Information Technology for Peace and Security

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book edited by Christian Reuter: “Technological and scientific progress, especially the rapid development in information technology (IT) and artificial intelligence (AI), plays a crucial role regarding questions of peace and security. This textbook, extended and updated in its second edition, addresses the significance, potential of IT, as well as the challenges it poses, with regard to peace and security.

It introduces the reader to the concepts of peace, conflict, and security research, especially focusing on natural, technical and computer science perspectives. In the following sections, it sheds light on cyber conflicts, war and peace, cyber arms control, cyber attribution, infrastructures, artificial intelligence, as well ICT in peace and conflict…(More)”.

Lottocracy: Democracy Without Elections

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book by Alexander Guerrero: “Democracy is in trouble. The system isn’t working. Inequality increases, many can barely get by, the elite control our political institutions. The earth, our only home, gets warmer year by year. We are deeply divided, unable to work together to address the problems we face. What if elections are the problem?

Lottocracy makes the case that electoral representative democracy—although the best form of government that has been tried—runs into deep problems in the modern world.

But it is not a message of despair. To the contrary. Lottocracy sets out a detailed vision of a new kind of democracy, as system that uses lotteries, rather than elections, to select our political representatives.

Perhaps we can use this wild ancient idea to build a new, better democracy for the 21st century and beyond…(More)”.

Critical Datafication Literacy

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Book by Ina Sander: “Despite the increasing influence of data technologies on our world, many people still lack a profound understanding of what this ›datafication‹ means for their lives and our societies. Ina Sander argues that this knowledge gap cannot be addressed by digital skills alone, but that more critical and empowering approaches are needed. Through a review of existing literacies, an analysis of established education concepts, and empirical research on online educational resources about datafication, she develops a framework for »critical datafication literacy«. Novel insights on the design strategies, pedagogical methods and challenges of practitioners who foster such education add to her analysis…(More)”.

Inside the New Nonprofit AI Initiatives Seeking to Aid Teachers and Farmers in Rural Africa

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Article by Andrew R. Chow: “Over the past year, rural farmers in Malawi have been seeking advice about their crops and animals from a generative AI chatbot. These farmers ask questions in Chichewa, their native tongue, and the app, Ulangizi, responds in kind, using conversational language based on information taken from the government’s agricultural manual. “In the past we could wait for days for agriculture extension workers to come and address whatever problems we had on our farms,” Maron Galeta, a Malawian farmer, told Bloomberg. “Just a touch of a button we have all the information we need.”

The nonprofit behind the app, Opportunity International, hopes to bring similar AI-based solutions to other impoverished communities. In February, Opportunity ran an acceleration incubator for humanitarian workers across the world to pitch AI-based ideas and then develop them alongside mentors from institutions like Microsoft and Amazon. On October 30, Opportunity announced the three winners of this program: free-to-use apps that aim to help African farmers with crop and climate strategy, teachers with lesson planning, and school leaders with administration management. The winners will each receive about $150,000 in funding to pilot the apps in their communities, with the goal of reaching millions of people within two years. 

Greg Nelson, the CTO of Opportunity, hopes that the program will show the power of AI to level playing fields for those who previously faced barriers to accessing knowledge and expertise. “Since the mobile phone, this is the biggest democratizing change that we have seen in our lifetime,” he says…(More)”.

The Routledge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence and Philanthropy

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Open Access Book edited by Giuseppe Ugazio and Milos Maricic: “…acts as a catalyst for the dialogue between two ecosystems with much to gain from collaboration: artificial intelligence (AI) and philanthropy. Bringing together leading academics, AI specialists, and philanthropy professionals, it offers a robust academic foundation for studying both how AI can be used and implemented within philanthropy and how philanthropy can guide the future development of AI in a responsible way.

