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).
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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 a security problem, growing use of drones in populated areas will probably make this a safety issue as well.
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.
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.
With his trademark sarcasm, Colbert covers drones. The Amnesty International/Human Rights Watch report on possible war crimes is touched on, followed by an investigation into Deer Trail, Colorado – the town that considered a ‘drone hunting license.’ Given Colbert’s popularity, both of these issues may be approaching common knowledge.
The circumstances surrounding this accident are currently unknown. Depending on the details, this could be anything from old-fashioned operator error by the pilot-in-training to a major flaw in the design of the Reaper drone. Whatever the cause, this will not be the last lost drone, as both demand for (and supply of) the technology is only increasing.
A surprisingly neutral and apolitical appearance.
The research project described in this article involves several underwater robots, two borrowed from the Navy, one built by Rutgers University. Together, they add a new element to oceanographic data collection, supplementing the predominantly surface data with readings from hundreds of feet under water. Two aspects of this article are worth noting. First, it appeared on the front page of the NYT Science Times section. Second, the use of the word ‘drones’ in the title for robotic submarines shows that common usage is accepting the definition to be “unmanned vehicles” in general.
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, though due by the end of the year. Also, there is no sign yet of a national consensus on privacy concerns.
The town of Milton Keynes is planning a grand experiment on the future of transportation. The small two-seater autonomous vehicles appear to be an attempt to merge the flexibility of a taxi and availability of a trolley. As is mentioned in the article, the uncertainty associated with this project (and others like it) is in proper integration of the new vehicles into society, not in the more straightforward technical aspects.
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New book by Asch Associate Director for Conflict and Visual Culture Jonathan Hyman: “The Landscapes of 9/11: A photographer’s Journey” Published by the University of Texas Press the book features 100 of Hyman's photographs and six critical essays that depict and discuss the emotional aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks -- a time when people from all walks of life created and encountered memorials to those who were murdered. Vernacular art appeared almost everywhere—on walls, trees, playgrounds, vehicles, houses, tombstones, and even on bodies. This outpouring of grief and other acts of remembrance impelled photographer Jonathan Hyman to document and preserve these largely impermanent, spontaneous expressions. This book, a unique archive of 9/11 public memory, is the result of his compiling a collection of 20,000 photographs, along with field notes and personal interviews. For more information about the book or to purchase it, visit the book's page at Amazon or Facebook.
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