Center on Digital Culture and Society Launch Symposium

"Social Justice and the Remaking of Technological Cultures"

This international symposium aims to foster conversations about new ways of thinking about digital technology and society. It features the high-impact research of distinguished scholars from multiple academic disciplines. Their work charts new research agendas and helps envision more socially just technological futures.

The symposium serves as the official launch of the new Center on Digital Culture and Society at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication. Founded in July 2019, the Center on Digital Culture and Society (CDCS) supports critical, interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue on digital culture, technology, and society. CDCS aims to create collaborative spaces for discussion and debate among academics, citizens, and activists; develop critical approaches to the study of digital culture and technology; help train new generations of digital researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and beyond; build global networks of researchers; advocate for socially just design, production, and use of digital technologies; and explore and foster new visions of digital futures through scholarship and public communication.

Schedule

9:00am – 9:15am EDT
WELCOME + OPENING REMARKS

• John L. Jackson, Jr., Dean, Annenberg School for Communication
• Guobin Yang, Director, Center on Digital Culture and Society

9:15am – 10:45am EDT
DIGITAL ACTIVISM

• Moderator: David Grazian, University of Pennsylvania
• Meredith Clark, University of Virginia
• Jun Liu, University of Copenhagen
• Jen Schradie, Sciences Po

11:00am – 12:30pm EDT
TECHNOLOGY, RACE, + GENDER

• Moderator: Sarah J. Jackson, University of Pennsylvania
• Moya Bailey, Northeastern University
• Kishonna Gray, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Carrie A. Rentschler, McGill University

1:00pm – 2:30pm EDT
ALGORITHMS + QUANTIFICATION

• Moderator: Jessa Lingel, University of Pennsylvania
• Angelé Christin, Stanford University
• Exekiel Dixon-Román, University of Pennsylvania
• Joseph Turow, University of Pennsylvania

2:30pm – 4:00pm EDT
DIGITAL LABOR

• Moderator: Julia Ticona, University of Pennsylvania
• Brooke Erin Duffy, Cornell University
• Ben Shestakofsky, University of Pennsylvania
• Lin Zhang, University of New Hampshire

4:00pm – 5:00pm EDT
CLOSING KEYNOTE – ARE DIGITAL FUTURES CHOICE OR FATE?

• Craig Calhoun, Arizona State University
• Introduction by Barbie Zelizer, University of Pennsylvania

Partial support of the symposium comes from the Penn China Research and Engagement Fund of the Office of the Provost and the School of Arts and Sciences Conference Support Grant.