Tanner Talk to address the pros and cons of the digital classroom

A series of cross-disciplinary talks continues Oct. 23, with the second “Tanner Talk” will feature a panel discussion from three experts on the topic of digital education — the opportunities it provides and the pitfalls it presents.

Peter Binfield (physicist & publisher of PeerJ, an open-access journal), Rebecca Frost Davis (an expert on digital humanities at St. Edward’s University) and Adam Moore (an expert on information ethics at University of Washington) will discuss the terms, the different movements, and the philosophical impetus for and potential shortcomings of higher education as it becomes “digital” and “open.”

Peter Binfield, PhD, has worked in the academic publishing world for almost 20 years. Since gaining a doctorate in optical physics, he has held positions at Institute of Physics, Kluwer Academic, Springer, SAGE and most recently the Public Library of Science (PLoS). At PLoS he ran PLoS ONE and developed it into the largest and most innovative journal in the world. He is a respected voice in the academic publishing and Open Access worlds and has made numerous presentations to industry and academia. He is passionate about academic publishing and believes that publishing needs to be in service to the academic community to best facilitate the rapid and broad dissemination of research findings.

Read more about Pete.

Rebecca Frost Davis, director of Instructional and Emerging Technology at St. Edward’s University, works to build networks to transform learning, specifically in digital humanities and at liberal arts colleges, but more generally in higher education. Previously, as program officer for the humanities at the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), she led an initiative to develop digital humanities at liberal arts colleges. With her colleague Bryan Alexander, Davis explored the impact of digital humanities at small colleges in “Should Liberal Arts Campuses Do Digital Humanities? Process and Products in the Small College World” in Debates in the Digital Humanities, edited by Matthew K. Gold, (University of Minnesota Press, 2012). Her ongoing research in this area includes the 2012–13 “NITLE Survey on Digital Humanities at Small Liberal Arts Colleges.” As NITLE fellow, Dr. Davis is also researching intercampus teaching at liberal arts colleges and the role of networked courses in preparing students to live and work in a globally networked world. Dr. Davis holds a doctorate and master’s in classical studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s degree (summa cum laude) in classical studies and Russian from Vanderbilt University.

More about Rebecca.

Adam D. Moore (Ph.D. philosophy, Ohio State University, 1997) is an associate professor in the Information School at the University of Washington. He specializes in information ethics (intellectual property, privacy, freedom of speech), philosophy of law, and political philosophy. Professor Moore is the author of Privacy Rights: Moral and Legal Foundations (Penn State Press, 2010), Intellectual Property and Information Control (Transaction Pub., 2001), and editor of Intellectual Property: Moral, Legal, and International Dilemmas (Rowman & Littlefield, 1997) and Information Ethics: Privacy, Property, and Power (The University of Washington Press, 2005). He has written more than 30 articles that have appeared in numerous journals, including American Philosophical Quarterly, Bioethics, The Journal of Value Inquiry, Business Ethics Quarterly, Public Affairs Quarterly and the San Diego Law Review. Currently professor Moore is working on an article entitled “Protecting the Traditional Knowledge and Intellectual Property of Indigenous Groups.”

Read more about Adam.

The 2013–14 Tanner Talks, a series of cross-disciplinary events focusing on the theme “Knowledge and Community,” are a presentation of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

The complete schedule for the Tanner Talks, including a brief summary of each presentation, is online.

Related link:

USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Contact: Jeremy Pugh, College of CHaSS senior communications specialist, 435-797-0267, jeremy.pugh@usu.edu