Overview of currently ongoing discussions, findings and opportunities on the platform (31/10/19)

[MariaEuler]

Dear community members,

This post will try to provide a bit of an overview of some of the main ongoing current discussions as well as to communicate some of the feedback, findings and suggestions from our Ethnography Team.

First to introduce the role of the Ethnography Team here at Edgeryders:

It is hard to put into a short description what Edgeryders is doing for and with you and the world, because it is and can be so many things, which is one of the reasons why we are discussing this very thing in a kind of “meta-discussion” with you here:

Why to Edgeryder?

Dear community, we would like to ask you to put into as little words as possible why you are here. What motivated you to join? What motivates you to participate? What do you search, find and offer on the Edgeryders-stewarded Internet of Humans/NGI community? How do/would you explain the platform to newcomers? The shorter your answers are the better! Let’s use collective intelligence to bring communication to the next level and help even more amazing people to understand and fin…

If you can give us your take on “why to edgeryder, that would be great!

However, one of the key things we are doing is Semantic Social Network Analysis (SSNA), see video, which means that a team of ethnographers and coder read all the discussions here on the platform, analyse them, identify topics and use an algorithm to identify connections and patterns in discussions which we can use to research how to improve our communication, but also to find new venues for the discussions themselves.

These network analysis put into graphics look for example like this:

This one is from the preliminary results report of the current NGI conversations @amelia just posted here.

She raises two very interesting points in that report:

1. We need to try to define the term “DEEP GREEN TECH” with some concrete examples, with terms that do not require absolute expertise in specific fields to enable proper cross discipline discussion and face the issue of how to deal with the underlying tension between acknowledging the ecological costs of the tech industry and findings ways to develop technological tools to protect the climate.

@"amelia

Several current threads revolve around the notion of Deep Green Tech. While there is a lot of interesting discussion around this concept, it has yet to be clearly defined by the community. From what we can gather so far, Deep Green Tech is similar to Deep Tech, describing mainly startup companies based on substantial scientific research and innovations in tech engineering. Deep Green Tech, broadly, seems to describe technology that is ecologically sustainable, innovative and based on scientific advancements. The concept of Deep Green Tech appears to be a central area of focus for the NGI Forward community, but there seems to be ongoing discussions to clarify confusion around the term’s definition, its ramifications and implications. As a result, we want to help cut through the opacity of these discussions by working with you to understand how you define the term while also asking you to give concrete examples of its application, e.g. in design, research, tech innovation etc. In this way, we think we might all move toward a deeper and more productive discussion of the futures we want to see.

@"amelia

Interestingly (and perhaps conversely), explorations of the relationship between the climate and the internet/tech appears to be in its infancy, and though we are working with a community of experts, there often seems to be a struggle to solidly define key terms and concepts. Despite expertise, or perhaps because of it, specificity in defining technologies and technological areas requiring increased research focus persists across stories, meaning that you might find defining targeted and specific problems around these areas difficult as well. Also of interest, many of you find an underlying tension between acknowledging the ecological costs of the tech industry and findings ways to develop technological tools to protect the climate.

2. We need to include more of our personal experience, motivations and examples in our stories, thoughts, ideas and project presentations and discussions. Your views on the topic are surely interesting, but knowing what brought you to start thinking about it and what shaped your ideas is what will enable us to not only connect but also to discuss and research on a deeper level!

@"amelia

Interestingly (and perhaps conversely), explorations of the relationship between the climate and the internet/tech appear to be in its infancy, and though we are working with a community of experts, there often seems to be a struggle to solidly define key terms and concepts. Despite expertise, or perhaps because of it, specificity in defining technologies and technological areas requiring increased research focus persists across stories, meaning that you might find defining targeted and specific problems around these areas difficult as well. Also of interest, many of you find an underlying tension between acknowledging the ecological costs of the tech industry and findings ways to develop technological tools to protect the climate.

@"amelia

If we can find such parallels on the Internet (rather than ‘what does the future look like to you’?), instead of ‘tell us about the last time something online upset you, and why?’ (or other questions along those lines, around sustainability for example) we might all get a deeper understanding.

Therefore, do not just tell us about your great idea, project or view on the Internet, but also tell us about the situation that first made you think about this and concrete examples that make it relevant to you personally :)!

A great example of combining this kind of personal story, motivation and research approach is this post from @katejsim, which we recommend everyone to check out!

