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PIT UNiverse Newsletters
September 2022: PIT Student Contest & PIT-UN Convening
In this issue we share the open call for PIT students to join the Creative Arts Contest and hear from students discussing the PIT-UN Convening.
July 2022: UNConvening Preview & Summer Reading List
Discover the PIT-UN Convening Summer Reading List on Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism. Plus, take a look into the UNConvening Preview.
June 2022: Summer Speaker Series & Convening Preview
Learn more about the PIT Summer Speaker Series while getting a preview into the 2022 Convening. Plus, a look into the PIT Career Fair that connected value-aligned students and employers.
March 2022: PIT-UN Partnership and a New PIT Book
May 2022: Summer Student Video Contest
PIT-UN is inviting students to create a video to show what PIT means to them and get the chance to win a cash prize. Plus, the 2022 PIT-UN Convening is open for registration.
February 2022: New Members & Member Recommitments
April 2022: Network Challenge Evaluation Committee
PIT-UN is looking for experts to assess this year’s Network Challenge (Year 4) proposals by serving on the Evaluation Committee.
January 2022: PIT-UN 2021 Year in Review
The Year in Review issue looks back at the field-building outcomes from PIT-UN members in 2021. In addition, six new 2021 Network Challenges grantees are announced.
Previous Years
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
In this issue, we launch the PIT in Practice Q&A series, which profiles PIT practitioners who are helping define the field to learn about their PIT journey and outlook, in their words. We also look at how the NYU Alliance for Public Interest Technology came about, and hear from trailblazer Fran Bernamn about where the field is headed.
September 2021
This issue is edited by and for students. Learn what it’s like for students working on social impact projects, navigating the path to becoming a PIT practitioner, uncovering the emerging PIT job landscape, building a supportive community on Discord, and charting their own paths through an undefined (mine) field of interdisciplinary coursework, internships, first jobs, or a new mid-career direction.
August 2021
We talk to three members about the launch of pitcases.org, a case studies and resources for the PIT community. We also detail Miami Dade College’s GISEC project, a three-pronged approach to address underrepresentation in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and to enhance technological applications of public interest. Plus, we provide a round up of must-reads and upcoming events from the PIT universe.
July 2021
The newsletter takes a brief pause for July. In the meantime, PIT-UN’s director, Andreen Soley, shares recent developments and project successes from the growing Network.
June 2021
We look at PIT practitioners who are working on a project to illuminate how the racial divide in New York City is itself a public health crisis. We also meet Network member Cal Poly State University, in San Luis Obispo, California, and speak to grantee Katie Cumiskey at The City University of New York’s College of Staten Island. Finally, Editor-in-Chief Karen Bannan talks to Daisy Magnus-Aryitey, co-founder of Code the Dream.
May 2021
Two New America public interest tech practitioners testify before Congress, we meet Network member Worcester Polytechnic Institute and speak to grantees at MIT, and Karen Bannan talks to Network members about their successful collaborations through PIT-UN.
April 2021
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Watch our book talk with the authors of “Power to the Public,” hear from grantees at UC Berkeley, learn about our new member University of Illinois at Chicago, catch up with PIT student leaders at Stanford, and read up on “America’s dirty secret.”
March 2021
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We welcome seven new institutions to PIT-UN, spotlight grantees at the University of Virginia, talk to Moya Bailey about her new book on misogynoir and digital activism, and recap PIT’s event at NYC Open Data Week. Plus, save the date for the 2021 Annual Convening Nov. 1-2!
February 2021
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#BlackTechFutures co-founder Fallon Wilson discusses fixing the leaky pipeline for Black students in STEM, we hear from grantees at Georgetown Law, spotlight the University of California, Santa Cruz, and learn about taking the “slow lane” in problem-solving from PIT fellow Sascha Haselmayer.
January 2021
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Coding it Forward co-founder Chris Kuang shares his “Digital Corps” proposal, we profile grantees at The University of the South, turn our spotlight to Nazareth College, hear from former Presidential Innovation Fellow Clarice Chan about “corporate civic responsibility,” and sit down with TechCongress founder Travis Moore to learn about the Congressional Innovation Fellowship.
