Speakers
New York State Communication Association
82nd Annual Conference October 18-20, 2024
COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
2024 Keynote Speakers
Dr. David J. Gunkel
Professor, Department of Communication, Northern Illinois University
Dr. Gunkel is an award-winning educator, researcher, and author, specializing in the philosophy of technology with a focus on the moral and legal challenges of artificial intelligence and robots. He is the author of over 90 scholarly articles and has published thirteen books, including Thinking Otherwise: Philosophy, Communication, Technology (Purdue University Press 2007), The Machine Question: Critical Perspectives on AI, Robots, and Ethics (MIT Press 2012), Of Remixology: Ethics and Aesthetics After Remix (MIT Press 2016), Robot Rights (MIT Press 2018), An Introduction to Communication and Artificial Intelligence (Polity, 2020), and Person, Thing, Robot: A Moral and Legal Ontology for the 21st Century and Beyond (MIT Press 2023). He currently holds the position of Presidential Research, Scholarship and Artistry Professor in the Department of Communication at Northern Illinois University (USA) and professor of applied ethics at Łazarski University in Warsaw, Poland.
Dr. Stephen J. McConnell
Dr. McConnell is an award-winning writer and media scholar whose research focuses on the intersections of artificial intelligence, digital communication platforms, and human behavior. A key area of his studies involves examining human interactions with AI technologies, from social media feeds to ChatGPT, to assess how we can flourish during exchanges with these powerful tools so we enhance our agency, productivity, and well-being. Informed by this work, he co-developed a new certificate program and course for New York University, Communications & AI, which launched in Spring 2024. Previously, he was an investigative newspaper reporter and founder of a digital marketing company, Guiding Type. His work can be found at https://sjmcconnell.com.