The contributors to this Handbook explore various facets of the AI‑philanthropy dynamic, critically assess hurdles to increased AI adoption and integration in philanthropy, map the application of AI within the philanthropic sector, evaluate how philanthropy can and should promote an AI that is ethical, inclusive, and responsible, and identify the landscape of risk strategies for their limitations and/or potential mitigation. These theoretical perspectives are complemented by several case studies that offer a pragmatic perspective on diverse, successful, and effective AI‑philanthropy synergies.

As a result, this Handbook stands as a valuable academic reference capable of enriching the interactions of AI and philanthropy, uniting the perspectives of scholars and practitioners, thus building bridges between research and implementation, and setting the foundations for future research endeavors on this topic…(More)”.

Unlocking Green Deal Data: Innovative Approaches for Data Governance and Sharing in Europe

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

JRC Report: “Drawing upon the ambitious policy and legal framework outlined in the Europe Strategy for Data (2020) and the establishment of common European data spaces, this Science for Policy report explores innovative approaches for unlocking relevant data to achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal.

The report focuses on the governance and sharing of Green Deal data, analysing a variety of topics related to the implementation of new regulatory instruments, namely the Data Governance Act and the Data Act, as well as the roles of various actors in the data ecosystem. It provides an overview of the current incentives and disincentives for data sharing and explores the existing landscape of Data Intermediaries and Data Altruism Organizations. Additionally, it offers insights from a private sector perspective and outlines key data governance and sharing practices concerning Citizen-Generated Data (CGD).

The main conclusions build upon the concept of “Systemic Data Justice,” which emphasizes equity, accountability, and fair representation to foster stronger connections between the supply and demand of data for a more effective and sustainable data economy. Five policy recommendations outline a set of main implications and actionable points for the revision of the INSPIRE Directive (2007) within the context of the common European Green Deal data space, and toward a more sustainable and fair data ecosystem. However, the relevance of these recommendations spills over Green Deal data only, as they outline key elements to ensure that any data ecosystem is both just and impact-oriented…(More)”.

Conversational Swarms of Humans and AI Agents enable Hybrid Collaborative Decision-making

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Paper by Louis Rosenberg et al: “Conversational Swarm Intelligence (CSI) is an AI-powered communication and collaboration technology that allows large, networked groups (of potentially unlimited size) to hold thoughtful conversational deliberations in real-time. Inspired by the efficient decision-making dynamics of fish schools, CSI divides a human population into a set of small subgroups connected by AI agents. This enables the full group to hold a unified conversation. In this study, groups of 25 participants were tasked with selecting a roster of players in a real Fantasy Baseball contest. A total of 10 trials were run using CSI. In half the trials, each subgroup was augmented with a fact-providing AI agent referred to herein as an Infobot. The Infobot was loaded with a wide range of MLB statistics. The human participants could query the Infobot the same way they would query other persons in their subgroup. Results show that when using CSI, the 25-person groups outperformed 72% of individually surveyed participants and showed significant intelligence amplification versus the mean score (p=0.016). The CSI-enabled groups also significantly outperformed the most popular picks across the collected surveys for each daily contest (p<0.001). The CSI sessions that used Infobots scored slightly higher than those that did not, but it was not statistically significant in this study. That said, 85% of participants agreed with the statement ‘Our decisions were stronger because of information provided by the Infobot’ and only 4% disagreed. In addition, deliberations that used Infobots showed significantly less variance (p=0.039) in conversational content across members. This suggests that Infobots promoted more balanced discussions in which fewer members dominated the dialog. This may be because the infobot enabled participants to confidently express opinions with the support of factual data…(More)”.