December 2020
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We recap several panels from the Annual Convening, including discussions on racial equity in PIT, pursuing a PIT career, and insights from our Network Challenge grantees.
November 2020
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We preview the 2020 PIT-UN Virtual Convening, spotlight The George Washington University’s PIT programming, talk to new 2020 Network Challenge grantees, and hear from the founders of Impactful.
October 2020
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A look at policy questions around facial recognition, the public interest potential of natural language processing, election integrity, and more.
September 2020
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This month, our Launch Pad feature story examines the many ways your university can work with local governments, providing tips to help you do so more successfully.
The PIT List
A roundup of the latest public interest technology happenings from the PIT universe.
UPCOMING EVENTS
October
- [VIRTUAL] Book Talk: Black Skinhead & Meme Wars. Monday, October 3, 12-1 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Ann Arbor, MI/VIRTUAL] A conversation with Kade Crockford about technology, surveillance, and civil liberties. Monday, October 3, 4-5 pm EDT
- [VIRTUAL] CHOKEPOINT CAPITALISM: how to beat Big Tech and Big Content to get artists paid. Rebecca Giblin and Cory Doctorow on how Big Tech and Big Content captured creative markets, and how we’ll win them back. Tuesday, October 4, 12-1 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Princeton, NJ/VIRTUAL] CITP Seminar: Elie Bou-Zied - An Equitable Technological Future for Cities. Tuesday, October 4, 12:30-1:30 pm EDT
- [VIRTUAL] PIT Colloquium Series Fall 2022. Tuesday, October 4, 3-4:30 pm MST
- [VIRTUAL] CITRIS Research Exchange: Verónica Ahumada on Inclusive Robotics. Wednesday, October 5, 12-1 pm PDT
- [IN-PERSON - Seattle, WA] Tech Policy Lab Distinguished Lecture with Danielle Citron - The Fight for Privacy: Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age. Wednesday, October 5, 6:30-7:30 pm PDT
- [IN-PERSON - Washington, DC/VIRTUAL] Creating Justice, Trust, and Inclusivity in Climate Policymaking. Friday, October 7, 9-10 am EDT
- [VIRTUAL] Series on Justice and Content Governance: Infrastructures, Assemblages, and Ecosystems. Friday, October 7, 9:30-11 am PDT
- [IN-PERSON - Chicago/VIRTUAL] 2022 Distinguished Speaker Series: Bo Li (UIUC) – Trustworthy Federated Learning: Robustness, Fairness, Privacy, and Their Interconnections. Friday, October 7, 12-1:30 pm CDT
- [IN-PERSON - Pittsburgh/VIRTUAL] Preparing the Workforce of the Future: Keynote Presentation and Panel Discussion. Friday, October 7, 3-5 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Ann Arbor, MI/VIRTUAL] Michigan Interactive Social Computing Talk: Daniel Epstein. Michigan Interactive and Social Computing (MISC) research group. Monday, October 10, 11:45 am-1 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Berkeley, CA/VIRTUAL] Author Meets Critics: “Voices in the Code”. Monday, October 10, 12-1:30 pm PDT
- [VIRTUAL] Data at the End of the World: A Book Talk with Brian Michael Murphy. Harvard University Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Tuesday, October 11, 12:30-1:30 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Princeton, NJ/VIRTUAL] CITP Seminar: Rebecca Weiss – Participatory User Data Collection and Potential Futures for Platform Accountability: The Case of Mozilla Rally. Tuesday, October 11, 12:30-1:30 pm EDT
- [VIRTUAL] James Baldwin Lecture Series: “The Limits Of The Quantitative Approach To Discrimination.” Princeton University Department of African American Studies. Tuesday, October 11, 5-6:30 pm EDT
- [VIRTUAL] CITRIS Research Exchange: Ricardo de Castro on Sustainable Agtech. Wednesday, October 12, 12-1 pm PDT
- [IN-PERSON - Berkeley, CA/VIRTUAL] The Political Lives of Information: Information and the Production of Development in India. Wednesday, October 12, 4:10-5:30 pm PDT
