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Online Event | Thursday, June 6, 2024
What is the role of data in securing human rights and dignity?
The way data is ubiquitously created, captured and utilized through digital systems – including artificial intelligence – has far-reaching implications for the future of democracy.
The second annual Tech for Humanity Summit convened leaders from civil society, government, academia and industry to develop shared visions for a humane and democratic technological future. The full livestream and session timestamps are available below.
The 2024 Tech For Humanity Prize was awarded to Inioluwa Deborah Raji for her research, writing and advocacy around racial and gender bias in data systems, machine learning and artificial intelligence. You can read her acceptance remarks here: Centering Human Relationships in the Age of AI.
Session Timestamps:
(09:36) Welcome from Sylvester Johnson, Associate Vice Provost for Public Interest Technology and Director of the Center for Humanities at Virginia Tech
(17:00) Keynote from Pamela Dube, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Technology (South Africa)
(1:57:30) How Data Impacts Human Rights & Dignity, featuring Rashida Richardson (Mastercard / Northeastern University), Meme Styles (Measure), Sareeta Amrute (Data & Society / The New School), Cordelia Yu (U.S. Government Services Administration). Moderated by Jasmine McNealy (New America / University of Florida).
(4:36:50) Tech for Humanity Prize address from Inioluwa Deborah Raji
(4:47:50) Human Values & Experience in a “Data-fied” World, featuring Maria Abegunde (Indiana University), George Chochos (Vera Institute) and Alfred Ngowi (Central University of Technology, South Africa). Moderated by Sylvester Johnson (Virginia Tech).
(6:35:24) Participant discussion, moderated by Carolina Rossini (UMass-Amherst / The Datasphere Initiative)
Speakers
Dr. Pamela Dube
Central University of Technology (South Africa)
Keynote
Pamela Zibuyile Dube is an accomplished international leader in academia, having attained numerous qualifications from various national and international universities. She is also the first woman to hold the position of Vice-Chancellor and Principal at CUT and the first female Vice-Chancellor in the Free State.
Inioluwa Deborah Raji
Mozilla Foundation / Project Include
Mozilla Foundation / Project Include
Awardee
Deborah Raji is a Mozilla fellow and CS PhD student at University of California, Berkeley, who is interested in questions on algorithmic auditing and evaluation. In the past, she worked closely with the Algorithmic Justice League initiative to highlight bias in deployed AI products. She has also worked with Googleʼs Ethical AI team and been a research fellow at the Partnership on AI and AI Now Institute at New York University working on various projects to operationalize ethical considerations in ML engineering practice. Recently, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and MIT Tech Review 35 Under 35 Innovators.
Sareeta Amrute
The New School / Data and Society
Sareeta Amrute is an Associate Professor of Strategic Design at Parsons, The New School, and is the author of Encoding Race, Encoding Class: Indian IT Workers in Berlin. Founder of the Trustworthy Infrastructures Initiative at Data & Society, Sareeta places a significant emphasis on race and caste as critical analytical lenses for understanding power dynamics within technological domains.
Rashida Richardson
Northeastern University / Mastercard
Rashida Richardson is an Assistant Professor of Law and Political Science at Northeastern University, and a nationally recognized expert in the civil rights implications of artificial intelligence and technology policy. Rashida is currently on leave to serve as Senior Counsel, Artificial Intelligence at Mastercard, and she has previously served at the Federal Trade Commission and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Meme Styles
Measure
Measure
Meme Styles is the Founder and President of Measure, a nonprofit that leverages data to support social justice for marginalized communities. She serves as a 2022-2024 Just Tech Fellow at the Social Science Research Council, focusing on ethical AI initiatives. Meme is also the Vice President of Responsible and Ethical AI for the Austin AI Alliance, where she contributes her expertise in creating fair and inclusive technological solutions.
Cordelia Yu
U.S. General Services Administration
U.S. General Services Administration
Cordelia Yu is a content and design strategist at the intersection of digital service design, institutional change, and decolonization. She is currently the Acting Director for Systems and Experience Design in the Technology Transformation Services new Office of Regulatory and Oversight Systems. She has a penchant for community-driven writing projects, and has worked in journalism, environmental justice and science policy.
Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde
Indiana University
Maria E. Hamilton Abegunde, Ph.D. is a Memory Keeper, poet, ancestral priest in the Yoruba Orisa tradition, healing facilitator, doula, and a Reiki Master. Her research and creative work are grounded in contemplative and ritual practices and respectfully approach the Earth and human bodies as sites of memory, and always with the understanding that memory never dies, is subversive, and can be recovered to transform transgenerational trauma and pain into peace and power. She is the inaugural recipient of the Ph.D. in African American and African Diaspora Studies at Indiana University.
Alfred Ngowi
Central University of Technology (South Africa)
Alfred Ngowi serves as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Innovation, and Engagement at CUT (Cape University of Technology), steering the institution towards a future driven by innovation and global connectivity. With a passion for bridging research with practical solutions, he envisions CUT as a pioneering African university, shaping the future through technological advancements.
George Chochos
Vera Institute
George Chochos is a senior program associate with Vera’s Unlocking Potential initiative, where he provides technical assistance to college-in-prison programs. He joined the Institute in 2020 as a senior federal policy associate to work on Pell reinstatement for incarcerated students.
Before joining Vera, he was the assistant director of program management at Georgetown University, where he served as the program manager of the Georgetown Pivot Program—a first-of-its-kind program offering a certificate in business fundamentals and entrepreneurship to formerly incarcerated DC residents. His journey from prison to the Ivy League has been covered by media outlets, including PBS, NPR, and the New Haven Register.
During a year of critical elections around the globe, the program will explore the following questions:
- How does the collection and use / misuse of data impact human rights and dignity?
- Whose concerns and perspectives on data are typically left out of the picture, and how can we include and empower communities in decision making about data?
- What does it mean to be human in an increasingly “datafied” world?
Agenda
WELCOME & KEYNOTE
Sylvester Johnson, Associate Vice Provost for Public Interest Technology and Director of the Center for Humanities at Virginia Tech
Pamela Dube, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Technology (South Africa)
Pamela Dube, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Technology (South Africa)
PANEL 1
How Data Impacts Human Rights & Dignity, featuring
Rashida Richardson (Mastercard / Northeastern University),
Meme Styles (Measure),
Sareeta Amrute (Data & Society / The New School),
Cordelia Yu (U.S. Government Services Administration). Moderated by Jasmine McNealy (New America / University of Florida).
TECH FOR HUMANITY PRIZE
Remarks from Awardee Inioluwa Deborah Raji.
PANEL 2
Human Values & Experience in a “Data-fied” World, featuring
George Chochos (Vera Institute),
Alfred Ngowi (Central University of Technology) and
Maria Abegunde (Indiana University). Moderated by Sylvester Johnson (Virginia Tech).
FACILITATED DISCUSSION
Moderated by
Carolina Rossini (UMass Amherst / The Datasphere Initiative)