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Your Guide to BKC@SXSW 2018

Your Guide to BKC@SXSW 2018

Headed to SXSW this year? If so, be sure to check out some of these panels and discussions led by members of the Berkman Klein community.

 

The Future of Secrets
Sarah Newman, Jessica Yurkofsky, and Rachel Kalmar

Details: March 9-17 - Fairmont Verbena Room
Are secrets uniquely​ ​human?​ Our​ ​private​ ​lives ​are mediated and​ ​recorded​ ​by​ ​digital​ ​devices. ​Where​ ​are​ ​our​ ​secrets​ ​now? Where​ ​will​ ​they​ ​be​ ​in​ ​the​ ​future,​ ​and​ ​who—or what—might​ ​read​ ​them?​ ​How​ ​will​ ​intelligent systems​ ​of​ ​the​ ​future​ ​process​ ​the​ ​data ​we​ ​leave​ ​behind?​ ​Will​ ​they​ ​know​ ​things​ ​about​ ​us that​ ​we​ ​don’t​ ​(and​ ​never​ ​could)​ ​know​ ​about​ ​ourselves?

The​ ​Future​ ​of​ ​Secrets​​ ​is​ ​an​ ​interactive​ ​installation​ created by Sarah Newman, Jessica Yurkofsky, and Rachel Kalmar from metaLAB at Harvard. It is an immersive experience that includes sound, projection, and interaction; the installation asks​ ​participants​ ​to​ ​anonymously share​ ​their​ ​secrets ​as​ ​a​ ​way​ ​to​ question​ ​the​ ​trust we​ ​place​ ​in​ ​machines​, and ultimately​ ​reflect​ back​ ​our​ ​own​ ​humanness.​ ​What​ ​does​ ​it​ ​mean for​ ​us​ ​to​ ​share​ ​so​ ​much​ ​of​ ​ourselves​ ​through ​complex ​systems and digitally distributed networks?​ The installation inspires delight, surprise, and reflection while evoking questions about uncertain technological futures.

Keep the Internet International, Not Internal!
Fabro Steibel, Barbora Bukovská, Malavika Jayaram, Jan Gerlach

Details: Friday, March 9th, 2018; 11am-12pm – Hilton Austin Downtown Salon F
The internet enables access to knowledge for everyone and across national borders. However, legislators and courts around the world are now seeking to enforce national laws globally. Such extraterritorial jurisdiction to remove content from the web is a worrying trend both for fundamental rights online and the cohesion of the internet itself. Our panel explores the threat of creating many disconnected national networks and what should be done to avoid it.

America’s Code: Open Sourcing Government Software
Alvand Salehi

Details: Friday, March 9th, 2018; 11am-12pm – JW Marriott Salon 6
White House. Pentagon. NSA. They all began releasing more code last year following the first-ever Federal Source Code Policy. And now it’s easier than ever to access it. With thousands of projects to explore, Code.gov is transforming into the nation’s primary platform for sharing & improving government software. We’ll highlight the coolest projects & teach you how to give back to the country one pull request at a time. This is your code. Use it to spark America’s next breakthrough in innovation.

What Does it Take to Change People’s Minds?
Laura Dawn, Elizabeth Spiers, James Slezak

Details: Saturday, March 10th, 2018; 11am-12pm – Fairmont Congressional B
In the era of Trump, the notion of truth is under attack today as never before. With digital media rapidly displacing models that served us for two generations, we face crucial choices. Will the new landscape further divide and misinform us, or can new forms of digital communities, campaigns and services reverse the slide? Four leading figures from the worlds of digital media, advocacy and data join for an interactive session to debate emerging solutions and threats, and explore what we can do.

Ending the Dangerous Disconnect Between DC and AI
Tim Hwang, John Delaney, Terah Lyons, Clark Jennings

Details: Saturday, March 10th, 2018; 5-6pm – Hilton Austin Downtown Salon F
The AI and DC communities are just beginning a crucial conversation about how to ensure the benefits of the AI revolution are shared and its risks are minimized. In 2016, the Obama Administration published a roadmap to help policymakers prepare for AI. In this session, experts from DC and Silicon Valley advance the debate, addressing how best to engage policymakers, what issues require the most urgent attention, and how to work constructively with the stakeholders shaping our intelligent future.

