“Data and Democracy: How New Digital Tools Enhance and Endanger Representational Politics”
Advances in digital media offer both opportunities and hazards to democratic practices. Just as technical innovations of previous generations changed the landscape for advocacy, organizing, and political activism, current new media tools provide more avenues for civic engagement than ever before. Platforms for aggregating and visualizing information and public opinion, combined with access to public open data, create a rich environment for citizens to understand and influence the choices policymakers are making on their behalf. But do the ever-shorter news cycles, accelerated through online media, contribute to the polarization of electoral politics? And whose voices are missing from the conversation? This talk will consider examples of recent innovations to extend political participation, promote accountability, and improve democratic governance in the United States and internationally.
Biography
Camille Crittenden serves as Deputy Director of CITRIS, Director of the Data and Democracy Initiative, and Executive Director of the Social Apps Lab. Prior to coming to CITRIS in 2012, she was Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at Berkeley Law, where she helped to develop its program in human rights, technology, and new media. She has written and spoken widely on these topics, as well as technology applications for civic engagement, government transparency and accountability, and the digital divide. She held previous positions as Assistant Dean for Development with International and Area Studies at UC Berkeley and in development and public relations at University of California Press and San Francisco Opera. She earned an MA and Ph.D. from Duke University.
