This session will bring together an interdisciplinary group of students from diverse majors, as well as young professionals, who are interested in the critical examination of technology’s role in society and its impacts on democratic values, norms, and processes. Participants will discuss what resources are useful for considering the ethical and social implications of new technologies, the big questions they're pondering, and the academic and professional support they need to pursue their interdisciplinary interests.
This session will share advice from seasoned professionals already working at this intersection, including important factors to consider when choosing jobs and career paths. It will also be a chance for students and young professionals with similar interests to learn from and support each other and connect beyond the session.
This will seek to be a resource and opportunity for the students who choose to participate by hopefully connecting them to new colleagues and sharing ideas, questions, and resources.
We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:We plan to share a formal debriefer with professionals and students in the field so there can be continued work on this topic. This includes making our slides and resources publicly available and potentially publishing a blog post about our findings after the session.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:We'll prepare some sample questions to kick-off the discussion, and if the group is quite small ask each individual what brought them to the session. If it's larger, we could employ break-outs with report-backs to the whole group to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to engage.
Shelby is a Master's student at Stanford University and a researcher at the Stanford Internet Observatory. She studies the effects of the online ecosystem on democratic systems and elections.
Leila is a senior at Stanford University majoring in Public Policy with a concentration in Science and Technology Policy, and a current intern at New America's Open Technology Institute.
Adriana Stephan is a master’s in international policy student, specializing in cyber policy. She is currently a researcher with the Stanford Internet Observatory.