This post is part of a series featuring interviews with some of the fascinating individuals who joined our community for the 2014-2015 year. Conducted by our 2014 summer interns (affectionately known as "Berkterns"), these snapshots aim to showcase the diverse backgrounds, interests, and accomplishments of our dynamic 2014-2015 community.
Interested in joining the Berkman Center community? We're currently accepting fellowship applications for the 2015-2016 academic year. Read more on our fellowships page.
Interview with Emy Tseng
Berkman Fellow and Senior Communications Program Specialist with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Interviewed in summer 2014 by Berktern Sergio Alves Jr.
After years of work in digital inclusion and broadband policy programs with governmental agencies and public interest organizations throughout the country, Emy Tseng joins the Berkman Center to address the world. Emy will explore how the Internet-enabled sharing economy can be applied to economic development and poverty alleviation in marginalized urban communities in the U.S. and in newly industrialized countries (such as Brazil, Thailand, and other countries in similar stages of development).
According to Emy, sharing strategies for poverty alleviation have been in place for decades, but they are unevenly distributed and funded across different geographical spaces. In the case of microfinance, she wants to examine whether urban areas are affected by the lack of “trust networks”, which are more typically identifiable in rural communities. She also is interested in whether a perceived “lack of need” leads to fewer opportunities of innovative financial solutions in underserved urban zones.
Inspired by the theory of change and online mechanisms that enable people to participate in sharing transactions (resource sharing, bartering and reuse, peer funding and lending services), Emy will investigate how Internet and mobile technologies can strengthen existing local sharing economies to increase local entrepreneurialism, empowerment and asset building in impoverished populations. Emy’s ultimate goal is to design policies and programs focused on technology for social change.
Berkman is a unique place surrounded by curious people with multiple interests and talents. Incoming fellow Emy Tseng takes this to a whole different level; with an accomplished career in software engineering and technology policy, Emy is also a jazz singer with a particular interest in Brazilian jazz. Ask her where her taste for Brazilian music comes from, and the answer arrives in the jazz and bossa nova style: uncountable names, visceral feelings, inspiring places, and occasional encounters, here and there.
Seja bem-vinda, Emy!