Publications
Logic magazine
Real Life magazine
Data Privacy
Organizations
MyData, international org with local hubs that “empower individuals with their personal data”
Tactical Technology Collective, Berlin-based nonprofit. See especially Our Data Our Selves project
Data Transparency Lab, in Barcelona, working to “define new standards and guidelines for how our personal data is owned, accessed and used”
Pervade: Pervasive Data Ethics, exploring how people experience the reuse of their data through the internet of things, wearable devices, ubiquitous sensing, and social sharing platforms. Collaboration between faculty and PhD students at multiple iSchools
Projects
Our Data Bodies, in Charlotte, Detroit, and LA, tracking “the ways our communities’ digital information is collected, stored, and shared by government and corporations”
Ethical OS Toolkit, for “anticipating the long-term social impact and unexpected uses of the tech we create today.” Designed by the Institute for the Future
Labor
Organizations
Tech Workers Coalition, based in SF and Seattle
Projects
Platform Cooperativism, addresses the “gig economy” or the “sharing economy” represented by companies like Uber, GrubHub, and AirBnB, in which “workers are reclassified as independent contractors and thus denied rights such as minimum wage protections, unemployment benefits, and collective bargaining.” Platform Cooperativism advances alternative platforms that are worker-owned.
- See also The Internet of Ownership
Social Justice
Organizations
Allied Media Projects, based in Detroit, “supports art, media, and technology projects working for social change.” Projects include workshops “to ensure that more Detroit residents have the tools to leverage digital technologies for social and economic development,” and pamphlets like A People’s Guide to Artificial Intelligence. Runs a yearly conference on “media-based organizing.”
- See especially AMP’s Digital Justice Principles
Projects
#MoreThanCode, a participatory action research project intended to better understand the types of work currently being done with technology for social justice
Data for Black Lives, conference at MIT, November 2018
Community Mesh Networks
Commotion, “a free, open-source communication tool that uses wireless devices to create decentralized mesh networks. … Wireless mesh networks allow devices to connect directly to each other without going through a centralized point. Mesh networks are self-healing and can grow organically. They also allow for easy sharing of services over the network, such as Internet and applications.”
People’s Open Network, an Oakland-based, community-owned internet. “We believe in the creation of local internets and locally-relevant applications, the cultivation of community-owned telecommunications networks in the interest of autonomy and grassroots community collaboration, and ultimately, in owning the means of production by which we communicate.”
- Partners with Sudo Mesh, “a group of volunteers operating out of the sudo room hackerspace at the Omni Commons - a collective of collectives stewarding a large community space in Oakland, California. We develop software and assemble hardware systems to help build open community networks.”
Hyperboria, an alternative internet. “After connecting to Hyperboria, a user may be at a loss as to what he is able to do. All of these nodes are connected and working together, but what services are offered by the Hyperboria community, for the Hyperboria community? Unlike the traditional Internet, most services on Hyperboria are run non-commercially as a hobby. For example, Hyperboria hosts Uppit: a Reddit clone, Social Node: a Twitter-like site,and HypeIRC: an IRC network. Some of these services may additionally be available on the clearnet, making access easy for those without a connection to Hyperboria. Others are Hyperboria-only, made specifically and only for the network. As the network grows, more services are added while some fade away in favor of new ones or disrepair. This is all community coordinated after all; there is nothing to keep a node operator from revoking access to his node on a whim for any reason.” Project page.
NYC Mesh, “consists of Wi-Fi router “nodes”, “supernodes” and fiber spread throughout the city. The network connects directly to the internet backbone, so we do not rely on an ISP. All of our network nodes cooperate in the distribution of data, so the network can function independently in case of emergencies or internet shutdown.”
Philly Mesh, “a community-owned mesh network in the Grester Philadelphia Area (including Philly’s suburbs, parts of New Jersey, and Delaware). Philly Mesh is devised of volunteers consisting of networking enthusiasts, cypherpunks, programmers, and general tinkerers. We aim to use off-the shelf hardware and open source-source software to create a robust network for hobbyists, communities, or those in need of network access.”
mobile mesh devices
goTenna. Download an app, your phone communicates via bluetooth to the goTenna, which transmits on UHF frequencies to other phones with the app 0.5–4 miles away. “Pair to your phone and create your own signal. goTenna Mesh lets you send texts and GPS locations, no service required. Revolutionary mesh networking privately and automatically relays messages through other devices to extend beyond point-to-point range; the bigger your network, the stronger your communications. … goTenna is launching an Ambassador Program to promote our vision of an off-grid, community-powered communications network across America. Support our first Ambassadors in building a robust goTenna Mesh infrastructure in their cities of Seattle, WA and Urbana, IL.”
Beartooth. Another app-based mesh networking device for phones. “Beartooth connects you directly with other Beartooth carrying friends, where together you build a private network, completely independent of cellular and WiFi.”
Media Art
Digital Ethereal, long exposure photography by designer Luis Hernan that captures invisible WiFi signals.
Research Centers
Data and Society, research center in NYC
AI Now Institute, research center at NYU
Policy Institutes
Open Technology Fund in DC, supporting global Internet freedom projects, fighting censorship, blocking, and surveillance. “This daily suppression of free expression and information limits everyone’s ability to take full advantage of the powerful communications platform that the internet has become. OTF strives to support technology-centric solutions for anyone affected by these challenges.”
Open Technology Institute, a New American program in Washington DC, “works at the intersection of technology and policy to ensure that every community has equitable access to digital technology and its benefits. We promote universal access to communications technologies that are both open and secure, using a multidisciplinary approach that brings together advocates, researchers, organizers, and innovators.”
Resources
Emerging Technology and Ethics Research Guide, Danya Glabau
Mozilla’s recommended privacy extensions
Open Transcrips, open access transcripts of talks and lectures from arts, design, philosophy, and STS conferences and venues