FAQ

The Research Sprint team will primarily be communicating with you via Slack during the Sprint. We encourage you to connect with one another directly and exchange emails, telephone numbers, or usernames for your preferred communication channels. You can also email the Research Sprint team at researchsprint@cyber.harvard.edu with general questions. If you have something you want to discuss privately, please email Valerie Gomez at vgomez@cyber.harvard.edu or your Output Track Lead. You can find out more about communication on this page.

We expect that you will commit up to 10-12 hours per week on the Sprint. This commitment also accounts for your participation in the weekly two-hour session and output track group time. 

Upon completing the Sprint, you will receive a USD $1,000 stipend. The time to receive the stipend may vary by country, so we kindly request that you promptly submit your information when information requested. We will faciliate the process, and you will be paid through a third party, Buy2Pay (B2P).

Great question, as we have Harvard- and Berkman Klein Center-wide use of name policies. Feel free to incorporate this language into your own materials (e.g. LinkedIn profile, your CV, or the like): "Participant in the Fall 2022 Research Sprint on "Digital Identity in Time of Crisis: Designing for Better Futures” hosted by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.”  Please make sure that you do not use any logos or describe your affiliation with the Center in ways that could be misleading -- thank you! If you have questions please check in with the Research Sprint Planning Team. 

We will announce informal and social activities during the Pre-Session (Orientation). We have ideas of additional social events, depending on the cohort’s availability. These sessions will be largely opportunities for participants to interact and get to know one another beyond the work of the Sprint. We welcome ideas about how these sessions can be held, what activities you might include and the like. In addition, we can offer optional community co-working sessions to be in the same space to be productive in a more informal environment upon request.

The Sessions will operate under the Chatham House rule. This is often explained as: “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”  Each session will be recorded for educational purposes only. Zoom video recordings may not be shared outside of the cohort. In terms of working group meetings, these should largely be private with the exception of what deliverables get produced within the group as well as what notes are provided in the collaborative documents.

This Research Sprint affirms people of all gender expressions and gender identities. If you prefer a different name than your legal name submitted, please let the Research Sprint Planning Team know. Feel free to include your gender pronoun in use during Zoom or on Slack. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact the Research Sprint Planning Team. 

Each session will vary, but you can expect the following aspects in each session: 

1. Welcome and Announcements 

2. Speaker(s)/Discussion  

3. Breakout or Activity 

4. Q&A and Reflection

We expect you to be fully present and engaged. All of our sessions are designed to be interactive and we encourage you to ask questions, respond to prompts, and share your own relevant expertise and practices where helpful. If possible, please also turn on your video, unless bandwidth or privacy concerns prevent you from doing so. Although our sessions will be recorded and available for those who have scheduling conflicts or Internet access issues, we ask all students who are able to participate in the sessions in real time.  We also anticipate that there are likely to be issues that arise that are beyond your control and may require your attention.  In such instances, please contact us immediately and let us know.  This helps us to know what’s going on but also to be able to inform your peers if you are unable to be present for some things.

The research sprint relies on the attendance and participation of the individuals involved. It is expected that participants will have made sense of the learning materials (e.g., reading, podcasts, videos, etc.) ahead of time and come to each session prepared to be a part of the discussion. The large group synchronous opportunities are limited and missing regularly or not being prepared is a hindrance to the cohort at large. 

However, we understand that things happen or that you may have something previously scheduled. We have taken note of the sessions that were submitted upon your confirmation to the program but ask that you contact contact Valerie Gomez (vgomez@cyber.harvard.edu) and copy the BKC Planning Team (researchsprint@cyber.harvard.edu) if there are additional dates you need to be out. If you miss 2 or more sessions or multiple small group meetings, a meeting with someone from the BKC Planning Team will be scheduled to discuss whether the program is appropriate. 

Sessions will be recorded for educational purposes, but there will not be an opportunity to “make up” the time since sessions are interactive and breakout groups are not recorded. 

Each session will be recorded in its entirety and shared on the Slack channel (#zoom-recordings). We ask that this remain private to attendees only. In the future, we may openly share the contributions of the speaker portion online (not cohort discussion or activities). 

If you have concerns about being recorded, please reach out to Valerie Gomez (vgomez@cyber.harvard.edu). 

Breakout groups will meet during the sessions, while working groups will meet outside of the sessions during the week. 

The working groups have been designed to be spaces that collect, synthesize, and discuss your individual contributions towards the project outputs or each week’s assignment.