TEACHING DIGITAL IDENTITY: OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR AVATAR CREATION IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS

This article serves intends to serve as a guide aimed at both educators and students, focusing on the rapidly evolving field of avatar creation within creative practices. As tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) democratise the digital realm, we see a surge in the presence of virtual influencers and V-Tubers who use avatars for a myriad of applications. This unfolding landscape offers significant opportunities for personal and artistic expression but also poses ethical challenges and risks that demand careful consideration. Looking towards opportunities brought by advancements in synthetic media, such as easier access, diversity of representation, collaborative possibilities, and heightened realism in avatar creation. Alongside opportunities, the paper investigates ethical questions related to deepfakes, cultural sensitivities, and the need for stringent data privacy measures. Within the scope of this article, synthetic media is understood as computer-generated content that allows individuals to create and adapt media overcoming specialised skills or training required by earlier generations of media producers. The objective of this article is two-fold: to equip educators and their students with actionable knowledge and best practices, and to guide them in harnessing synthetic media's positive potential responsibly. Through education we aim to foster a digital environment that is safer, more inclusive, and ethically sound for future generations. It also outlines best practices for ethical avatar creation, focusing on transparency, data privacy, diversity, fairness, quality, and responsibility. By adhering to these guidelines, we may navigate complexities of this emerging field while minimising its potential negative impacts on society

TEACHING DIGITAL IDENTITY: OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES, AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR AVATAR CREATION IN EDUCATIONAL SETTINGS

This article serves intends to serve as a guide aimed at both educators and students, focusing on the rapidly evolving field of avatar creation within creative practices. As tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) democratise the digital realm, we see a surge in the presence of virtual influencers and V-Tubers who use avatars for a myriad of applications. This unfolding landscape offers significant opportunities for personal and artistic expression but also poses ethical challenges and risks that demand careful consideration. Looking towards opportunities brought by advancements in synthetic media, such as easier access, diversity of representation, collaborative possibilities, and heightened realism in avatar creation. Alongside opportunities, the paper investigates ethical questions related to deepfakes, cultural sensitivities, and the need for stringent data privacy measures. Within the scope of this article, synthetic media is understood as computer-generated content that allows individuals to create and adapt media overcoming specialised skills or training required by earlier generations of media producers. The objective of this article is two-fold: to equip educators and their students with actionable knowledge and best practices, and to guide them in harnessing synthetic media's positive potential responsibly. Through education we aim to foster a digital environment that is safer, more inclusive, and ethically sound for future generations. It also outlines best practices for ethical avatar creation, focusing on transparency, data privacy, diversity, fairness, quality, and responsibility. By adhering to these guidelines, we may navigate complexities of this emerging field while minimising its potential negative impacts on society

Integral Conversion: A Catholic Pedagogical Framework for Teaching Environmental Sustainability and Ecological Citizenship from Japan

As Vatican efforts expand to move awareness of environmental sustainability from the peripheries to the center of public consciousness, Catholic schools face the challenge of instilling in the next generation of graduates a distinctly Catholic sense of ecological citizenship. To this end, Catholic educators are faced with the challenge of presenting complex environmental problems in a manner that honors both the data of science and the transcendental worldview the Church proclaims. This paper offers a framework for examining environmental sustainability issues in the classroom from the perspective of Catholic social teaching. The author’s professional context of teaching Catholic social ethics and Christian humanism at a major Catholic Jesuit university in Japan revealed the need for and inspired the creation of the following pedagogical framework in an effort to help students see the bigger picture of environmental sustainability as understood by Pope Francis, his predecessors, and the entire Catholic Church. The framework may also be a help within contexts of high familiarity with the Catholic faith since it provides a birds-eye view, so to speak, of the various inputs consequential to thinking about ecological issues as a Catholic

Developing Instructional Technology Standards for Educators: A Design-Based Research Study

Digital technologies are key tools that can be used to extend and enhance teaching and learning. However, empirical evidence show educators are unclear how to integrate technology and it is often used to support past teaching practices. Designbased research (DBR) involving a grounded theory design was used to construct a set of seven detailed education technology standards to provide guidance on how technology should be integrated and a set of 24 examples as indicators of these standards. This DBR mixed methods approach involved 2429 participants and gathered data from focus groups, surveys, and interviews. The DBR involved two macro cycles of design, implementation, analysis, and revision within the development of the standards. These standards are unique as they are the first empirically developed instructional technology standards for educators

The connectivity doctrine: A critique of techo-utopian discourse, liberal governmentality, and the colonization of cyberspace

