Paper by Annelien Smets: “Designing for serendipity in information technologies presents significant challenges for both scholars and practitioners. This paper presents a theoretical model of serendipity that aims to address this challenge by providing a structured framework for understanding and designing for serendipity. The model delineates between intended, afforded, and experienced serendipity, recognizing the role of design intents and the subjective nature of experiencing serendipity. Central to the model is the recognition that there is no single definition nor a unique operationalization of serendipity, emphasizing the need for a nuanced approach to its conceptualization and design. By delineating between the intentions of designers, the characteristics of the system, and the experiences of end-users, the model offers a pathway to resolve the paradox of artificial serendipity and provides actionable guidelines to design for serendipity in information technologies. However, it also emphasizes the importance of establishing ‘guardrails’ to guide the design process and mitigate potential negative unintended consequences. The model aims to lay ground to advance both research and the practice of designing for serendipity, leading to more ethical and effective design practices…(More)”.
Companies Are Missing The Chance To Improve The World With Their Data
Article by Nino Letteriello: “This September will mark two years since the Data Governance Act officially became applicable across the European Union. This regulation, part of the broader European data strategy, focuses primarily on data sharing between public and private entities and the overall development of a data-driven economy.
Although less known than its high-profile counterparts—the Data Act and especially the Artificial Intelligence Act—the Data Governance Act introduces a particularly compelling concept: data altruism.
Data altruism refers to the voluntary sharing of data—by individuals or companies—without expecting any reward for purposes of general interest. Such data has immense potential to advance research and drive innovation in areas like healthcare, environmental sustainability and mobility…The absence of structured research into corporate resistance to data donation suggests that the topic remains niche—mostly embraced by tech giants with strong data capabilities and CSR programs, like Meta for Good and Google AI for Good—but still virtually unknown to most companies.
Before we talk about resistance to data donation, perhaps we should explore the level of awareness companies have about the impact such donations could have.
And so, in trying to answer the question I posed at the beginning of this article, perhaps the most appropriate response is yet another question: Do companies even realize that the data they collect, generate and manage could be a vital resource for building a better world?
And if they were more aware of the different ways they could do good with data—would they be more inclined to act?
Despite the existence of the Data Governance Act and the Data Act, these questions remain largely unanswered. But the hope is that, as data becomes more democratized within organizations and as social responsibility and sustainability take center stage, “Data for Good” will become a standard theme in corporate agendas.
After all, private companies are the most valuable and essential data providers and partners for this kind of transformation—and it is often we, the people, who provide them with the very data that could help change our world…(More)”.
What Counts as Discovery?
Essay by Nisheeth Vishnoi: “Long before there were “scientists,” there was science. Across every continent, humans developed knowledge systems grounded in experience, abstraction, and prediction—driven not merely by curiosity, but by a desire to transform patterns into principles, and observation into discovery. Farmers tracked solstices, sailors read stars, artisans perfected metallurgy, and physicians documented plant remedies. They built calendars, mapped cycles, and tested interventions—turning empirical insight into reliable knowledge.
From the oral sciences of Africa, which encoded botanical, medical, and ecological knowledge across generations, to the astronomical observatories of Mesoamerica, where priests tracked solstices, eclipses, and planetary motion with remarkable accuracy, early human civilizations sought more than survival. In Babylon, scribes logged celestial movements and built predictive models; in India, the architects of Vedic altars designed ritual structures whose proportions mirrored cosmic rhythms, embedding arithmetic and geometry into sacred form. Across these diverse cultures, discovery was not a separate enterprise—it was entwined with ritual, survival, and meaning. Yet the tools were recognizably scientific: systematic observation, abstraction, and the search for hidden order.
This was science before the name. And it reminds us that discovery has never belonged to any one civilization or era. Discovery is not intelligence itself, but one of its sharpest expressions—an act that turns perception into principle through a conceptual leap. While intelligence is broader and encompasses adaptation, inference, and learning in various forms (biological, cultural, and even mechanical), discovery marks those moments when something new is framed, not just found.
Life forms learn, adapt, and even innovate. But it is humans who turned observation into explanation, explanation into abstraction, and abstraction into method. The rise of formal science brought mathematical structure and experiment, but it did not invent the impulse to understand—it gave it form, language, and reach.
And today, we stand at the edge of something unfamiliar: the possibility of lifeless discoveries. Artificial Intelligence machines, built without awareness or curiosity, are beginning to surface patterns and propose explanations, sometimes without our full understanding. If science has long been a dialogue between the world and living minds, we are now entering a strange new phase: abstraction without awareness, discovery without a discoverer.
AI systems now assist in everything from understanding black holes to predicting protein folds and even symbolic equation discovery. They parse vast datasets, detect regularities, and generate increasingly sophisticated outputs. Some claim they’re not just accelerating research, but beginning to reshape science itself—perhaps even to discover.