- [VIRTUAL] Rumors, Mis- and Disinformation About the 2022 Midterm Elections: A Conversation with the UW Center for an Informed Public. University of Washington Information School. Wednesday, October 12, 5-6:15 pm PDT
- [VIRTUAL] Should Donald Trump Be Returned to Social Media? Friday, October 14, 9 am PDT
- [IN-PERSON - Berkeley, CA/VIRTUAL] Who Broke Mechanical Turk? University of California Berkeley. Friday, October 14, 3:10-5 pm PDT
- [IN-PERSON - Miami, FL] Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the U.S. Intelligence Community. Florida International University Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy. Tuesday, October 18, 2-4 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Tempe, AZ] Tea, Tech and Tarot: Imagining the future of human(e) technology. Arizona State University. Tuesday, October 18, 1:30-2:30 pm MST
- [VIRTUAL] Series on Justice and Content Governance: Restorative Justice Workshop. Friday, October 21, 9:30-11 am PDT
- [IN-PERSON - Princeton, NJ] CITP Seminar: Eszter Hargittai - The Black Box of Information Access: Measuring People’s Algorithm Skills. Tuesday, October 25, 12:30-1:30 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Berkeley, CA/VIRTUAL] Trustworthy Information Lecture Series: Jeff Hancock. Wednesday, October 26, 4:10-5:30 pm PDT
November
- [VIRTUAL] The Decade of Digital Inclusion 2022. UC Berkeley CEGA, the Marconi Society, and IBSI. Wednesday, November 2-Thursday, November 3
- [IN-PERSON - Ann Arbor, MI] STS Speaker. Compass to Sentinel: The Automation of Self-tracking Technology. University of Michigan Science, Technology, and Society Program. Monday, November 7, 4-5:30 pm EDT
- [IN-PERSON - Princeton, NJ/VIRTUAL] CITP Seminar: Kathy Kleiman - Author of Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer. Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy. Tuesday, November 8, 12:30-1:30 pm
- [VIRTUAL] Regional Initiative for Cybersecurity Education and Training (RICET). Wednesday, November 16, 12-4 pm EST
December
- [IN-PERSON - NYC/VIRTUAL] DSI Distinguished Speaker: Matthew J. Salganik, Princeton. Columbia University Data Science Institute. Monday, December 5, 11 am-12 pm EST
BOOKS
- Power to the Public (Tara Dawson McGuinness and Hana Schank)
- We the Possibility (Mitchell Weiss)
- A Civic Technologist’s Practice Guide (Cyd Harrell)
- Industry Unbound: The Inside Story of Privacy, Data, and Corporate Power (Ari Ezra Waldman)
- AI Ethics (Mark Coeckelbergh)
- System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot (Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami, and Jeremy M. Weinstein)
ADDITIONAL READING
- [Summer 2022] Latanya Sweeney is exploring the clashes between technology and society. Learn about PIT-UN grantee Latanya Sweeney’s trailblazing work making “major discoveries in the fields of privacy and algorithmic fairness.”
- [September 7, 2022] Leveling Up Diversity and Inclusion: “Rigs of Color” Works to Expand Representation in Video Game Industry. Learn about PIT-UN grantee Farley Chery’s work creating lasting change in the video game and animation industries.
- [August 24, 2022] Recommendations for the U.S. National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct in the Technology Sector.
- [August 12, 2022] To Advance Digital Security, Advocates Should Look to the Climate Movement. Ann Cleaveland, Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, discusses how digital security advocates can draw on three plays from the climate movement to advance their own work.
- [August 10, 2022] AI’s Redress Problem: Recommendations to Improve Consumer Protection from Artificial Intelligence. A White Paper authored by Ifejesu Ogunleye, from UC Berkeley’s Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity, providing recommendations for policymakers, corporations, and civil society organizations to create pathways for affected individuals or groups to seek redress when they are adversely affected by AI.