Can tech design for survivors? How sex, violence, and power are encoded into the design and implementation of data/AI-driven sexual misconduct reporting systems

I’m a PhD researcher at Oxford Internet Institute, studying the intersection of gender-based violence and emerging technologies. I’ve been working on gender-based violence response for a little over a decade now, and have been focussing on issues of trust and gender, sexual politics, and how the role of emerging technologies in that. I want to facilitate meaningful connections between stakeholders, anticipate emergent harms, and ensure these conversations center on survivors and practitioners. M…

It is based on an interview that @inge made with @katejsim in preparation for the [Workshop on AI and Justice](Workshop on Inequalities in the age of AI, what they are, how they work and what we can do about them - 19/11 - Brussels) on the 19th of November in Brussels, where you could also meet her and many more amazing and interesting people bringing Justice to AI or vice versa :).

Another great Interview article in preparation for that event is this one on civil social advocacy in the digital age by @CSS:

What does the future of civil society advocacy look like, given the prevalence of these digital technologies and their impact on the work that civil society is currently doing?

Hello world I’m a PhD student at the Oxford Internet Institute and the Alan Turing Institute which is the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence (AI). I’m a cultural anthropologist by training and my background is mostly in human rights and policy. Before coming to Oxford to pursue a PhD, I worked as a policy officer for a human rights NGO in London, where I worked for their digital team. We focused on understanding the intersection of Internet infrastructure and…

As mentioned above, one of our main topics currently is Deep Green Tech. Some examples to related discussions are these:

Here we discuss the general direction of DEEP GREEN RESEARCH here at Edgeryders:

How do we weave together the threads of various conversations we are having around a "deep green" transition, and what are our next steps?

[1014] A while ago @mrchrisadams mentioned that he keeps getting asked by fellow technologists who are concerned about climate change, environmental degradation and a bunch of other issues I am bundling under “Earth Systems Emergencies”. They, like many of us, want to do something - but don’t know what they can contribute, where they can do it or even how to begin to find their way. Whether you don’t know what to do about climate change or ecological breakdown (where to start, or how to cont…

And here is an environmental tech incubator from COAT lab looking for proposals:

Environmental Tech Incubator in Barcelona Looking for Forest Protection / Regeneration Projects

I am writing to you from COACT: the Centre for Open & Appropriate Critical Technology. www.coactlab.org We wanted to inform the Edgeryder community regarding an upcoming forest-related incubation program to find solutions to protect and regenerate our forests. COACT works with early-stage, environmentally focussed technology projects & companies to grow their potential into actual impact. Unlike typical incubators, our objective is to maximise this positive impact rather than profit. We are yo…

Also looking for proposals:

@BlackForestBoi ‘s Hackathon:

Hackathon for Ethical Solutions to Unethical Problems - Berlin

Bayo Akomolafe said “The Times are Urgent, Let Us Slow Down”. At the verge of global institutional collapse we invite you to design, craft and prototype with us social games for creating win-win outcomes in our world. We believe that the power of playing can give us profound perspectives on how to move forwards out of this global mess. What happens when the success of each party involved in the game depends on the success of every other party? How these games can inform us for designing post-e…

Post you proposal here: About Overweb Challenge Category

And

This P2P online incubation program by @zmorda:

OCI Labs : Online P2P Incubator for MENA's Youth

@matthias @alberto @nadia @hugi @Sohayeb @noemi @johncoate

Last but not least I want to encourage you to look into the future of economics with the soon coming up SCi_fi Economic event on the 11th of November In Brussels:

The Science Fiction Economics Lab: Brussels, November 11th

[Edgeryders-Fest-FB-1200x628-AI-person-Doctorow-01] About a year ago, we at Edgeryders decided to try and get some serious intellectual firepower behind dreaming up one or more completely different economic systems. By “completely different” I mean completely different: not just another mix of market-capitalism-with-state-corrections, but something with different goals and different ways. By “economic systems” I mean something that could be debugged with intellectual rigor, and hopefully come …

And finally, a reminder that you can find an overview of all the Festival events on this minisite:

https://festival.edgeryders.eu/

And Sign up for an event via the Button on that site or this link:

https://tell.edgeryders.eu/festival/ticket

Please also share those great articles, events and opportunities with your interested friends and networks beyond Edgryders and encourage them to join the discussion :).

We are always looking forward to hearing more from you!

[MariaEuler]

Overview wise, do you guys think I should leave the quotes from the report in or take them out to make it easier to read the whole thing?

[nadia]

I think you should leave them there, they give a lot of context/make it richer

[amelia]

I’m pretty sure my community post is in the locked workspace, so if you want to link to it we should move it out. I can do that if you can fix the link in your post @MariaEuler

[amelia]

Fixed both, link is working now.