(Photo by iStock/metamorworks)
The 2021 Data on Purpose (DoP) conference featured data scientists, researchers, policy makers, leaders of nonprofits and foundations, private industry professionals, and other experts sharing the latest research- and practice-based insights into digital technologies that can strengthen our democracy and civil society. SSIR's editors recapped the virtual conference and assembled a list of related articles.
Skip to a Session Recap
- Pre-Conference Session: Syndemic Crises, Philanthropy, and Civil Society – A Discussion of Blueprint 2021
- Session 1: For the Good of Society: Is Regulating the Internet the Answer?
- Session 2: Making and Breaking Video: Digital Media Manipulation and Society
- Session 3: Disinformation, Misinformation, and Our Digital Information Ecosystem
- Session 4: Case Study: Political and Social Movements in the Context of 2020
- Session 5: Case Study: Using Digital Tools to Build Worker Power
- Session 6: More Than a Movement: How Young Leaders and Activists Are Creating Real Change
- Session 7: How Not to Use Data Like a Racist: A Seven-Step Framework for Ethics and Equity in Data
- Session 8: Democracy and Digital Technology
- Session 9: The Digital Divide: Why It Still Exists and How We Can Close the Gap
- Session 10: AI Will Change the World. Who Will Change AI?
- Session 11: Data Analytics: Bringing Justice and Equity to the Process
- Session 12: Software and Data Are the Future of Social Action
Pre-Conference Session: Syndemic Crises, Philanthropy, and Civil Society – A Discussion of Blueprint 2021
Lucy Bernholz of the Stanford PACS Digital Civil Society Lab, Jara Dean-Coffey of the Equitable Evaluation Initiative, Mario Lugay of Justice Funders, and Divya Siddarth of Microsoft discussed the challenges philanthropy and civil society face in the midst of several intertwined crises, the changes needed, and ways forward.
How should civil society reconsider its contributions to positive change? Join a Data on Purpose (https://t.co/9WsUTxVZt5) pre-conference discussion with @p2173, @jdeancoffey, @mariobasa & @divyasiddarth. Follow #SSIRdata for tweets on this year's event: https://t.co/cMf0mkb0GU
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 16, 2021
"What we're interested in is actually reclaiming the implicitness of the current Western knowledge framework, which is pretty white, pretty male, highly capitalistic." —@jdeancoffey with @equitableeval and @theluminaregrp at #SSIRdata
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 16, 2021
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Go Deeper:
- Democracy and Philanthropy
- The Invention of Digital Civil Society (Learn more about subscribing to SSIR)
- The Ethics of Designing Digital Infrastructure (Learn more about subscribing to SSIR)
Session 1: For the Good of Society: Is Regulating the Internet the Answer?
Marietje Schaake of Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center and Stanford’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and Kelly Born of the Hewlett Foundation discussed the relationship between democracy, the internet, and social media in today’s global society and the different paths to protecting their misuse by bad actors.
"In terms of platforms trying to improve their content moderation or algorithms, we've seen, especially in the US, real political challenges. We've also seen economic challenges." — @kellykborn discussing internet regulation at #SSIRData with @MarietjeSchaake. pic.twitter.com/I7t20F1fna
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
Self-regulation by tech platforms has "pretty much run its course. Incident after incident shows the extent to which that has failed to deliver." — @MarietjeSchaake (@StanfordCyber, @StanfordHAI, @CyberPeaceInst) speaking at #SSIRData. https://t.co/PMWCKuPMIn
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
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Session 2: Making and Breaking Video: Digital Media Manipulation and Society
Maneesh Agrawala of Stanford University presented several recent projects that aim to facilitate the creation of video content and explored the potential for the misuse of the technologies.
“We’ve been thinking about...how deep-fakes could impact society, and we were worried. ... But these are tools that are designed to facilitate the creation of stories ... and can create human culture. The problem is when these tools are misused." —@magrawala at #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/lxavmJrJvU
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
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Session 3: Disinformation, Misinformation, and Our Digital Information Ecosystem
Katherine Maher of the Wikimedia Foundation, Jesse Lehrich of Accountable Tech, Nick Pickles of Twitter, and Samantha Bradshaw of Stanford University’s Internet Observatory and Digital Civil Society Lab discussed how to fight the spread of disinformation.