- [July 28, 2022] The Mixed Success of COVID Exposure Notification Apps. A brief on the efficacy of COVID exposure notification apps from data journalist Dana Amihere.
- [July 19, 2022] Public Interest Technology to the Rescue. Hana Schank and Tara McGuinness, co-authors of book Power to the Public, discuss how the core principles of public interest technology can better government service delivery.
- Justice by the Numbers. Learn how an innovative partnership between lawyers for the ACLU of Massachusetts and public interest technologist Paola Villarreal resulted in the single largest dismissal of wrongful convictions in US history.
- Transformative Justice and Knowledge Production in Tech. Techno-capitalism is renegotiating the social contract but knowledge about technologies is too often sequestered behind the locked doors of industry. Given these obstacles, how can researchers both inside and outside of tech companies do the difficult work of research, critique, and resistance? Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, co-founder of UCLA’s C2I2 and Dr. Timnit Gebru, founder of Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research (DAIR), join J Khadijah Abdurahman to discuss these questions further.
- On the Evidence: Ensuring Equity as Wastewater Testing Matures in the United States. On this episode of On the Evidence, guests Dr. Na’Taki Osborne Jelks, Dr. Otakuye Conroy-Ben, and Aparna Keshaviah discuss the challenges of and opportunities for ensuring an equitable approach to wastewater monitoring, and the importance of representation from historic Black neighborhoods, Indigenous communities, and rural communities.
- Forward Thinking on the social contract in a postpandemic world with Minouche Shafik and Andrew Sheng. In this episode guest interviewer Jonathan Woetzel talks with two leading economists spanning Europe and Asia about the state of the social contract that underpins society.
PIT Resources
A curated list of public interest technology resources from the PIT universe.
- PITCases.org, a PIT case study platform.
- Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
- PIT Open Educational Resources (City University of New York)
- Instructional case studies (The Tech Policy Lab at University of Washington)
- Human Contexts and Ethics Toolkit (University of California, Berkeley)
- Ethics, Society, and Technology Hub (Stanford University)
- Policy Innovation Lab Playbook (Carnegie Mellon University)
- AI Litigation Database (The George Washington University)
- Technology Ethics in Action: Critical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. A Special Issue of the Journal of Social Computing.
- Ensuring Scholarly Access to Government Archives and Records: A Collaboration of Virginia Tech and the National Archives and Records Administration. (Virginia Tech)
- The Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics - Clinic Resources. (UC Berkeley, MIT, Indiana University, University of Alabama, UGA, Rochester Institute of Technology)
- Stanford Cardinal Careers PIT Edition, April 2022. (Stanford University)
- Penn State University launched in Fall 2022 an interdisciplinary 1 year Master of Engineering, Law, and Policy degree (MELP) for professionals with a STEM background. The MELP degree is designed to integrate three main topic areas within an interdisciplinary core: a technical depth in systems thinking and systems design, a fundamental understanding of legal and regulatory frameworks, and the skills to navigate science and technology policy. MELP’s interdisciplinary core fosters academic, research, and outreach engagement of MELP students with law and policy students through experiential learning opportunities in public interest technology.
- An interdisciplinary undergraduate major in data science and social systems at Stanford University, beginning in September 2022, will equip the next generation of leaders to work at the intersection of statistics, computation, and the social sciences on important social problems such as poverty and inequality, polarization, criminal justice, and urban development.
Fellowships
- [Apply by October 14] Morgridge Acceleration Program (MAP) Fellowship. The MAP Fellowship matches nonprofit executives, called MAP Mentors, with emerging leaders, called MAP Fellows, looking to create a positive impact while developing professional skill sets and networks. MAP Fellows collaborate with peers and industry leaders through the program to challenge the status quo, foster new and meaningful connections, and spark the sustainable change needed to achieve a profound and lasting impact.
