BACKGROUND
Course Listing: COMP_SCI 396: Natural & Artificial Vision – Emma Alexander
Course Description: This course covers the mathematical operations underlying computer vision and their embodiment in naturally-occurring visual systems. Students will learn basics of image processing, neuroscience, and computational imaging.
Module Topic: Ethics in Bio-Inspired Computer Vision
Module Authors: Emma Alexander, Claire Schwartz, Avery Keare
Module Implementation: Spring 2023
Module Overview: Prof. Emma Alexander highlights one possible framework for considering some of the ethical challenges and possibilities in the bio-inspired computer vision field, meant to be accessible to an interested undergraduate. The materials explore topics such as differentially-valued expertise and labor, the historical context of computer vision design choices, and tools for action (CIDER, local design tools, enforcement mechanisms, etc). Students then reflect on the ethics of bio-inspired computer vision in their final reports.
COURSE MATERIALS
LESSONS LEARNED
- “The ethical reflection in the final reports was deep and exciting for a few students and cursory for others — no surprise, and I think I can get better engagement by bringing the material in earlier and scaffolding it better with homework questions” – Prof. Emma Alexander