MozFest House Amsterdam

Dialogues & Debates | We are Data Keynote with Mona Chalabi
2024-06-12 , Main Stage - Galerij

Mona Chalabi, journalist and keynote speaker is joining us at MozFest House Amsterdam!

Her work has earned her a Pulitzer Prize, a fellowship at the British Science
Association, an Emmy nomination, and recognition from the Royal Statistical
Society.

Her work is rooted in humanizing data and unveiling statistical research around social and economic justice issues including police violence, viral transmission, the cost of dying, and more.

At MozFest House Amsterdam, you will hear directly from Mona about the importance and urgency of distilling statistical data, and data in general, into humanized information to make visible social and economic injustice.

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J. Bob Alotta is a veteran movement builder and executive working at the intersection of technology and communities.

Prior to joining Mozilla, Bob led the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, a global foundation based in New York City that provides critical resources to LGBTQI+ activists and artists around the world. Over eight years, they quintupled the global footprint of the organization which makes more grants in the global majority than any other funder in their sector. Bob specifically strengthened movements by adding extra support for digital security, data use, and internet freedom to otherwise “non-tech” grants. As chair of the Global Philanthropy Project, Bob helped secure the largest bilateral and multilateral investments to date for LGBTQI+ communities worldwide. Bob was an early architect of the “feminist internet” and the creator of CommsLabs, bringing queer human rights defenders and technologists together. Bob builds bridges between the LGBTQI+ and digital rights worlds.

Now serving as Senior Vice President of Global Programs at Mozilla Foundation, Bob brings their experience as a movement strategist to leverage the organizations’ programs to shift power back to people instead of “big” tech. Through the lens of trustworthy AI, Bob has launched the African Innovation Mradi, the Data Futures Lab, the Mozilla Technology Fund, the Creative Media Awards, and a second phase of the Responsible Computing Challenge, as well as myriad fellowship and grant-making cycles. Bob helps Mozilla fellows and awardees become stronger community organizers and leaders; and grows the diversity and geographical scope across our programs, with an emphasis on expanding our work outside North America. Bob serves as the executive producer for both MozFest and of the award-winning podcast, IRL

Mona Chalabi is an award-winning writer and illustrator. Using words, color
and sound, Mona rehumanizes data to help us understand our world and the
way we live in it.
Mona once worked directly with the type of data that dictates so much in
our lives in both the private and nonprofit industry before crafting her own
approach in journalism. Over the past decade she has researched genetics,
police violence, viral transmission, the cost of dying and so, so much more
(including average testicle size).
Using bold colorful drawings, viewers are invited to think about the limits and
possibilities of what we can and cannot know. By rehumanizing data that
feels distant and resensitizing us to data that feels close, Mona provides you
with a vocabulary to express that thing you’re experiencing while also letting
you know you’re not alone. Hopefully, that’s an empowering thing.
Mona works beside windows, sometimes in her hometown, London but
usually in Brooklyn where she is writing a book about the ways we talk about
money. She is also the executive producer and creative director of an
upcoming animated TV show with Ramy Youssef, A24, and Amazon Studios.
Her writing and illustrations have been featured in The New York Times, The
New Yorker, and The Guardian, where she is currently the data editor. Her
video, audio, and production work has been featured on Netflix, NPR, the
BBC, and National Geographic.