- [Apply by November 1] Hack.Diversity Technology Fellowship for Minorities. Hack.Diversity is an 8-month career development program for Black, Latinx, or otherwise underrepresented tech talent to launch and advance careers as software engineers, IT professionals, and data analysts in the Boston innovation economy. Hack.Diversity Fellows receive benefits including technical project experience, job application, and technical interview skills, industry exposure and network building, mentorship from industry professionals, access to interview at paid summer internship opportunities, and more. The priority deadline is September 1st for an early decision by October.
- [Apply by November 4 if possible] Data & Democracy Postdoctoral Fellowship. The Data Science Institute (DSI), the Department of Computer Science, and the Center for Effective Government (CEG) at the University of Chicago invite applications for Postdoctoral Scholars who wish to advance cutting-edge interdisciplinary data-driven approaches, methods, and applications in research related to data, disinformation, digital media and the foundations of our modern democracy. The application period for the Data and Democracy Postdoctoral Scholars program opens September 9th; reviews will begin on November 4th and continue until positions are filled. The fellowship’s earliest start date is August 1, 2023.
Unspecified Rolling Internships:
- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Outreach Intern, Congressional Tech Project (DC, remote)
- JPL Internships, NASA (Pasadena, CA, remote)
- Student Internships, The Institute for Future Intelligence, (remote)
- Internships, GlenWorld (remote)
- Science Communications Internships, NASA (remote, various locations)
Additional Opportunities:
The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan invites applications from well-qualified individuals for a tenure-track or tenured faculty position focused on racial justice in science and technology policy. Applicants should have expertise focused on structural and other forms of racism in science, technology, and associated policies, and interest in how the tools of public policy and democracy can be used to create racially just and equitable science and technology and/or how science and technology can be wielded to address structural racism. This position is part of a new faculty cluster focused on Racial Justice and Technology, which is part of a university-wide faculty hiring initiative in anti-racism.
First consideration will be given to applications received by November 1, 2022, but applications will be considered until the position has been filled. Interested applicants may upload their application materials to: http://apply.interfolio.com/114157
- Georgetown Law’s Institute for Technology Law and Policy is looking for a new Executive Director. We are hoping to find someone who has spent time in civil society looking out for the rights and interests of individuals, particularly marginalized/subordinated people. There is a heavy dose of management and fundraising in this job, but there is also a lot of space for the ED to advance their own policy agenda. The ED is able to interact with our enormous tech law faculty, along with students and alums. We have also built some pretty deep ties to the rest of Georgetown, so the door is open to build cool new projects with computer scientists, philosophers, i-school faculty, public policy experts, etc.
- The Runway Startup Postdoc Program is part business school, part research institution, and part startup incubator. It has supported close to 30 PhDs launch their startups. Startup Postdocs arrive with ideas for unproven products and markets that require time and specialized guidance to develop. These startups demand more than a few months to launch – they need a bit of a “runway.” Cornell Tech provides a package valued at $175,000 in year one and $102,000 in year two, that includes a salary, research budget, housing allowance, office space, and academic and business mentorship.
- This year, we are looking for an inaugural Public Interest Technology (PiTech) Runway Startup Postdoc who will put social impact at the forefront of their venture’s mission. A PiTech startup is audacious about finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, has a mission of addressing public needs or systemic injustices, and may not lend itself to a traditional, commercial business model. All you need is an idea to submit an application. While the application is closed for traditional ventures, please reach out to pitech-info@tech.cornell.edu
with a short paragraph expressing your interest and share your CV. There is no application fee required since this is a postdoctoral appointment at Cornell University. We are currently considering applications for both the fall 2022 and fall 2023 start. Visit our website to learn more. - A member of the PIT-UN family from Georgetown University is researching different approaches to teaching digital technology in schools of public policy and law. She wants to ensure that experiences, approaches, and perspectives from the PIT-UN network are represented. If you’d like to provide input, fill this out.
Submit A Project
Promote your public interest technology case study, project, or process on PITcases.org. We are always looking for case narratives, syllabuses, and other resources to add to our growing collection.
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