Digital

Introduction The spread of social media offers insight into how understandings and formations of bodies are created intra-communally in global and pluralistic ways. This gives us an opportunity to see how social bodies are rendered through syntheses of digital narrative that are not only mimetic to a more seemingly natural social body, but indelibly a […]

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. […]

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 […]

BY BEN MCGUIRE After a bruising 2016 election, a cascade of Democratic victories has given progressive activists reason to hope for future elections, and the use of new mobilization and engagement technologies in those campaigns is getting a lot of attention. Virginia Republicans barely held their gerrymandered majority after grassroots volunteers across the left powered […]

BY JEAN GUO AND RACHEL PEARL O’SHEA Digital transformation and its implications for the future of work have become the topic du jour among public policy officials, scholars, and commentators all over the world. With predictions that new technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning will threaten as many as 800 million jobs over the […]

BY AYNA AGARWAL About three years ago, a little-known researcher named Aleksandr Kogan began a social science experiment at Cambridge University. Nothing unusual here. But just a few years later, he became embroiled in a Silicon Valley scandal of epic proportions. Over 80 million raw profiles of users—including their friends, activity, and private information—were scraped […]