Information Ecosystems

This podcast, begun under the auspices of a Sawyer Seminar funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, now continues into a second season with the arrival of the 2021-2022 "Year of Data and Society" at the University of Pittsburgh. With these recordings, we seek to advance a deeply powerful understanding of where data comes from and how it is used, setting the present moment within a longer history of information supply and its power-laden consequences.

This current Year of Data and Society provides the University of Pittsburgh an opportunity to think critically about the data we collect, use, and leave behind as traces, through our scholarly work, education, institutional operations, and digital lives. We are exploring the societal implications of data and its uses, recognizing that data can both empower and marginalize individuals and communities. This year-long conversation and supported activities will focus on what MIT professor Sarah Williams calls "data action," or responsible and ethical data practices that benefit the public good, and this podcast serves as one of its outputs.