About The Event
INFORMED brings together key leaders and experts to engage around the biggest questions at the intersection of technology, media, and democracy. Presented by Knight Foundation, the gathering will be an important opportunity for policymakers, researchers and the private sector to discuss the latest trends and research in this emerging field, while strengthening relationships that lead to more informed policy in the public interest. Internet technologies have brought unprecedented social advantages and helped democratize access to information and ideas. However, in recent years, these same technologies have also been exploited to mislead, disenfranchise and undermine democracy. As the internet continues to evolve, the challenges to an informed citizenry are likely to intensify in years to come. INFORMED will be a critical forum to explore these challenges and viable solutions.
Featured Speakers
David Becker
Center for Election Innovation and Research
Nora Benavidez
Senior Counsel and Director, Digital Justice & Civil Rights at Free Press
The Honorable Jocelyn Benson
Secretary of State, Michigan
Danielle K. Brown
John & Elizabeth Bates Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity and Equality at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Ben Collins
Reporter, NBC News
Brandi Collins-Dexter
Associate Director of Research at the Technology and Social Change Project (TaSC),
Harvard Kennedy School
Renée DiResta
Technical Research Manager,
Stanford Internet Observatory
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Cory Doctorow
Author, Activist, and Journalist
Joan Donovan
Research Director, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School
Andrew Ferguson
Solicitor General, Virginia
Mary Anne Franks
Professor of Law and Michael R. Klein Distinguished Scholar Chair at the University of Miami
Deen Freelon
Associate Professor, UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, Principal Researcher, Center for Information Technology and Public Life
Major Garrett
Chief Washington Correspondent, CBS News
Samsher (Sam) Singh Gill
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Carrie Goldberg
Attorney, C.A.Goldberg, PLLC
The Honorable Nellie Gorbea
Secretary of State, Rhode Island
Katie Harbath
Chief Executive, Anchor Chicago
Frances Haugen
Data Engineer and Transparency Advocate
Rosie Hidalgo
Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor on Gender-Based Violence in the White House Gender Policy Council
Jeff Horwitz
Technology Reporter, Wall Street Journal
Alberto Ibargüen
President, Knight Foundation
Katelyn Jetelina
Director of Population Health Analytics, Meadows Institute
Dr. Ashish K. Jha
White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator
Christopher Krebs
Founding Partner, Krebs Stamos Group, Former Director,
U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
Eli Lehrer
President, R Street Institute
Chris Lewis
President and CEO, Public Knowledge
Javier Marín
Founder, El Planeta Media
Alice Marwick
Associate Professor in the Department of Communication and a Principal Researcher at the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Sahar Massachi
Co-founder and Executive Director, The Integrity Institute
Frank McCourt
Founder, Project Liberty
Doha Mekki
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Alondra Nelson
Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director for Science and Society, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
The Honorable Brad Raffensperger
Secretary of State, Georgia
Chris Riley
Senior Fellow for Internet Governance at R Street Institute, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
Yoel Roth
Former Global Head of Safety & Integrity at Twitter
John Sands
Senior Director, Media and Democracy, Knight Foundation
Brandon Silverman
Co-Founder, CrowdTangle
Kate Starbird
Associate Professor, Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, University of Washington, Director,
UW Center for an Informed Public
Catherine Stihler
CEO, Creative Commons
Talia Stroud
Director, Center for Media Engagement, University of Texas at Austin
Latanya Sweeney
Daniel Paul Professor of the Practice of Government and Technology, Harvard Kennedy School
Kara Swisher
Journalist, On with Kara Swisher
Dhanaraj Thakur
Research Director, Center for Democracy and Technology
Anabelle Torek
Officer, Media and Democracy, Knight Foundation
Rebekah Tromble
Director of the Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics at George Washington University
Joshua A. Tucker
Professor of Politics, Co-Director Center for Social Media and Politics, New York University
Michael Wagner
Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication, Director of the Center for Communication and Civic Renewal at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Claire Wardle
Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Information Futures Lab, Professor of the Practice at the Brown School of Public Health
Sam Woolley
Assistant Professor, School of Journalism and Media, University of Texas at Austin
Tim Wu
White House Technology and Competition Policy
Christopher Yoo
John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Commnication, and Computer & Information Science, University of Pennsylvania
Ashley Zohn
VP, Learning and Impact, Knight Foundation
Agenda
Monday, November 28th
WELCOME
4:00 PM– 5:45 PM ET
Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation
John Sands, Knight Foundation
ELECTION AND INFORMATION INTEGRITY: DEMOCRACY IN A DIGITAL WORLD
Elected leaders and experts discuss the latest efforts to protect the security and integrity of the democratic process.
PART I Hon. Brad Raffensperger, State of Georgia Major Garrett, CBS News Introduction: David Becker, Center for Election Innovation and Research |
PART II Katie Harbath, Anchor Change Chris Krebs, Krebs Stamos Group and Former Director, U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Kate Starbird, University of Washington Major Garrett, CBS News |
Tuesday, November 29th
RESEARCH AND POLICY:
OPPORTUNITIES FOR A SHARED AGENDA
8:45 AM – 9:35 AM ET
In her role at the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy, Alondra Nelson leads efforts to ensure federal policy is informed by evidence. This conversation will explore how researchers and policymakers can work together to advance the public interest.
