Social Science Research Council Research AMP Just Tech

Social Media’s Role in the US Election | All Tech is Human

The 2016 US election made it clear that social media companies play a profound role in how voters are informed and influenced. What role should social media companies be playing in the upcoming US election? Join us for a timely and important discussion with two leading experts and YOUR questions in this highly-interaction livestream conversation. […]

The Common Room: Managing Political Difference on the Virtual Campus | PEN America

The 2020 general election is unlike any other. Understanding how campuses can facilitate respectful and productive dialogue across political differences will be key during this tense time, but doing so virtually presents additional challenges. What can faculty, administrators, and staff do now to prepare for the difficult dialogues that lie ahead? Join Jonathan Friedman, director […]

CSMaP Seminar Series: Moving closer or further apart? | CSMaP

Journalists and pundits have described political polarization as one of the foremost problems of our time. It has been ascribed to trends such as changing party compositions, racial and ethnic divisions, and the rise of partisan cable news. This seminar will present new research on social media and political polarization in both the United States […]

We have seen the enemy…and he is us: When engineering culture collides with human rights advocacy online | PCMLP Global Media Policy Seminar Series

In this talk, I explain what happens when human rights advocates try to change computer code, instead of legal code to protect human rights online. There is a growing chorus of policymakers and regulators calling on the tech sector to respect human rights and engage civil society, but very little empirical knowledge of what happens […]

Where, What, and Who is Digital Public Infrastructure? | Stanford PACS

Imagine living in a society in which most of the land and buildings available for meeting and working were owned by a few for-profit corporations. Churches, governments, groups of friends, schools, nonprofits, and grassroots social movements would each have to reserve space on — or have a key to — a privately-owned facility, often on […]

Where, What, and Who is Digital Public Infrastructure? | Stanford PACS

Imagine living in a society in which most of the land and buildings available for meeting and working were owned by a few for-profit corporations. Churches, governments, groups of friends, schools, nonprofits, and grassroots social movements would each have to reserve space on — or have a key to — a privately-owned facility, often on […]

When good is the enemy of great: Rural broadband in a time of COVID | PCMLP Global Media Policy Seminar Series

With the global onset of COVID-19, broadband access has never been more vital to our economies, democracies, and social well-being. The pandemic, however, painfully demonstrated the extent to which people in the United States are un- and under-connected. At least 42 million Americans lack access to broadband because of infrastructure availability, while upwards of 162 […]

‘Understanding Digital Racism After COVID-19’ with Professor Lisa Nakamura | Oxford Internet Institute

The Oxford Internet Institute hosts Lisa Nakamura, lisanakamura.net, Director, Digital Studies Institute, Gwendolyn Calvert Baker Collegiate Professor, Department of American Culture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Professor Nakamura is the founding Director of the Digital Studies Institute at the University of Michigan, and a writer focusing on digital media, race, and gender. We are living […]

Book Launch: Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society | University of Toronto

On November 10, Ronald J. Deibert, renowned technology and security expert, will discuss the disturbing influence and impact of the internet on politics, the economy, the environment, and humanity. In his new book ‘Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society’, Deibert will explore how the expansion of society towards a system of surveillance capitalism has […]

The Common Room: Confronting Threats and Harassment Against Faculty | PEN America

Hate and harassment have proliferated online in recent years, posing serious threats to college and university faculty. Women, BIPOC, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community continue to be disproportionately targeted and intimidated, posing a threat to the equitable exchange of ideas in the public sphere. Many faculty have been left to fend for themselves, with […]