But what truly counts as a scientific discovery? This essay examines that question…(More)”
A.I. Is Starting to Wear Down Democracy
Article by Steven Lee Myers and Stuart A. Thompson: “Since the explosion of generative artificial intelligence over the last two years, the technology has demeaned or defamed opponents and, for the first time, officials and experts said, begun to have an impact on election results.
Free and easy to use, A.I. tools have generated a flood of fake photos and videos of candidates or supporters saying things they did not or appearing in places they were not — all spread with the relative impunity of anonymity online.
The technology has amplified social and partisan divisions and bolstered antigovernment sentiment, especially on the far right, which has surged in recent elections in Germany, Poland and Portugal.
In Romania, a Russian influence operation using A.I. tainted the first round of last year’s presidential election, according to government officials. A court there nullified that result, forcing a new vote last month and bringing a new wave of fabrications. It was the first major election in which A.I. played a decisive role in the outcome. It is unlikely to be the last.
As the technology improves, officials and experts warn, it is undermining faith in electoral integrity and eroding the political consensus necessary for democratic societies to function.
Madalina Botan, a professor at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration in Romania’s capital, Bucharest, said there was no question that the technology was already “being used for obviously malevolent purposes” to manipulate voters.
“These mechanics are so sophisticated that they truly managed to get a piece of content to go very viral in a very limited amount of time,” she said. “What can compete with this?”
In the unusually concentrated wave of elections that took place in 2024, A.I. was used in more than 80 percent, according to the International Panel on the Information Environment, an independent organization of scientists based in Switzerland.
It documented 215 instances of A.I. in elections that year, based on government statements, research and news reports. Already this year, A.I. has played a role in at least nine more major elections, from Canada to Australia…(More)”.
Further Reflections on the Journey Towards an International Framework for Data Governance
Paper by Steve MacFeely, Angela Me, Rachael Beaven, Joseph Costanzo, David Passarelli, Carolina Rossini, Friederike Schueuer, Malarvizhi Veerappan, and Stefaan Verhulst: “The use of data is paramount both to inform individual decisions and to address major global challenges. Data are the lifeblood of the digital economy, feeding algorithms, currencies, artificial intelligence, and driving international services trade, improving the way we respond to crises, informing logistics, shaping markets, communications and politics. But data are not just an economic commodity, to be traded and harvested, they are a personal and social artifact. They contain our most personal and sensitive information – our financial and health records, our networks, our memories, and our most intimate secrets and aspirations. With the advent of digitalization and the internet, our data are ubiquitous – we are the sum of our data. Consequently, this powerful treasure trove needs to be protected carefully. This paper presents arguments for an international data governance framework, the barriers to achieving such a framework and some of the costs of failure. It also articulates why the United Nations is uniquely positioned to host such a framework, and learning from history, the opportunity available to solve a global problem…(More)”.
Global Youth Participation Index – GYPI
About: “The GYPI Report offers a powerful, data-driven overview of youth political participation in over 141 countries. From voting rights to civic activism, the report explores how young people engage in politics and where gaps persist. Inside, you’ll find:
- Global rankings and country-level scores across four key dimensions of youth participation: Socio-Economic, Civic Space, Political Affairs and Elections,
- Regional insights and thematic trends,
- Actionable recommendations for policymakers, civil society, and international organisations.
Whether you’re a decision-maker, activist, researcher, or advocate, the report gives you the tools to better understand and strengthen youth participation in public life…(More)”.
Sustainable Development Report 2025
Report by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN): “Ten years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), progress remains alarmingly off-track, with less than 20% of targets projected to be achieved by 2030…The SDR includes the SDG Index and Dashboards, which rank all UN Member States on their performance across the 17 Goals, and this year’s report features a new Index (SDGi), which focuses on 17 headline indicators to track overall SDG progress over time…This year’s SDR highlights five key findings:
The Global Financial Architecture (GFA) must be urgently reformed to finance global public goods and achieve sustainable development. Roughly half the world’s population resides in countries that cannot adequately invest in sustainable development due to unsustainable debt burdens and limited access to affordable, long-term capital. Sustainable development is a high-return investment, yet the GFA continues to direct capital toward high-income countries instead of EMDEs, which offer stronger growth prospects and higher returns. Global public goods also remain significantly underfinanced. The upcoming Ff4D offers a critical opportunity for UN Member States to reform this system and ensure that international financing flows at scale to EMDEs to achieve sustainable development…
At the global level, SDG progress has stalled; none of the 17 Global Goals are on track, and only 17% of the SDG targets are on track to be achieved by 2030. Conflicts, structural vulnerabilities, and limited fiscal space continue to hinder progress, especially in emerging and developing economies (EMDEs). The five targets showing significant reversal in progress since 2015 include: obesity rate (SDG 2), press freedom (SDG 16), sustainable nitrogen management (SDG 2), the red list index (SDG 15), and the corruption perception index (SDG 16). Conversely, many countries have made notable progress in expanding access to basic services and infrastructure, including: mobile broadband use (SDG 9), access to electricity (SDG 7), internet use (SDG 9), under-5 mortality rate (SDG 3), and neonatal mortality (SDG 3). However, future progress on many of these indicators, including health-related outcomes, is threatened by global tensions and the decline in international development finance.
