Gnovis

Automated decision-making systems or algorithms are playing an increasingly significant role in public administration and civil rights space. In his book "Voices in the Code: A Story About People, Their Values, and the Algorithm They Made," David Robinson investigates and contextualizes the story of the Kidney Allocation System, which as a result of cross-disciplinary collaboration among surgeons, clinicians, data scientists, public officials, advocates, and patients, over the course of 10 years, evolved into a relatively inclusive and accountable decision-making technology. Through this story, the author discusses the most fundamental issues related to the design and management of public-interest algorithms. 

In this episode, we discuss the book titled “Being present: commanding attention at work and at home by managing your social presence,” with the author Dr. Jeanine Turner, a communications scholar at Georgetown University. In a world permeated with new media and communication technologies, managing our social presence and controlling where and how we invest our attention is not an easy task. In this discussion, Dr. Turner offers an overview of her framework with four different approaches on how to manage your social presence in the modern communication space.

The topic of this episode is data and truth. There is a popular saying that we live in a data driven world? But where is data driving us? According to some estimates the amount of data generated over the next 3 years will be more than the amount of data created over the past 30 years. We have immersed ourselves in zettabytes of data to minimize uncertainty, make sense of the world around us and validate every step we take. But how reliable is all this data and can it really help us find the truth? In this episode we look for the answers to this and other questions with prominent scholar Prof danah boyd, whose research examines the intersection between technology and society. She’s a partner researcher at Microsoft, the founder of the well-known non-profit research institute Data & Society, as well as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Georgetown University, where she taught a graduate course on Data and Politics of Evidence.

In this first episode of our new season we talk about podcasts. Are you interested in podcast production? What makes a good podcast? How do you create quality content? In this episode we explore the answers to these and other questions about podcasts with Prof Mark McDonald, who has thirty years of experience in international broadcasting with BBC World News, across both TV and Radio, and with two leading public broadcasters in the United States. He is the founder and CEO of Birkdale media and teaches a course on podcasting at Georgetown University. 

Eish and Chelsea sit down with Brenna Parker, Web & Facebook Strategist for Biden for President. They chat Facebook, misinformation, and what it takes to grow your audience.

Listen to our first podcast of the school year! Eish and Chelsea sit down with LGBTQ+ Revolution 2.0 author and CCT alum Jill Fredenburg. We chat about identity, representation, and how platforms like YouTube and social media can be helpful tools for the LGTBQ+ community.

In the final episode of the season, new hosts Chelsea Sanchez and Eish Sumra speak with CCT Professor Leticia Bode and CCT students Ted Harrison and Shana Inofuentes on what to expect of the upcoming months and how to adjust to our new normal.

Who among us hasn’t picked up a product because it labels itself as “natural wellness,” “clean beauty,” or “contains ashwagandha”? In our February episode, Kim and Kevin unpack the history of wellness (while unpacking their skincare routines), and examine how a cultural shift from humanism to dataism has fundamentally changed the way we consume beauty products.

We’ve all heard the discourse around content moderation- that it doesn’t work, or that it doesn’t help foster supportive communities on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. But what about smaller online communities on platforms like Discord, where servers and channels can be customized for specific interests? In our most recent episode of About Me, Kim and Kevin learn how Discord servers are moderated, and how smaller online communities can affect positive change in their communities through empathy and discussion.