Smashing the Firewall: Reporting in Iran
Simin Kargar, Fred Petrossians, Anastasia Kolobrodova, Amin Sabeti

Details: Monday, March 12th, 2018; 2-3pm – JW Marriot Salon FG
How can the power of the internet be harnessed for change in countries with strict censorship? The right talent and tools can facilitate political debate, connect persecuted minorities, embolden women, and amplify voices otherwise unheard in Iran. Three organizations fighting for internet and media freedom will discuss the innovative digital tools that are breaking through government censorship to connect with – and empower – Iranians.

A Game-Changing Shift in Control of Personal Data
Nicky Hickman, Karen McCabe, Doc Searls

Details: Monday, March 12th, 2018; 3.30-4.30pm – Fairmont Manchester EFG
An extinction-level event is occurring in the digital economy. Power will soon shift from organizations to people as legal, social and market forces give citizens new rights. New AI, machine learning and blockchain solutions will empower individuals to sovereignly govern their own data and relationships, and new business models will replace the non-compliant and/or illegal tracking-based practices of the past. Explore GDPR and more with Doc Searls and our IEEE Tech for Humanity Series experts!

Invasive Spirits: Fermentation in the City Wild
Matthew Battles, Keith Hartwig

Details: Wednesday, March 12th, 2018; 4:50-5:10pm – Four Seasons Ballroom CD
Invasive plants are treated with scorn, but they make the city green and provide a host of good things. In this session, we'll talk about our work foraging the city's riot of invasive biodiversity, brewing beer and making food from what we find. While we're discovering sensational tastes, we're using our senses to explore the city wild. By learning to appreciate the weedy world, can we share a richer relationship with nature in the city?

Starting the Internet All Over Again
Sara Watson, Muneeb Ali, Dries Buytaert, Andrei Sambra

Details: Wednesday, March 14th, 2018; 5-6pm – JW Marriott Salon E
On the Internet, all of the power seems consolidated with a few companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon. Consumers blindly exchange personal data for services, with little regard for the long-term consequences. But there's a movement afoot to build a secondary portal to the web that relies on Blockchain technology to give users freedom over their data. Join pioneers of the first web and the second, decentralized web to discuss how we'll experience it all in the next 5 to 10 years.

AI Creativity in Art, Neuroscience, and the Law
Sarah Schwettmann, Jessica Fjeld, Sarah Newman, Alexander Reben

Details: Thursday, March 15th, 2018; 12.30-1.30pm – Fairmont Manchester A
Artificial intelligence now produces compelling works of art, raising questions both metaphysical—does AI creativity raise it on par with the human?—and practical—how will we license its inputs and outputs? Will the creative outputs of AIs upend our conception of autonomy and personhood? Will they change our basic understandings of human intelligence and subjectivity? Two artists, an attorney, and a neuroscientist will grapple with these questions in a provocative conversation and demo.
 

BKC Alums

Why Black Women are 2018’s Best Investment
Cheryl Contee, Kathryn Finney, Sarah Koch

Details: Tuesday, March 13th, 2018; 3.30-4.30pm – Hilton Austin Downtown Salon B
Fewer than twenty African American women have raised more than a million dollars in venture capital. What’s going on here? Meet some of those women and the investors who back them. Learn why they are building the next breakthrough businesses that will change America.

Hacking the Brain: The Power of Neuroenhancement
William ‘Jamie’ Tyler, Miriam Meckel, Léa Steinacker, Henry Greely

Details: Sunday, March 11th, 2018; 3.30-4.30pm – Fairmont Manchester EFG
Advances in neuroscience and consumer electronics have elevated the brain as a resource for self-optimization. Using electrodes and implants, a new industry now offers to effectively alter numerous neurological functions, including cognitive skills, motor ability, and mood. While such technological developments can help those with disabilities unlock their potential, they also commercialize artificial enhancement of humans and raise ethical questions about the brain as a productivity factor.

 

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