner-Volkmann, Sebastian (2021): “Technikvertrauen: Beiträge zur Technikfolgenabschätzung jenseits von Akzeptanz und Akzeptabilität?” TATuP – Zeitschrift für Technikfolgenabschätzung in Theorie und Praxis 30 (2): 53–59. DOI: 10.14512/tatup.30.2.53.
Open access
This article explores the potential for “trust in technology” to make a productive conceptual contribution to the ethical evaluation of technology, complementing the concepts of “acceptance” and “acceptability” already established in technology assessment. It shows that for digital technologies in particular, “trust” can better address aspects of security against attacks as it allows to integrate concepts of IT security. Furthermore, “trustworthy technology” allows for a better inclusion of lay perspectives, since rationally justified trust in the sense of risk expectations can be mediated interpersonally by experts. Especially for the evaluation of digital technologies, “trust in technology” can thus bridge a conceptual gap between acceptance and acceptability.
As part of the research colloquium Eva Weber-Guskar and I have started this semester, we would like to invite a broader audience to the first upcoming lectures on the intersection between AI and Philosophy.
I have updated the scoring scheme I use to evaluate term papers and oral exams (rubric, Bewertungsschema). The rubrics are currently only available in German:
I am happy to announce that the publication of my dissertation “Moralische Landkarten der Sicherheit. Ein Framework zur hermeneutisch-ethischen Bewertung von Fluggastkontrollen im Anschluss an John Dewey” is available as open access now.
It is now available as open access in the Nomos e-library: https://doi.org/10.5771/9783956503788
Effective today, the RUB campus has been closed until further notice due to the current health situation. As consistent with the social distancing arrangements, please note that there will be no in-person office hours.
In the next couple of weeks, you can contact the Chair for Ethics of Digital Methods and Technologies by email. If necessary, we can subsequently arrange an appointment for a phone call or video conference.
You can reach my secretary Tanja Markner under tanja.markner@rub.de
You can reach myself under sebastian.weydner-volkmann@rub.de
UPDATE: As of 01 August 2020, the campus reopened “under Covid-19 conditions”, i.e. many restrictions remain and there will continue to be a lot of work from home where possible. See here for current information regarding the on-campus situation.
I am still reached best via Email.
A short journal article titled “Vertrauensstiftende Videoüberwachung?” reports on a privacy respecting concept for video surveillance. It was recently published in the 2019 (4) edition of digma. Zeitschrift für Datenrecht und Informationssicherheit (pp. 218-221). The German article was co-authored by me and my colleague Linus Feiten and it presents a socio-technical concept for a trustworthy implementation of reversible anonymization. The abstract reads like this:
Um berechtigten Bedenken gegenüber Videoüberwachung zu begegnen, wird ein soziotechnisches Konzept vorgeschlagen, das eine reversible Anonymisierung von Bilddaten mit einer (möglichst zivil eingesetzten) Kontrollinstanz kombiniert, um so technische und interpersonelle Vertrauenskonzepte stimmig zu vermitteln.