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Sarah Mosseri is a sociologist specializing in labor, inequality, and the hidden dynamics of workplace culture, with a PhD from the University of Virginia and a Courtesy Fellowship with Johns […]
The recent increase of airborne hazards—caused by, for example, wildfire smoke or industrial pollutants—has coincided with the proliferation of access to air quality monitoring data. However, having access to this data and, in particular, the air quality index (AQI), does not necessarily mean we understand the information given. Here, Just Tech Fellow Todd Whitney provides a guide to better understand air quality data and how to make it work for you.
Generative AI is becoming more ubiquitous across industries and services, including mental health and crisis counseling. Here, 2024 Data Fluencies Grantee Stephen Neville reflects on the proliferation of generative AI in counseling services, which has happened with little public debate or consideration for how it may impact people seeking help. He argues for greater transparency, accountability, and temperance from organizations that provided crisis support regarding their use of AI in counseling.
Michaela A. Ternasky-Holland is a Peabody-nominated and Emmy Award-winning director who specializes in creating impactful stories using immersive and interactive technology. She is one of the first directors to create […]
Jaylexia Clark is a Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Information Technology and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Recently, she graduated from the […]
Anna Beers studies the activities of political online communities and particularly the social media influencers that act within them. While she focuses on quantitative methods and particularly network science, her […]
Recently Google introduced a feature in its search engine that algorithmically creates summaries of one’s search results. Though it could be viewed as a useful tool, researcher Anna Beers argues this feature’s unsuitable safeguards allow for the spread of disinformation. In this essay, she examines how these algorithmically created search summaries introduce disinformation from biased and anti-trans sources on searches about transgender identity.
Emma Vossen is a writer and researcher with a PhD from the University of Waterloo. She is the coauthor and coeditor of the book Feminism in Play (Palgrave, 2018) and […]
On July 22–23, 2024, the SSRC’s Data Fluencies Project hosted a workshop called “Drilling Down to the Data: Navigating Data Politics at the Heart of AI Policy,” bringing together an interdisciplinary group of researchers, technologists, and practitioners to address crucial questions of data politics that concern AI policy, with the aim to bridge the gap between conversations in policy circles and the concrete effects of the technology in local communities.
Deborah Raji is an advocate and researcher dedicated to addressing bias in artificial intelligence. Her work focuses on the social implications of AI and ensuring ethical practices in AI development. […]
Amba Kak has spent the last 15 years designing and advocating for technology policy in the public interest, ranging from network neutrality to privacy to algorithmic accountability, across government, industry, […]