Science, Technology and Data

Fear of increased automation in work has undoubtedly caught the public interest. From international organizations to multinational corporations and TV shows, there have been numerous attempts to predict the impacts that automation will have on the economy – especially within labor markets. Analysing the Future of Work is, however, more than just measuring the net […]

Introduction Decades of parochialism within the U.S. military fostered isolated digital networks that force the user to serve as integrator, squandering organizational energy and intellect. For the past 18 years, the U.S. and our partners have been fighting counterinsurgency and counterterrorism wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In these theaters, arcane methods of digital collaboration with […]

A proposal to provide free public access to legal information through a federally managed web portal. You cannot Google the law—the United States has essentially privatized access to much of written law. This privatization has created an infamous industry that drives up legal costs and prevents many citizens from accessing important legal information. We need […]

A new administration is at the vanguard of African leadership, prioritizing national development in a new model of partnership and possibility Sierra Leone has adopted a new strategy that is reforming its troubled past, piece by piece. Less than a year into his term, President Julius Maada Bio is leading his country in a novel […]

Most statisticians will only ever light up the Twittersphere in their wildest dreams. But for census staff at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), those dreams became a nightmarish reality as the country’s first digital census bombed spectacularly, earning its own hashtag, #censusfail. Every five years, Australians sit down on a designated ‘census night’ and […]

Abstract In the wake of the implementation of smart-city technologies in Latin American cities, this article reviews both their potential for making municipal administration and local service delivery more efficient and the risk they pose, particularly to vulnerable communities. Based on the literature and the international experience on the social and policy effects of algorithmic […]

The U.S. Census is entering the digital age. If you can order groceries online and find the love of your life, why not fill out an online survey that promotes the health of our democracy? Foregoing the traditional paper and pencil mode of data collection makes sense, as it is no longer a sustainable method. […]

March 15th marks World Consumer Rights Day. For American consumers exploited by data-grabbing corporate giants, one wonders whether there is much to celebrate. The evidence shows that most companies “prefer to keep consumers in the dark, choose control over sharing, and ask for forgiveness rather than permission.” Target is a classic example of this behavior. […]

Our lawmakers are blundering their way through the challenges of the digital era. It’s time to elevate the standard of debate. BY ISABELLA BORSHOFF On December 6, the last sitting day before the Australian parliament’s Christmas break, lawmakers from both major parties united to pass the Assistance and Access Bill 2018. In doing so, they […]

BY HANNAH MASUGA Data-driven policymaking is widely touted as the best way to improve government, but it also poses a threat to our fundamental freedoms. It’s true that research intended to drive more efficient and effective programming provides important insights into how society functions. The danger comes from leveraging technology to implement our findings. This […]

Imagine a modern city of sleek infrastructure offering the latest technological amenities for its citizens such as sensor crosswalks, free internet, electric traffic monitors, and other futuristic features. This vision of utopia is slowly, but steadily, coming into fruition in several urban cities, most notably in Singapore, Seoul, and New York. Plans to integrate smart […]

BY MATTHEW E. SPECTOR The first year of the Trump administration coincided with dizzying shifts in American commercial institutions. Consolidation of consumer-facing businesses from AT&T and Aetna to Amazon and Disney brought new and increasingly pressing attention to market power—the consolidation of a well-defined market among a few firms, yielding anticompetitive prices that reduce consumer […]