Alondra Nelson, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Samsher (Sam) Singh Gill, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Introduction: Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation
IN CONVERSATION: FRANCES HAUGEN AND JEFF HORWITZ ON TECH WHISTLEBLOWING, JOURNALISM AND PUBLIC INTEREST
9:35 AM – 10:25 AM ET
A year after Wall Street Journal published The Facebook Files exposé, whistleblower Frances Haugen sits down with the reporter who broke the story to discuss what we’ve learned since then – and what we still don’t know.
Frances Haugen, Data Engineer and Transparency Advocate
Jeff Horwitz, Wall Street Journal
Introduction: Latanya Sweeney, Harvard Kennedy School
HOW THE CULTURE WARS BECAME THE CONTENT WARS
11:00 AM – 11:50 AM ET
Experts from the academy and journalism reflect on how online conspiracy became a mainstay in U.S. politics and civic life - and how to address it.
Ben Collins, NBC News
Brandi Collins-Dexter, Harvard Kennedy School
Joan Donovan, Harvard Kennedy School
Alice Marwick, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Introduction: Samuel Woolley, University of Texas at Austin
LESSONS FROM THE FIRST INFODEMIC
12:20 PM – 1:15 PM ET
Noted experts discuss how disinformation online continues to affect public health and policy, and what lessons from the COVID response can be applied to the next infodemic.
Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 Response
Katelyn Jetelina, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
Claire Wardle, Brown University School of Public Health
Introduction: Ashley Zohn, Knight Foundation
A NEW MODEL FOR PLATFORM RESEARCH? THE U.S. 2020 FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM ELECTION STUDY
1:30 PM – 2:20 PM ET
This session will explore a novel collaboration between academics and researchers at Meta to understand the impact of Facebook and Instagram in the context of the 2020 U.S. elections.
Talia Stroud, University of Texas at Austin
Rebekah Tromble, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics at George Washington University
Joshua Tucker, New York University
Michael Wagner, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Introduction: Brandon Silverman, Formerly of CrowdTangle
SAFETY IN THE DIGITAL PUBLIC SQUARE
2:40 PM – 3:30 PM ET
Thought leaders from academia, industry and government discuss the technology and policies that can reduce online hate and harassment and protect equal access to digital space.
Mary Anne Franks, University of Miami
Carrie Goldberg, C.A.Goldberg, PLLC
Rosie Hidalgo, White House Gender Policy Council
Sahar Massachi, Integrity Institute
Introduction: Nora Benavidez, Free Press
HOW BIG IS TOO BIG? COMPETITION IN THE TECH SECTOR
3:30 PM – 4:20 PM ET
Experts evaluate the tools policymakers have to ensure competition in the tech sector, and whether and how they should be deployed.
Andrew Ferguson, State of Virginia
Doha Mekki, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Christopher Yoo, University of Pennsylvania
Introduction: Eli Lehrer, R Street Institute
ON WITH KARA SWISHER: YOEL ROTH AND THE CRISIS AT TWITTER
4:40 PM – 5:30 PM ET
Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former Head of Trust and Safety, gives his first in-depth interview since resigning from the company. He speaks to tech journalist Kara Swisher about Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, why he chose to leave the company and how platforms moderate online speech. This conversation will be taped live for the New York Magazine podcast “On with Kara Swisher.”
Yoel Roth, Formerly of Twitter
Kara Swisher, Journalist, On with Kara Swisher
Wednesday, November 30th
CAN FIXING THE INTERNET SAVE DEMOCRACY?
9:00 AM – 9:50 AM ET
The internet technologies created to help connect us to information and each other increasingly are being used to drive communities apart and undermine democracy. As society reflects and technologies evolve, how can we harness this moment to remake an internet that serves us all?
Frank McCourt, Project Liberty
Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation
Introduction: Catherine Stihler, Creative Commons, Chris Lewis, Public Knowledge
ADDRESSING SPANISH-LANGUAGE DISINFORMATION
9:50 AM – 10:35 AM ET
According to the Pew Research Center, nearly three-quarters of U.S. Latinos now get their news online, where the exposure to false or dangerous narratives is more likely. With digital platforms struggling to fact-check and moderate Spanish-language content, what can be done to ensure that Spanish speakers have access to accurate civic information?
Hon. Nellie Gorbea, State of Rhode Island
Javier Marín, El Planeta Media
PERSPECTIVES AND PROVOCATIONS FROM THE FIELD
11:00 AM – 11:50 AM ET
Scholars share insights from their research on tech, media, and democracy.
Danielle K. Brown, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Deen Freelon, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chris Riley, R Street Institute
Dhanaraj Thakur, Center for Democracy & Technology
Introduction: Anabelle Torek, Knight Foundation
IN CONVERSATION: CORY DOCTOROW WITH TIM WU
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM ET
Can better competition in the tech sector solve democracy’s current challenges?
Cory Doctorow, author, activist and journalist
Tim Wu, White House Technology and Competition Policy
Introduction: John Sands, Knight Foundation
CLOSING REMARKS
1:30 PM – 1:40 PM ET
John Sands, Knight Foundation
About knight foundation
We are social investors who support democracy by funding free expression and journalism, arts and culture in community, research in areas of media and democracy, and in the success of American cities and towns where the Knight brothers once had newspapers.
John S. and James L. Knight believed a well-informed community could best determine its own true interests and was essential to an effective democracy. Today, we are a leading investor in the field of research emerging around questions of information integrity, media, and democratic citizenship in the digital age. To date, we have committed more than $60 million to support this field through an expansive consortium of academic researchers and policy experts known as the Knight Research Network. Learn more at kf.org.