Digital Humanism: Capstone Lecture by danah boyd

We are pleased to invite you to the capstone lecture by danah boyd, a US technology and social media expert. This lecture marks both a highlight and the final event of our Digital Humanism series in the winter semester 2024/25—a cooperation between the University of Vienna and the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF).

Date:

Wednesday, 29 January 2025 @ 16:45–18:15 CET

Location:

BIG Lecture Hall

Main Building of the University of Vienna

Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna

Lecture:

danah boyd

Repairing the Social Fabric

Abstract:

From the early days of online communities, many pundits envisioned a world where people could be more connected around the globe thanks to new technology. And yet, this is not the world that social media brought forth. After years of struggling with misinformation, political polarization, and rampant distrust in institutions, many have begun to wonder if social media might be fundamentally malevolent. Lost in conversations about algorithms is a discussion about the health of the social fabric itself. Building and sustaining relationships takes work. Rearranging the structural conditions in pursuit of equity cannot be automated. In this talk, danah will explore what is necessary to repair our collective social fabric and the role that networked technologies can play.

About the speaker:

danah boyd is a Partner Researcher at Microsoft Research and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Georgetown University. Her research focuses on the intersection of technology and society, with an eye to how structural inequities shape and are shaped by technologies. She is currently conducting a multi-year ethnographic study of the US census to understand how data are made legitimate. Her previous studies have focused on media manipulation, algorithmic bias, privacy practices, social media, and teen culture. Her monograph "It's Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens" has received widespread praise. She founded the research institute Data & Society, where she currently serves as an advisor. She is also a trustee of the Computer History Museum, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and on the advisory board of Electronic Privacy Information Center. She received a bachelor's degree in computer science from Brown University, a master's degree from the MIT Media Lab, and a Ph.D in Information from the University of California, Berkeley.

danah boyd's website danah.org

danah boyd on Bluesky @zephoria.bsky.social