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Papers of Simon Rogerson, Emeritus Professor of Computer Ethics

Special Collections is delighted to have recently accepted the papers of DMU Emeritus Professor Simon Rogerson. Simon has worked at DMU since the Polytechnic days, joining as a lecturer in Computing in 1983 after a career in technical software development at Thorn Lighting, Leicester.

In 1990, the School of Computing Sciences launched the BA/BSc in Business Information Systems. Simon was the founding course leader and delivered the Systems Development Management final year module which included a professionalism component covering responsibility, integrity, confidentiality and impartiality. In October 1994, Simon developed a new module, Computer Ethics, which would address the broader social context within which computing resided. An ethics-oriented module had never before been offered in the School of Computing Sciences.

Simon went on to become the founding Director of the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility (CCSR) at DMU, launching it in 1995 at the first ETHICOMP conference which he conceived and co-directed until 2013. He then became Europe’s first Professor in Computer Ethics in 1998 and in 2010 became lifetime Professor Emeritus in Computer Ethics.

Simon's papers span his entire career, from Thorn Lighting in the 1970s to his hot-off-the-press publication, The Evolving Landscape of Ethical Digital Technology. Following advice from staff on the nuances of archival cataloguing, Simon worked on sorting and listing his collection before transferring it to Special Collections, a process which he greatly enjoyed and which inspired not one but three publications! As well as The Evolving Landscape of Ethical Digital Technology Simon is planning two more works which will draw on the important story revealed in his collection.

The papers have been catalogued with reference D/102 and the listing can be viewed here. If you would like to consult any of the materials, please contact archives@dmu.ac.uk to make an appointment - we are open for students, staff, external researchers and members of the public!