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Coastal Carolina University professors Deborah Walker and Gary Carson will host a discussion titled "Is Your Face in My Space? The Ethics of Digitization" on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 4:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts. A repeat presentation will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. at Croissants Bakery/Café at Myrtle Beach Center. Both events are free and open to the public.

This hour-long talk, part of the University's Jackson Family Center for Ethics and Values' Tea & Ethics series, will focus on the tensions between private life and public life, in the age of electronic social networking. Walker and Carson will addresses the questions: What are the ethics of electronic communication? Do privacy disclosures help or hinder morality? How do individuals and organizations balance individual privacy and organizational responsibility? How do modern, context-specific issues such as “cyber-bullying” and/or “lurking” complicate such ethical considerations?

Walker earned a doctorate in communication from the University of South Florida. She received the University of South Florida's Arthur Bochner Outstanding Doctoral Student Award and was named Distinguished Collegiate Adviser of the Year at Coastal Carolina University in 2008. She teaches communication activism and is faculty adviser to Upsilon Eta, the communication honor society.

Carson earned a Master's of Divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He also has a Ph.D. in communication from the University of South Florida. He served as a pastor for many years and has taught at a number of universities and colleges in the Tampa, Fla., area. Carson's specialty areas are organizational communication, crisis communication, leadership and rhetoric.

The Jackson Center seeks to cultivate and promote awareness in the community of the importance of personal and professional integrity. For more information, contact the director of the center, Claudia McCollough, at 843-349-2440.