A symposium on the powerful contributions of Black media-makers in this moment organized by Sarah J. Jackson, featuring Gene Demby, Maori Holmes, Stacy-Marie Ishmael, Jelani Cobb, Wesley Lowery, Chenjerai Kumanyika, Errin Haines and more. More detail forthcoming.
Misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic continues to create confusion and contention along scientific and political lines. In this conversation, Berkeley faculty will help us understand the nature of misinformation in order to assess, evaluate and engage more effectively with the information resources we consult. They will discuss some of the reasons for the rapid spread […]
Digital technologies present a dilemma. They have become indispensable for learning skills, building knowledge, working, playing, and socially connecting. The COVID pandemic has accelerated our reliance on them but also highlighted problems that extend beyond persistent disparities related to access and algorithmic bias. There is mounting concern that these technologies, and the screens on which […]
The IEEE International Conference on Big Data 2020 (IEEE BigData 2020) provides a leading forum for disseminating the latest research in Big Data. IEEE Big Data brings together leading researchers and developers from academia, research and the industry from all over the world to facilitate innovation, knowledge transfer and technical progress in addressing the 5 […]
The 2020 election may be over, but the debate over the role of technology in the election has only just begun. The pervasiveness of voting-related disinformation before and after the election, alongside new platform policies to combat it, has brought to the fore, as in 2016, questions about how social media and the online information […]
Joining government brings incredible opportunities to solve hard problems, fix under-resourced systems, and help people at a scale no other sector can. It’s incredibly rewarding work, but also incredibly challenging. The landscape is different. The rules are, too. As new waves of technologists raise their hands to consider government service, we’ll unpack some of those […]
Please join us for “What do the data tell us about election 2020?” a panel that will feature: Erika Franklin Fowler (Wesleyan University), Jill Lepore (Harvard University), Solomon Messing (ACRONYM), and Kate Starbird (University of Washington). Each panelist will speak about their research into topics such as the twentieth-century origins of election-related data science, the […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has tested our modern public health infrastructure like never before. Why have some nations successfully contained the virus, while others have failed? How can we use these insights to better prepare for and prevent future pandemics? On January 12-13, 2021, join health, science, and policy leaders at the Futures Forum on Preparedness […]
Society has been transformed by a technology revolution and its 24/7 influence on so many aspects of our reality. The COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide movement for racial justice have made it even clearer how essential these tools are for our daily lives. Silicon Valley has clearly followed through on its promise to change the […]
Trump supporters’ storming of the Capitol, as Trump refused to concede his loss in the 2020 presidential election, underscored the significant challenges confronting U.S. democracy. The presence of armed, violent vigilante groups roaming city streets, state capitals and university campuses, with the president’s blessing, affects every American, including and beyond those who are directly targeted […]
The recent decision by Big Tech to ban prominent politicians, including President Donald Trump, and enforce strict content moderation against hate speech, mis/disinformation, and violence is a new precedent that could prove consequential for the future of online speech—and for the future of democracy. Join Belfer Center’s Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project as it […]
After a mob stormed the Capitol, major technology platforms acted nearly in unison – some said belatedly, others tyrannically – to “deplatform” President Trump and many other right-wing users of their services. How did we arrive at this unprecedented action, what’s at stake for our democracy, and what does this mean for the future? On […]
Social media and digital technologies have come under fire for their contribution to the development of the groups that ultimately stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Following the insurrection attempt, Facebook, Twitter, Google and other major platforms have banned or suspended President Trump’s accounts. Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores, while […]
Join us for a discussion on how ethnographic theory and ethnographic practice are incorporated in civic technology projects in the US. A small panel will discuss the ways that qualitative research, political power and technology meet in government internet projects. Dr Andrew Schrock, OII alum and author of “Civic Tech: Making Technology Work for People”, […]
Innovation and technological advancements are continuous, evolving products of knowledge consolidation, human ingenuity, and adaptive capacity. New forms of communication, banking, farming, and transportation technology have transformed the physical and social landscape of a rapidly globalizing world. Innovation often emerges in the face of a challenge, when the status quo fails to adequately meet the […]
Computers, Privacy and Data Protection 2021 – Enforcing Rights in a Changing World
The Coronavirus pandemic is on the verge of a turning point, as the rollout of vaccination programs worldwide brings hope that the disease may finally start to recede. However, public confidence in vaccine programmes cannot be taken for granted: and in many countries the number of people willing to take a vaccine is lower than […]
Dr. Apryl A. Williams and Dr. Allissa V. Richardson address the long-standing history of White vigilante-style surveillance of Black people in public spaces, exploring the role of White women in extending the power of the state to surveil and regulate the movement of Black people in public – tying in Karen actors with historical examples such as Emmitt […]
Esteemed faculty from five disciplines at Penn will come together to unpack the myriad policies, messages, and conditions that led to the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, as well as explore how we move forward as a country. This 90-minute panel discussion — moderated by Dean Erika James of the Wharton School with a […]
Join the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center and Digital Forensic Research Lab on Wednesday, February 3, at 12:00 p.m. ET for a special “GeoTech Hour” on the role that social media platforms play in enabling modern mis- and disinformation. In an age of hyper-connectivity and expansive digitization, social platforms play an outsized role in public life, serving as a sort of infrastructure […]
Join Joan Donovan, PhD for a Big, If True Webinar on community understandings of networked hate groups and conspiracies with guests Brandi Collins-Dexter, Molly Conger, Emily Gorcenski, Kathleen Belew, PhD, and Whitney Phillips, PhD. Our panelists will discuss: how can journalists contextualize hate movements for a broader public without amplifying their agendas? How can civil […]
In the wake of the lies told at the January 6 rally that resulted in the assault on our nation’s Capitol building, Ian Rosenberg’s new book “The Fight for Free Speech” provides an urgent perspective on the limits and protections of the First Amendment. From taking a knee to Nazi protests, from MAGA rallies to […]
Corporations and governments alike continue to struggle with technology policy, especially under the strain of a global pandemic which struck at a moment when the Internet is mature enough to alleviate many of COVID’s harms while also facing novel geopolitical challenges to its design and use. These turbulences have not just tested every facet of […]
This talk discusses the “secondary contagion” of racism (Chen et al 2020) and other forms of social stigmatization unleashed by the coronavirus outbreak in global context. I begin with a critique of how cultural biases in journalistic reporting and official speech have often reinforced racial prejudices and hierarchies and contributed to the stigmatization and shaming […]
Speaker: Joan Donovan Conspiracy theories and other false claims have always been part of our discourse, even (and perhaps especially) our politics. But modern technologies seem to have changed the scale of the problem, with profound implications for our culture and for democracy. This series focuses on the role of technology in promoting mis- and […]
Ever wondered how the industry got to where it is today? The answer likely lies in tech. Overview: At this exclusive panel event, we host thought-leaders from a specific industry — such as finance, food, or art — to explore new intersections between their field and technology. Together, we discuss how they’ve been impacted by […]
Panel 1: “News, Empire and the Making of Global Information Industries” Tuesday, February 16th Panel 2: “Telecommunications– Infrastructure, Capitalism, and Empire” Tuesday, March 9th Panel 3: “Global Governance– Regulating International Communications in Decolonization and Globalization” Tuesday, March 23rd Panel 4: “Knowledge Regimes– the Past, Present, and Future of Communications in/for Decolonization and Development” Tuesday, April […]