Sramana Majumdar

"Violence, Identity and Self-determination: Narratives of conflict from the Kashmir Valley" 4:15 PM, Monday 18 Nov Room 239, BYC Bryn Mawr College

Exposure Index

Tired of paper and pencil questionnaires about integration and intergroup contact? Try the new and improved EXPOSURE INDEX (click tab above on this page).

Smile! A Drone Is About to Take Your Picture

In this article, the New York Times considers possible cultural niches for drones. While the standard fears of safety and privacy are mentioned, it is noteworthy that the focus is on how drones will be used in day-to-day life, instead of just if such integration is possible or even desirable.

Driverless Trucks Will Keep Army Safe From IEDs

Convoys are historically desirable targets in warfare. They are also unarmed. Unmanned convoys can keep people out of dangerous situations while sidestepping the growing debate over the ethics of autonomous killing machines.

Drones in Culture: Dilbert

This cartoon neatly combines fears on safety and corporate spying with a reference to an earlier era’s air technology fad.

Amazon Drones: The Rebuttal

Since Jeff Bezos made headlines with his plan for drone deliveries, many have offered their opinions on proposal. Many have declared it impractical or contrary to Amazon’s business plan, or just plain absurd.

Amazon Is Experimenting With Autonomous Flying Delivery Drones

In Amazon’s constant quest for efficiency, CEO Jeff Bezos is hoping drones can bring the gap between payment and delivery down to thirty minutes. So far, this plan is nothing more than a good press release, as the FAA has yet to finalize the rules for flying drones. However, Bezos seems confident that the drones […]

Drones in Culture: Blondie

The Blondie Comic strip for 24 Nov. 2013 has a hapless employee under constant monitoring by a miniature Predator drone. While the Predator design is clearly artistic license, this strip taps into a common worry about surveillance, lack of privacy, and the damping of free speech.

Hackers’ guide to grounding drones

While Deer Creek, Colorado may have wanted to take down drones with shotguns and hunting rifles, there are more subtle methods that would probably be difficult to punish. GPS jammers and directed energy weapons can interfere with the electronics and navigation of drones, bringing them down with no noise and little trouble. While presented as […]

The Drones of the Future Won’t Kill, They’ll Take Selfies

Constantly recording personal drones maybe be more privacy invading than innocuous to some. Nevertheless, they are probably more acceptable to the public than the military and government drones. The Paparazzi drone in particular is interesting as it abandons the common (and perhaps somewhat menacing) quadrotor for a highly stylized design looks like a cartoon helicopter.

Balfour Beatty considers improving staff safety with drones and gamification

This large construction company is showing interest in using drones, both for monitoring large, chaotic work sites, and also for directly adding to a structure. It is perhaps not a surprise that this initiative was announced in Japan, a place that has long been willing to integrate robotics into society.

As deadline for drone rules nears, FAA issues roadmap for inclusion in the skies

The FAA, under pressure from members of the government, the drone industry, and public interest groups, is moving forwards on developing a framework for domestic drone use. Many important details remain up in the air, however. Information on the legal standing of the smaller, hobbyist type drones that will not require traffic control is lacking, […]