"Wikipedia editors have been very good at developing policies that allow us to weed out misinformation because of our commitment to reliable sources and verifiable facts." —@krmaher (@Wikimedia) at #SSIRDatahttps://t.co/HjhdGO2KSM pic.twitter.com/6Uq4EFVw9v
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
"Insofar as there are solutions, they are nuanced and complicated, and it's not necessarily the folks putting forth the most thoughtful and nuanced approaches who are driving the conversation." —@JesseLehrich (@accountabletech) at #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/cYW7KvLMsZ
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
Go Deeper:
- Stepping Up to Stop Hate Online
- Nonprofits, It’s Time to Own Your Social Media Audience
- Combating Fake News in India
Session 4: Case Study: Political and Social Movements in the Context of 2020
Jennifer Edwards of Color of Change and Jess Morales Rocketto of National Domestic Workers Alliance joined Jane Booth-Tobin of Johns Hopkins University to discuss ways to engage people in real and lasting change using digital platforms and tools.
“We’re trying to use tech to create more ‘whole’ relationships...There’s this focus on efficiency that comes from the private sector, and that's great...but how is this expanding our relationship with people, how is this giving us information we can use?” —@JessLivMo #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/ytRLor1CWY
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
Flipping the script: “Political data is based on something called the turnout score...the higher the score, the more likely you are to vote. Instead of starting with voters at perfect attendance, we started with the voters at zero.” —Jennifer Edwards (@ColorOfChange) at #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/Uj7eUrNScE
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
Go Deeper:
- Platform Power to the People (Learn more about subscribing to SSIR)
- Book Excerpt: Building a New Civic Culture
- Healing Our Health System, One Vote at a Time
Session 5: Case Study: Using Digital Tools to Build Worker Power
Beth Gutelius of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Aquilina Soriano of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California, Nidhi Mirani of Carina, Brian Young of Action Network, and Drew Ambrogi of Coworker discussed the potential—and potential drawbacks—of using digital tools for workers’ benefit.
"The pandemic really helped our efforts to get people into using the digital tools and the platforms that we had been building because they just saw the urgency and need to be connected." —@aqui_versoza (@pwcsorg) on tech providing services to low/mid-income workers. #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/46UiAYFHe5
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
"We can all agree that technology is not a panacea, but I think the pandemic has solidified technology's role as an important organizing infrastructure." —Beth Gutelius (@UICCUED) opens the #SSIRData discussion on digital tools and worker power.https://t.co/VFODuUoaVj
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
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Session 6: More Than a Movement: How Young Leaders and Activists Are Creating Real Change
Geoff Corey of Advocates for Youth led a discussion with several young activists who are working on an array of issues: LaKia Williams of SisterSong, Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective; Nour Abdelwahab of Muslim Youth Council and Advocates for Youth; and Đinh Thị Lan Anh of the Gender Relations Center at the University of Notre Dame.
Isn’t Instagram just for photos? Nour Abdelwahab w/Muslim Youth Leadership Council (@AdvocatesTweets) says that seeing the George Floyd protests from the perspective of people sharing on @instagram, not just mainstream media, shaped her views. #SSIRData https://t.co/z3fxdMKBnI
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
On media that reaches youth: “I do not read email blasts. I do sign up to organization lists, but mostly for news. But I follow individuals because they aren’t limited to an organization’s branding.” —Đinh Thị Lan Anh (@knowyourIX) #SSIRData
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
On youth's contributions to change and fair pay: “It’s common that organizations will pay young people, but just throw pennies at them. But if you’re living in a social justice practice, you’ll be paying at least $12 to $15 an hour.” —@_kiawilliams (@SisterSong_WOC) #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/liwP9kR0sy
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 17, 2021
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Session 7: How Not to Use Data Like a Racist: A Seven-Step Framework for Ethics and Equity in Data
Heather Krause of Datassist and We All Count shared a seven-step framework for identifying inequity and hidden bias in the data product lifecycle.
