Registration: PIT-UN Convening at Boston University (October 12-13, 2023) Boston University (BU), in partnership with New America’s PIT program, will host the annual Public Interest Technology University Network (PIT-UN) Convening on October 12-13, 2023 at the newly constructed Center for Computing & Data Sciences.
Applications Open to Become a SERC Scholar! SERC (Social and Ethical Responsibilities in Computing) Scholars Program is now open for applications for the 2023-2024 cohort! This program is open to undergraduate and graduate students across MIT.
From the Press: “Building the Public Interest Technology Infrastructure of the Future” The Stanford Social Innovation Review
Interviews 3D Software to Boost Low-Cost Housing Options: Encoding Architecture with Larry Sass Larry Sass is an architectural designer and researcher exploring digital design and fabrication across scales. Sass offers a compelling case for 3D modelling software as a challenge to current industry standards to democratize housing construction as a process.
Interviews Technology and Nature: Protecting Biodiversity for Public Good with Aditi Jha Aditi Jha is a 2023 Sloan Fellows MBA at MIT Sloan. She has worked with the World Bank, the UN and large conglomerates on integrating sustainability (ESG) across high environmental impact sectors like transport, energy, and agriculture.
Defining Public Interest Technology: A Conversation with ChatGPT In the past year, ChatGPT has become the focus of intense discussion. Its inventors and advocates should consider carefully both the ways that tools like ChatGPT can be used and the guardrails that need to be constructed so that artificial intelligence (AI) is not used unfairly or inappropriately.
“Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights: Making Automated Systems Work for the American People” The White House
“The Case for Digital Public Infrastructure” The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
Digitalization and the City: Connectivity as a Tool for Identifying Systemic Gaps with Surbhi Agarwal Surbhi Agrawal is an architect, urban designer and Master in City Planning candidate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at MIT. She is also a part of the Senseable City Lab. Agrawal’s work lies at the intersection of urban planning and digital technologies in cities.
Transit Optimization: Technology Shaping the Future of Work and Mobility with Jim Aloisi and Jinhua Zhao Fundamental changes to how we work and commute have forced public transit agencies to contend with a new normal after the Covid-19 pandemic. Jim Aloisi and Jinhua Zhao of MIT's Transit Lab propose a way forward.
What is the Public Interest Technology University Network (PITUN)? The Public Interest Technology University Network (PITUN) includes sixty-three universities across the United States.[1] Each approaches Public Interest Technology (PIT) in its own way. As a group, PITUN aims to build a new field of study. With help from the New America Foundation, PITUN provides grants through network challenges
Featured What is the Public Interest Technologist? The Public Interest Technologist is a new online publication aimed at helping the MIT community think together about the social responsibilities of students, faculty, staff and alumni who design and implement technologies of various kinds.