This thesis critically assesses the US’s “International Strategy for Cyberspace,” its policies concerning Internet freedom, and its corollary promotion of global connectivity via Information and Communication Technology. I argue that the Internet freedom discourse constitutes a form of epistemic violence that the US government and its like-minded allies perpetrate against those who adhere to contradictory communication policies. I further suggest that the associated policy initiatives render the US culpable, if not wholly responsible, for the physical violence that people may fall victim to as a result of using the technology it actively helps develop and promote. I also contend that the US’s attempt to establish the guiding norms and govern the behavior in “cyberspace” is an example of “international governmentality,” a contemporary variant of Michel Foucault’s notion concerning modern power relations. Following this, I demonstrate how Foucault’s understanding of governmentality reveals important aspects of the US-led cyber agenda that remain hidden in the rhetoric; aspects which allow for a more complete assessment of the policy and its implications

Queering bioethics: a queer feminist framework for vulnerability and principles

Gender and sexual variance invite a cornucopia of philosophically salient inquiries. My dissertation considers them in the realm of bioethics. Bioethics can be defined as a field of philosophy that interrogates ethical, societal, and political questions emerging from the development of medicine and biosciences. In my dissertation, I discuss how queer feminist interrogations of key bioethical concepts, such as autonomy and justice, can enrich bioethical theory, methodology, and practice. A prominent view, both in bioethical research and in the ethical evaluation of medical practices, systems, and policies, is the so-called principlist approach. This has two subfields: the view that principles are grounded in moral theory, and the view that they are based on a common morality. In my dissertation, I offer a critique of both views. In both cases, however, principles are thought to abstract morally salient elements that should guide bioethical analyses. The most prominent principles are, in nonhierarchical order: respect for autonomy; nonmaleficence (not to cause harm); beneficence (to provide benefits, and to balance benefits against risks); and justice (as the fair distribution of benefits and risks—in my view an insufficient definition of justice). In my dissertation, I discuss how cis- and heteronormativity can affect bioethical analyses, including the definition and application of principles. Cis- and heteronormativity refers to the categorization of gender and sexual variance through the binaries of male/female and homo/hetero, which are constructed hierarchically. My work is informed by the theoretical backdrops of feminist philosophy, feminist bioethics, and queer bioethics. I conclude that gender and sexual variance should replace cis- and heteronormativity in bioethical analyses, including principlist approaches. My dissertation consists of four articles and an introduction. The introduction contextualizes, bridges, evaluates, and further develops the argumentation presented in the articles. In article I, “Considering Unicorns: Queer Bioethics and Intersectionality” (Sudenkaarne 2018a), I discuss queer bioethics via concept analysis in relation to intersectionality, the prominent notion that there are several overlapping axes of oppression. This philosophical discussion reveals some persistent issues that I call the problem of identity, the problem of relativism, and the problem of essentialism, which are also framed by my inquiry in the introduction. In article II, “Queering Bioethics: A Queer Bioethics Inventory of Surrogacy” (Sudenkaarne 2018b), I offer a queer bioethical analysis of ethical guidelines for surrogacy treatment, applying the queer bioethical methodology known as the queer bioethics inventory (QBI). I find these ethical guidelines to include cis- and heteronormativity. In article III, “Queering Vulnerability: A Layered Bioethical Approach” (Sudenkaarne 2019), I offer a unique contribution to queer and feminist bioethical theory and methodology by building on the central concepts of QBI and the feminist theory of layered vulnerability to formulate what I call queer vulnerabilities, targeting kinship, intimacy, agency, and ethical sustainability. In article IV, “Queering Medicalized Gender Variance” (Sudenkaarne 2020b), I apply my theory and methodology of queer vulnerabilities to diagnostics of gender variance in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, currently in their 11th and fifth versions respectively. I conclude that despite progress from the previous versions, both are in need of further queer bioethical scrutiny and operate with a confused metaphysics of gender. Ultimately, I conclude that gender and sexual variance as a norm in the framework for principlist analyses is needed to guarantee the fulfillment of principles, including in LGBTQI+ cases. For this reason, my dissertation aims to offer a queer feminist framework for