"The way that you build a model—the specific way you put variables together—deeply reflects a worldview and a lived experience." —Heather Krause (@datassist) at #SSIRData. #dataequity pic.twitter.com/wLrLLG7sSY
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
Go Deeper:
- Fighting COVID-19’s Disproportionate Impact on Black Communities With More Precise Data
- Advancing Equity in Health Systems by Addressing Racial Justice
Session 8: Democracy and Digital Technology
Nate Persilly and Francis Fukuyama, two of the principal investigators of the Program on Democracy and the Internet (PDI) at Stanford University, discussed the challenges and opportunities the internet poses for democracies.
“Twitter, Facebook, and Google basically control the public square in the United States,” comparable to the role of the three legacy networks in the 1950s and 1960s. —@FukuyamaFrancis (@StanfordCDDRL & @FSIStanford) speaking at #SSIRData (https://t.co/9WsUTydARF) w/@persily pic.twitter.com/3JxYAPvVQd
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
Go Deeper:
- The Invention of Digital Civil Society (Learn more about subscribing to SSIR)
- The Ethics of Designing Digital Infrastructure
- eDemocracy: An Emerging Force for Change
- Funders Can Bolster Democracy by Supporting Census Tech
Session 9: The Digital Divide: Why It Still Exists and How We Can Close the Gap
Larry Irving, head of the National Telecommunications Infrastructure Administration in the Clinton Administration; Olatunde Sobomehin, CEO of StreetCode Academy; Ron Littlefield, former mayor of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission in the Obama administration, discussed today’s digital divide and what can be done to overcome it.
"We keep talking about the cost of building broadband. What are the costs of not having everybody connected?" —@larry_irving at #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/r5nLADa6Wh
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
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Session 10: AI Will Change the World. Who Will Change AI?
Tess Posner of AI4ALL, Kasar Profit, Sara Parker of Networks Dynamics Lab at McGill University, and Leslie Bravo discussed the inclusivity and ethical issues of artificial intelligence.
"Only about 30% of high schools even teach computer science, and even fewer teach #AI." —@tessposner (@ai4allorg) at #SSIRData (https://t.co/9WsUTydARF)
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
"#AI seems very mystical, like such an advanced technology ... but at a basic level you can understand it. Learning about it can demystify it, and then we can learn how to use it in a better way.” Kasar Profit at the #SSIRData panel 'AI Will Change the World. Who Will Change AI?' pic.twitter.com/i7HDpil9WW
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
Go Deeper:
- The Problem With COVID-19 Artificial Intelligence Solutions and How to Fix Them
- Rehumanizing Fundraising With Artificial Intelligence
- The Case for Causal AI (Learn more about subscribing to SSIR)
- Artificial Intelligence as a Force for Good
Session 11: Data Analytics: Bringing Justice and Equity to the Process
Nithya Ramanathan of Nexleaf, Andrew Warren of Recidiviz, and Yeshimabeit Milner of Data for Black Lives discussed the ways data science can be used to better understand the inequities and injustices of our systems.
"I knew from then, unless we found other ways of expressing our voice, our lives would continue to be under assault. That's when I got into data." —@yeshican (@Data4BlackLives) describes a 2008 protest that inspired her interest in data. #SSIRData. More at https://t.co/1DGDyiAIJQ pic.twitter.com/KhvBMTLS3D
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
"Every time we got to the bottom of a root cause of an issue we worked on, they weren't technology problems ... They were cultural issues." Andrew Warren describes work at Google that preceded his turn to @RecidivizOrg, tackling data problems in criminal justice. #SSIRData
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
Go Deeper:
- Fighting COVID-19’s Disproportionate Impact on Black Communities With More Precise Data
- How to Ensure Medical Devices Help Communities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
- Equity, Power-Sharing, and Renewal of Civil Society
Session 12: Software and Data Are the Future of Social Action
Jim Fruchterman of Tech Matters discussed how digital technologies not only enable listening and learning from the communities being served, but also put tools and information directly in their hands.
“Tech companies have the power to manipulate your behavior but not to optimize well-being! What if we put that power in service of the planet?” —@JimFruchterman (@TechMattersOrg) #SSIRData pic.twitter.com/oLrIMfTwda
— Social Innovation (@SSIReview) February 18, 2021
Go Deeper:
- How Tech Companies Can Advance Data Science for Social Good
- Using Data for Action and for Impact
- Video: Power of Data
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