Effective Data Stewardship in Higher Education: Skills, Competences, and the Emerging Role of Open Data Stewards

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Paper by Panos Fitsilis et al: “The significance of open data in higher education stems from the changing tendencies towards open science, and open research in higher education encourages new ways of making scientific inquiry more transparent, collaborative and accessible. This study focuses on the critical role of open data stewards in this transition, essential for managing and disseminating research data effectively in universities, while it also highlights the increasing demand for structured training and professional policies for data stewards in academic settings. Building upon this context, the paper investigates the essential skills and competences required for effective data stewardship in higher education institutions by elaborating on a critical literature review, coupled with practical engagement in open data stewardship at universities, provided insights into the roles and responsibilities of data stewards. In response to these identified needs, the paper proposes a structured training framework and comprehensive curriculum for data stewardship, a direct response to the gaps identified in the literature. It addresses five key competence categories for open data stewards, aligning them with current trends and essential skills and knowledge in the field. By advocating for a structured approach to data stewardship education, this work sets the foundation for improved data management in universities and serves as a critical step towards professionalizing the role of data stewards in higher education. The emphasis on the role of open data stewards is expected to advance data accessibility and sharing practices, fostering increased transparency, collaboration, and innovation in academic research. This approach contributes to the evolution of universities into open ecosystems, where there is free flow of data for global education and research advancement…(More)”.

Enabling Digital Innovation in Government

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

OECD Report: “…presents the OECD’s definition of GovTech (Chapter 2) and sets out the GovTech Policy Framework (Chapter 3). The framework is designed to guide governments on how to establish the conditions for successful, sustainable, and effective GovTech.

The framework consists of two parts: the GovTech Building Blocks and the GovTech Enablers. The building blocks (Chapter 3) represent the foundations at the micro-level needed to establish impactful GovTech practices within public sectors by introducing more agile practices, mitigating risks, and building meaningful collaboration with the GovTech ecosystem. These building blocks include:

  • Mature digital government infrastructure: including the necessary technology, infrastructure, tools, and data governance to enable both GovTech collaborations and the digital solutions they develop.
  • Capacities for collaboration and experimentation: within the public sector, including the digital skills and multidisciplinary teams; agile processes, tools, and methodologies; and a culture that encourages experimentation and accepts failure. 
  • Resources and implementation support: considering how to make funding available, how to evolve procurement approaches, and how to scale successful pilots across organisations and internationally.
  • Availability and maturity of GovTech partners: including acceleration programmes to support start-ups growth by facilitating access to capital, the scaling up of solutions, and minimising barriers to access procurement opportunities.

At the macro-level, the enablers (Chapter 4) instead create an environment that fosters the development of GovTech and facilitates good practices. This is done at the:

  • Strategic layer: where governments could use GovTech strategies and champions in senior leadership positions to mobilise support and set a clear direction for GovTech.
  • Institutional layer: where governments could seek collaboration and knowledge-sharing across institutions at the national, regional, or policy levels.
  • Network layer: where both governments and GovTech actors should seek to mobilise the network collectively to strengthen the GovTech practice and garner broader support from communities…(More)”

Annoyed Redditors tanking Google Search results illustrates perils of AI scrapers

Curated on Posted on by Stefaan Verhulst

Article by Scharon Harding: “A trend on Reddit that sees Londoners giving false restaurant recommendations in order to keep their favorites clear of tourists and social media influencers highlights the inherent flaws of Google Search’s reliance on Reddit and Google’s AI Overview.

In May, Google launched AI Overviews in the US, an experimental feature that populates the top of Google Search results with a summarized answer based on an AI model built into Google’s web rankings. When Google first debuted AI Overview, it quickly became apparent that the feature needed work with accuracy and its ability to properly summarize information from online sources. AI Overviews are “built to only show information that is backed up by top web results,” Liz Reid, VP and head of Google Search, wrote in a May blog post. But as my colleague Benj Edwards pointed out at the time, that setup could contribute to inaccurate, misleading, or even dangerous results: “The design is based on the false assumption that Google’s page-ranking algorithm favors accurate results and not SEO-gamed garbage.”

As Edwards alluded to, many have complained about Google Search results’ quality declining in recent years, as SEO spam and, more recently, AI slop float to the top of searches. As a result, people often turn to the Reddit hack to make Google results more helpful. By adding “site:reddit.com” to search results, users can hone their search to more easily find answers from real people. Google seems to understand the value of Reddit and signed an AI training deal with the company that’s reportedly worth $60 million per year…(More)”.