Barbados leads again in UN-based multilateralism commitment, while the U.S. ranks last. The SDR 2025’s Index of countries’ support to UN-based multilateralism (UN-Mi) ranks countries based on their support for and engagement with the UN system. The top three countries most committed to UN multilateralism are: Barbados (#1), Jamaica (#2), and Trinidad and Tobago (#3). Among G20 nations, Brazil (#25) ranks highest, while Chile (#7) leads among OECD countries. In contrast, the U.S., which recently withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO) and formally declared its opposition to the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, ranks last (#193) for the second year in a row…(More)”
From Safer Cities to Healthier Lives: The Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025
World Economic Forum: “As cities become more connected, collaborative sensing is enabling vehicles, traffic systems and emergency services to coordinate in real time – improving safety and easing congestion. This is just one of the World Economic Forum’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025 that is expected to deliver real-world impact within three to five years and address urgent global challenges….The report outlines what is needed to bring them to scale: investment, infrastructure, standards and responsible governance, and calls on business, government and the scientific community to collaborate to ensure their development serves the public good.
This year’s edition highlights a trend towards technology convergence. For example, structural battery composites combine energy with storage design, while engineered living therapeutics merge synthetic biology and precision medicine. Such integration signals a shift away from standalone innovations to more integrated systems-based solutions, reshaping what is possible.
“The path from breakthrough research to tangible societal progress depends on transparency, collaboration, and open science,” said Frederick Fenter, Chief Executive Editor, Frontiers. “Together with the World Economic Forum, we have once again delivered trusted, evidence-based insights on emerging technologies that will shape a better future for all.”
The Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2025
Trust and safety in a connected world:
1. Collaborative sensing
Networks of connected sensors can help vehicles, cities and emergency services share information in real time. This can improve safety, reduce traffic and respond faster to crises.
2. Generative watermarking
This technology adds invisible tags to AI-generated content, making it easier to tell what is real and what is not. It could help fight misinformation and protect trust online…(More)”.
Introducing CC Signals: A New Social Contract for the Age of AI
Creative Commons: “Creative Commons (CC) today announces the public kickoff of the CC signals project, a new preference signals framework designed to increase reciprocity and sustain a creative commons in the age of AI. The development of CC signals represents a major step forward in building a more equitable, sustainable AI ecosystem rooted in shared benefits. This step is the culmination of years of consultation and analysis. As we enter this new phase of work, we are actively seeking input from the public.
As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms how knowledge is created, shared, and reused, we are at a fork in the road that will define the future of access to knowledge and shared creativity. One path leads to data extraction and the erosion of openness; the other leads to a walled-off internet guarded by paywalls. CC signals offer another way, grounded in the nuanced values of the commons expressed by the collective.
Based on the same principles that gave rise to the CC licenses and tens of billions of works openly licensed online, CC signals will allow dataset holders to signal their preferences for how their content can be reused by machines based on a set of limited but meaningful options shaped in the public interest. They are both a technical and legal tool and a social proposition: a call for a new pact between those who share data and those who use it to train AI models.
“CC signals are designed to sustain the commons in the age of AI,” said Anna Tumadóttir, CEO, Creative Commons. “Just as the CC licenses helped build the open web, we believe CC signals will help shape an open AI ecosystem grounded in reciprocity.”
CC signals recognize that change requires systems-level coordination. They are tools that will be built for machine and human readability, and are flexible across legal, technical, and normative contexts. However, at their core CC signals are anchored in mobilizing the power of the collective. While CC signals may range in enforceability, legally binding in some cases and normative in others, their application will always carry ethical weight that says we give, we take, we give again, and we are all in this together.…
Now Ready for Feedback
More information about CC signals and early design decisions are available on the CC website. We are committed to developing CC signals transparently and alongside our partners and community. We are actively seeking public feedback and input over the next few months as we work toward an alpha launch in November 2025….(More)”
Inclusive Rule-Making by International Organisations
Book edited by Rita Guerreiro Teixeira et al: “…explores the opportunities and challenges of implementing inclusive rule-making processes in international organisations (IOs). Expert authors examine the impact of inclusiveness across a wide range of organisations and policy issues, from climate change and peace and security to energy governance and securities regulation.
Chapters combine novel academic research with insights from IO practitioners to identify ways of making rule-making more inclusive, building on the ongoing work of the Partnership of International Organisations for Effective International Rule-Making. They utilise both qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyse the functions and consequences of inclusive rule-making; mechanisms for citizen participation; and the challenges of engaging with private actors and for-profit stakeholders. Ultimately, the book highlights key strategies for maintaining favourable public perceptions and trust in international institutions, emphasizing the importance of making rule-making more accountable, legitimate and accessible…(More)”.