principles. Further, I seek to formulate queer bioethics as a posthuman moral theory to further enhance a queer feminist approach to bioethics, ethics, and philosophy. Such an approach should be better attuned to intersectionality, and should seek to resolve the imbalance between reproductive rights, reproductive justice, and ecojustice on a global scale. KEYWORDS: Ethics; Feminist Philosophy; Queer Bioethics; Feminist Bioethics; Bioethical Principles; Principlism; LGBTQI+; Reproductive Ethics; Gender; SexualitySukupuolen ja seksuaalisuuden moninaisuus nostaa esiin filosofisesti merkityksellisiä kysymyksiä. Väitöstutkimukseni tarkastelee suku-puolen ja seksuaalisuuden moninaisuuden bioetiikkaa. Bioetiikka tutkii ja selvittää moraalis-yhteiskunnallisia kysymyksiä jotka nousevat erityisesti lääke- ja biotieteen kehityksestä ja joilla on myös valtasuhteisiin liittyviä ulottuvuuksia. Tarkastelen, miten kriittiset feministiset ja queer-näkökulmat bioetiikan peruskäsitteisiin, kuten autonomiaan ja oikeudenmukaisuuteen, voivat rikastuttaa bioetiikan teoriaa, metodologiaa ja käytäntöä. Keskeinen bioetiikan suuntaus on periaatteisiin nojaava lähestymistapa. Periaatteiden ajatellaan yhtäältä nousevan moraaliteorioista, toisaalta nojaavaan niin kutsuttuun yleiseen moraalikäsitykseen. Tarkastelen kriittisesti molempia käsityksiä. Molemmissa käsityksissä ydinajatus kuitenkin on, että periaatteiden kautta tavoitetaan moraalisesti merkittäviä elementtejä, jotka ohjaavat bioeettistä analyysiä. Tunnetuimpia periaatteita ovat autonomian kunnioittaminen, hyvän tekeminen, pahan välttäminen ja oikeudenmukaisuus (joka usein määritellään nähdäkseni keskeisen riittämättömästi riskien ja hyötyjen reiluksi jakaantumiseksi). Väitöstutkimuksessani tarkastelen, miten cis- ja heteronormativiisuus voi vaikuttaa bioeettiseen analyysiin, mukaan lukien periaatteiden määrittymiseen ja toteutumiseen. Cis- ja heteronormatiivisuudella tarkoitan vaadetta sukupuolen ja seksuaalisuuden mukauttamisesta mies-nainen- ja homo-hetero –kategorioihin, jotka rakentuvat hier-arkkisesti. Tutkimukseni ankkuroituu keskeisimmin feministisen filosofian, feministisen bioetiikan ja queer-bioetiikan teoria-konteksteihin. Totean, että sukupuolen ja seksuaalisuuden moninaisuuden tulisi korvata cis- ja heterornormi bioeettisissä analyyseissä, myös periaatteita käytettäessä. Väitöstutkimukseni koostuu neljästä englanninkielisestä artikkelista ja johdanto-osiosta. Johdannossa kontekstualisoin artikkeleissa esittämiäni ajatuksia, tarkastelen niiden välisiä yhteyksiä sekä arvioin ja jatkokehittelen argumentaatiota. Artikkelissa I “Considering Unicorns: Queer Bioethics and Intersectionality” (Sudenkaarne 2018a) tarkastelen käsiteanalyyttisesti queer-bioetiikan rakentumista ja sen suhdetta intersektionaalisuuden teoriaan, useiden samanaikaisten syrjinnälle altistavien akseleiden läsnäoloon. Tästä tarkastelusta nousevat myös identiteettiin, essentialismiin ja relativismiin liittyvät pohdinnat, jotka kytkevät problematiikan yleisfilosofisen tarkasteluun. Artikkelissa II “Queering Bioethics: A Queer Biothics Inventory of Surrogacy” (Sudenkaarne 2018b) siirryn soveltamaan queer-bioetiikkaa sijaissynnyttämisen bioeettisessä keskustelussa. Metodologisina työkaluina käytän käsiteanalyysiä ja queer-bioeettistä kysymyslistaa (Queer Bioethics Inventory). Analyysini tuloksena esitän, että cis- ja heteronormatiivisuus saattaa vääristää bioeettistä arviointia. Artikkelissa III ”Queering Vulnerability: A Layered Bioethical Approach” (Sudenkaarne 2019) kehitän queer-bioetiikan teoriaa ja metodologiaa edelleen yhdistämällä queer-bioeettisen kysymyslistan nähdäkseni keskeiset elementit feministisen bioetiikan kerrokselliseen haavoittuvuuden teoriaan ja muotoilen näin kiintymykseen, intiimiyteen, toimijuuteen ja eettiseen kestävyyteen kytkeytyvät queer-haavoittuvuuden kerrokset. Artikkelissa IV ”Queering Medicalized Gender Variance” (Sudenkaarne 2020b), sovellan queer-haavoittuvuuden kerroksia sukupuolen moni-naisuuden diagnostiikan käsite- ja queer-bioeettisessä analyysissä ICD-11 ja DSM-V tautiluokituksissa. Totean, että vaikka parannuksia edellisiin versioihin on tehty, ovat molemmat luokitukset laajemman queer-bioeettisen reformin tarpeessa ja nojaavat epämääräisille metafyysisille käsityksille sukupuolesta. Laajemmin totean, että sukupuolen ja seksuaalisuuden moninaisuuden normi tulee sisältyä periaatteita ohjaavaan kehyksen, sillä siten turvataan parhaiten periaatteiden toteutuminen myös LHBTQI+-tapauksissa. Väitöstutkimuksessani pyrinkin muotoilemaan queer-feministisen kehyksen periaatteelliselle lähestymistavalle. Lisäksi hahmottelen queer-bioetiikasta posthumanistista moraaliteoriaa queer-feministisenä kontribuutiona bioetiikkaan, laajemmin etiikantutkimukseen ja filosofiaan. Queer-bioetiikan moraaliteoriana tulisi nähdäkseni vastata paremmin intersektionalisuuden haasteisiin sekä pyrkiä ratkomaan lisääntymisoikeuksien, lisääntymisoikeudenmukaisuuden ja eko-oikeudenmukaisuuden välisiä ristiriitoja globaalissa mittakaavassa. AVAINSANAT: Etiikka; feministinen filosofia; feministinen bioetiikka; queer-bioetiikka; bioetiikka; periaatteet; LGBTQI+; lisääntymisetiikka; sukupuoli; seksuaalisuus

