Schedule
In advance of each session, we will send you the link to the accompanying Session Document and the link to the Zoom room. Please see below for an “at-a-glance” view of all anchor sessions and when they will take place. Session recordings will be added as they become available.
Please note that the descriptions of the anchor sessions may evolve as we adapt and learn from the preceding sessions.
Session 1: Initial Inquiries
Date/Time: Thursday, March 18, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: This session serves a few different purposes. As an introductory session, we want to spend a bit of time getting to know one another through some activities and light conversation. From there, we will move into the big picture and consider what the Research Sprint will entail and your roles within that. In the final part of the session, we will explore the question of “what does digital self-determination mean?” through three very different lenses by our Session Speakers.
Office Hour with Sidharth Chauhan
Date/Time: Friday, March 19, 2021 - 8am-9am EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Session 2: Digital Self-Determination - An Approximation
Date/Time: Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: This session introduces the concept of digital-self determination and explores its purpose and use in different contexts, highlighting examples from ongoing policy debates and initiatives. It will also discuss how digital self-determination relates to concepts such as digital autonomy, digital sovereignty, etc. The session seeks to create a working definition of concept and it’s dimensions or facets.
Beverage & Chat
Date/Time: Friday, March 26, 2021 - 8am-9am EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Session 3: Contrastations: Digital Solidarity and Communality
Date/Time: Thursday, April 1, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: In this session, participants will critically challenge the notion of “self-determination” and explore alternative or at least complementary perspectives that put more emphasis on solidarity and the social conditions of digital self-determination. The session seeks to deepen the shared understanding of the social context and conditions - and assumptions behind - any form of “self-determination.” It will also examine the role of shared and “trustworthy” data spaces as an example of how digital self-determination and larger societal goals can be aligned.
Beverage & Chat
Date/Time: Friday, April 2, 2021 - 12pm EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Session 4: Participation in the Digital Economy
Date/Time: Thursday, April 8, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: While previous sessions have focused on conceptual and horizontal issues, this session kicks-off a series of vertical explorations into different application areas of digital self- determination by examining what it means to be able to participate in the digital economy. The session highlights insights from youth and media research on creative expression and different forms of “capital”, and also addresses the relationship between digital citizenship skills and economic opportunity.)
Beverage & Chat
Date/Time: Thursday, April 8, 2021 - 12pm EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Session 5: Digital Health and Well-Being
Date/Time: Thursday, April 15, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: In recent policy and ethics debates, the value of digital self-determination has been emphasized in the context of health and well-being in particular. This session will highlight use cases from different regions to illustrate how digital self-determination can work in practice and play a role both in the individual and public health context. Ultimately, digital self-determination can be seen as an element and expression of well-being.
Games Session
Date/Time: Friday, April 16, 2021 - 8am EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Session 6: Information Diet
Date/Time: Thursday, April 22, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: The series of vertical deep dives ends with a hot button issue: the question how we can build an information ecosystem - from local newspapers and TV to social media like Twitter and Facebook - that supports an information diet that supports the kind of informed choices digital self-determination hopes to enable.
Games Session
Date/Time: Friday, April 23, 2021 - 12pm EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Special Session 1: Trustworthy Data Spaces
Date/Time: Thursday, April 29, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: In this special event, we will discuss the importance of trustworthy data spaces as a foundation for digital self-determination. The session will explore both the theory and practice of such spaces and feature key manifestations, including data cooperatives. It will also discuss relevant policy initiatives and multi-stakeholder efforts.
Office Hours
Date/Time: Friday, April 30, 2021 - 8am EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Special Session 2: New Social Contract and Participatory Governance
Date/Time: Thursday, May 6, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Zoom Link: Here, pw: 652743 - Session ID: 937 0761 4667
Description: This special event addresses the role of digital self-determination in the context of a new social contract in the light of a growing series of global challenges and crises. It will highlight examples and stories from cities around the globe to give a sense of participatory governance as one increasingly important (and in many ways deeply challenged) manifestation of digital self-determination. It will also highlight the institutional dimensions of participatory governance, including relevant organizations, mechanisms, and processes at the international level.
Office Hours
Date/Time: Friday, May 7, 2021 - 12pm EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link
Public Session: Reimaginations Continued: Digital Self-Determination
Date/Time: Thursday, May 13, 2021 - 8am-10am, EDT/Boston Time
Description: The Spring 2021 Research Sprint will end with a public event. Building on the theme of the recent event “Reimaginations” that concluded the Fall 2020 Research Sprint, this gathering will offer an opportunity to reflect on the findings and learnings, discuss and “reimagining” digital self-determination either in theory or practice, and invite participants to collaborate on specific projects and in thematic networks.
Social Session
Date/Time: Friday, May 14, 2021 - 8am EDT/Boston Time
Check Slack for Zoom link