Annandale-On-Hudson, N.Y.—The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College announces the release of The Drone Primer: A Compendium of the Key Issues, an online and print publication about the basic facts, issues, questions, and patterns related to unmanned systems in military, civilian, and commercial contexts. The Drone Primer is a comprehensive and concise handbook covering fundamental themes, questions, and facts about drones in technology, history, law, strategy, and culture. The report includes a portfolio of drone art, a first for a publication of this kind. The primer is free and available to the public at http://dronecenter.bard.edu/publication/the-drone-primer/.
The Drone Primer, which is written for a general audience, provides a fact-based, inquiry-driven exposition of this rapidly evolving and highly polemical technology. It corrects what the authors have identified as a lack of straightforward, unbiased reporting on the issue of drones. Understanding the drone is prerequisite to developing the right policies and attitudes to govern its use. In order to understand the drone, it is important to know its history, how it works, and how it is used. The Drone Primer represents the culmination of two years of research, curricular design, and collaboration with an international network of institutions and academics.
About The Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College
The Center for the Study of the Drone is a multidisciplinary research, education, and publication project examining unmanned and autonomous vehicle technology and its implications. By bringing together diverse perspectives in science, social sciences, humanities, and the arts, the Center aims to encourage new creative research, improve the public’s understanding of the drone, and inform public debate and, ultimately, the creation of policy. The Center was founded at Bard College in 2012 by Arthur Holland Michel ’13, Dan Gettinger ’13, and a group of Bard faculty members including Thomas Keenan, Gregory B. Moynahan, Roger Berkowitz, Maria Sachiko Cecire, Peter Rosenblum, and Keith O’Hara.