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Marshall McLuhan and Communication Ethics: The Taming of Americanitis

In 1880 neurologist George Miller Beard identified the diagnosis of neurasthenia. Popularly referred to as Americanitis, Beard treated an increasing number of people for symptoms of anxiety, malaise and gastric discomfort. Per Beard, the illness resulted from the rapidly changing mechanical landscape of modernity. Similarly, contemporary Media Ecology literature suggests that Americanitis continues amidst our current digital moment. Manifest as narcissistically anxious nervous exhaustion, digital Americanitis results due to technological encouragement of existential and communicative closure, thereby negatively implicating the human condition, human communication and communication ethics practices. As such, this project considers Marshall McLuhan’s Media Ecology to examine the communicative phenomena of Americanitis. Based on affable grounding assumptions as well as calls in recent literature, McLuhan’s work is read through the presently underrepresented Media Ecology scholarly approach of existential phenomenology. In particular, this Merleau-Pontean existential phenomenological reading enhances understanding of the implicit theory of human communication and communication ethics informing McLuhan’s Media Ecology criticism. Once elucidated, McLuhan’s theoretical assumptions, aims and ends comport with theoretical dimensions of Merleau-Ponty’s existential phenomenology to reveal how and why technology encourages our digital Americanitis. When placed into conversation, the two thinkers also offer possible responses to our ills – approaches to “taming” Americanitis

A Narrative of Charitable Acknowledgment: Reframing Interpersonal Communication in Intimate Relationships

The field of interpersonal communication conducts many descriptive studies. However, guidance for healthy communication within intimate relationships is more difficult to come by--a condition stemming in part from an emotivist ethical paradigm. MacIntyre (1984) describes emotivism as the current state of society where individual preference serves as the ethical decision making compass. Emerging from Enlightenment scholarship (e.g., Hobbes, Rousseau, sociobiology), individual preferences have become main tenets in intimate interpersonal research. In the interpersonal theories of social exchange and goal-orientation, emotivism is encouraged in the emphasis placed on self-interest and technique. This exposes itself metaphorically through descriptions of communication as a tool, an economic bartering system, and a means of gaining emotional satisfaction. As a result, communication phenomena such as love and trust in intimate romantic relationships are difficult to express due to the difficulties self-interested language has in moving beyond the dichotomy of egoism and altruism. This interpretive study hopes to reinvigorate the philosophical ground for other-focused action in today\u27s historical moment in regard to the study of interpersonal intimate romantic relationships. To do this, communication must first be interpreted in an active paradigm. Communicative praxis (Schrag, 1986) provides the texture for this shift, describing the subject as decentered, and thus interpreted as multiple, temporal, and embodied. In the embodied connection of word to deed (the act of being to, for, and with the other), ethical conduct can be determined, thus providing ground to pose an interpretive framework for healthy romantic relationships--a narrative of charitable acknowledgment as defined in the work of Hyde, Schrag, and Augustine. The connection between charity and acknowledgment focuses on rhetorical competence, the emphasis on connecting word to deed, and the importance of will and habit. Acknowledgment serves as a hermeneutic to open up charity to a postmodern society on an axiological level, explored through transversal interpretations of faith, hope, and charity. Charitable acknowledgment, then, is the enactment (within a nexus of will, habit, and ethic) of unconditionality, sacrifice, and forgiveness. This approach to romantic relationships opens the door for new research and future discussion on the ethical implications of the narrative shift

Resolute Agency in Confucian Role Ethics.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018