UOW hosts 3rd workshop on the social implications of national security

23 Jul 2008 | Bernie Goldie

Discussions on the current and proposed technologies that are being considered, or have been rolled out, in Australia in areas such as epassports, biometrics, location tracking, ID cards and CCTV are on the agenda at a workshop being held in Canberra on 23 and 24 July.

The theme for this year’s 3^rd RNSA (ARC Research Network for a Secure Australia) workshop is “Australia and the New Technologies: Evidence Based Policy in Public Administration”. The Homeland Security Research Centre asked UOW’s School of Information Systems and Technology to host the workshop and to co-locate it with the Safeguarding Australia Summit (see http://www.safeguardingaustraliasummit.org.au/index.html)

From UOW, Dr Katina Michael is the workshop program chair and editor; the co-editor is Dr M.G.Michael and co-chair is Dr Holly Tootell.

The workshop specifically is focusing on the issue of new technologies in the form of product and process innovations rolled out in Australia since major international events (e.g. September 11 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, Boxing Day tsunami and the avian flu outbreak).

“These product and process innovations introduced for the ‘common good’ are usually mandated by government agencies, designed and implemented by private business, and obligatorily adopted by citizens in the name of national security,” Dr Katina Michael said.

She said the workshop will investigate how information is gathered, processed and disseminated to provide evidence toward policy making.

Issues to be raised will include: The qualitative and quantitative methods used to make public administration decisions; how stakeholders are engaged and brought into the wider debate; how legislation is introduced and its effect; what ethical considerations are made before implementation of mass market information technologies; and the importance of maintaining the rights of citizens.

The workshop will bring together academics and practitioners from multiple disciplines including law, information technology, sociology, ethics, policy, medical, business, accounting and economics.

The keynote speaker will be Professor Chris Del Mar, Bond University, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine. Other speakers include: Professor Rob Watts (RMIT), Dr Greg Marston (UQ), Professor Nick O’Brien (CSU), Professor Marcus Wigan (University of Melbourne), Professor Roger Clarke (ANU), Dr Lucy Resnyansky (DSTO), Australian Privacy Foundation (APF), Mr Mark Loves (UOW), Mr Mark Burdon (QUT), Mr Nigel Phair (AFP) and Mr David Vaile (UNSW).

When: 23-24 July, 2008. Workshop location: Hotel Relm, Canberra

For further information contact Dr Katina Michael on 0431 201172 (m).