The Flat Earth Society. The Illuminati. QAnon. Sometimes it seems like conspiracy theories have been multiplying exponentially, especially in this time of global pandemic. Why do we gravitate toward conspiracy theories to make sense of the world? What human need do these stories fill? In this program, we’ll explore some conspiracy theories old and new, […]
Jessica J. González is Co-CEO of Free Press, an organization dedicated to “saving net neutrality, achieving affordable internet access for all, uplifting the voices of people of color in the media, challenging old and new media gatekeepers to serve the public interest, ending unwarranted surveillance, defending press freedom and reimagining local journalism.” González has worked […]
As digitization increasingly shapes the scope of U.S. international trade, regulations and policies regarding cross-border data transfers carry significant economic implications. Yet—as the recent invalidation of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) demonstrates—trade, economic competitiveness, and free flows of data can come into tension with privacy and […]
Team AI4Dignity is organizing a two-day collaborative coding event with fact checkers, AI developers and academic researchers to improve machine learning models to flag and label online extreme speech with Public plenary and panels How can AI assisted systems contribute to online extreme speech moderation? How do we envision collaborative endeavors in AI assisted moderation […]
Do you have an idea about how to improve commitment to democratic principles that you would like us to test? Join the challenge! American democracy is under threat. Many Americans are willing to compromise on democratic principles for partisan goals. Some are even willing to resort to violence to help their side win. Extreme dislike […]
As communities continue to rebuild and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, how can they harness the lessons they’ve learned in the past year to build resiliency and prepare for future challenges? At the 2021 Knight Smart Cities Lab, we’ll help community leaders and technologists explore how to leverage federal funding, data and digital technology to […]
In May of 2020, the Navajo Nation reported one of the highest per-capita COVID-19 infection rates in the United States. But even the dire official numbers didn’t tell the full story. The Native American Journalists Association’s Indigenous Investigative Collective brought together three newsrooms to launch a public records campaign to dig into how a mix […]
The news industry in the United States is grappling with many serious and simultaneous challenges, including massive declines in the number of staff and outlets, perceptions of bias and blame for increasing political polarization, and displacement by opinion and even disinformation. Growing numbers of communities lack any local news, and online platforms draw ad revenues […]
This workshop starts from the premise that the problem of online misinformation is a symptom, not a cause. While undeniably problematic, misinformation is the current cause célèbre of a larger class of pathological dynamics that have emerged in our evolving digital media ecosystems and cause harm at different systemic levels. These dynamics are exacerbated by […]
The fourth annual Politics and Computational Social Science (PaCSS) conference will take place virtually August 9 – 13 between 11 am – 3 pm EDT. Register now at http://pacss.eventbrite.com. The registration fee of $20 will help us cover conference expenses. We are dedicated to keeping this conference open and accessible and we ask that you […]