On Saturday 5th April 2025, at 14:30 IST (09:00 UTC) Internet Society India Mumbai Chapter (ISOC Mumbai) presents ‘Vision for Accessible Internet: Bridging the Digital Divide for the Visually Impaired‘. Part of the Internet Governance Praxis Series, this panel discussion, located in Meghalaya, India, will discuss deployment of effective strategies that improve Internet access for the visually impaired. This event will focus on practical solutions, sharing expertise, and exploring innovative technologies to make the Internet more accessible.
PANEL Jitendra Dkhar – Managing Director / Co-founder, Blind Lead Trust (BLT) Dylan Robby – Planning Officer, State Resource Centre on Disability Affairs, Meghalaya Amrut Deshmukh – Founder, Booklet / Make India Read Yash Agarwal – Founder, Public Policy India (PPI) / Stakeholder Engagement Manager, South Asia, ICANN
PRESENTATION – Internet Shutdowns Badapbiang Tariang Dkhar – Research Fellow, National Law University, Meghalaya
RESPONDENTS Rajesh Tiwari – ex Deputy Secretary, Social Welfare, Government of Chhattisgarh Charles Mok – Trustee, Internet Society Dr. Ashutosh Pathak – Vice Chair, ISOC Accessibility Standing Group (ISOC ASG) Bridget Warshong – Deputy Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, Meghalaya
On Saturday March 29, 2025, BetaNYC hosted NYC School of Data 2025 at CUNY School of Law in Queens. This year’s event celebrated the 13th anniversary of the City’s transformative open data law and concluded NYC Open Data Week 2025. NYC School of Data is a community driven conference with a focus on open data, civic technology, and service design.
The main stage was webcast via ISOC.LIVE. ASL interpretation will be provided. Other tracks were recorded and made available via the BetaNYC YouTube channel. Much appreciation to Reinvent Albany for the funding support.
01 Opening Session Jazzy Smith – Chief of Staff, BetaNYC Martha Norrick – Chief Analytics Officer, Office of Technology and Innovation Hon. Kristen Gonzalez – Chair, Internet and Technology Committee, New York State Senate Noel Hidalgo – Executive Director, BetaNYC YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
02 Congestion Pricing: Data Lessons From the First Three Months Matt Yarri – Data Science Manager, MTA YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
03 Mapping Urban Ecologies: The Need for Data for Achieving Biodiverse Places Andrew Buck – Senior Urban Planner & Technologist, VHB Novem Auyeung – Director of Research & Monitoring, NYC Parks Michael Treglia – Lead Scientist, NY Cities Program, The Nature Conservancy Kirk Gordon – Associate, SCAPE Naeema Haque – Development and Strategy Manager, BetaNYC YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
04 A year of using AI @ citymeetings.nyc: what it took, how it works, and the impact it has had Vikram Oberoi – citymeetings.nyc YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
05 Congestion Pricing, As Seen Through DOT Cameras Isaac Donis – Organizer, Transit Techies Tim Harris – Founder, timotheus YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
06 Machine Readable Laws: How LLMs can help democratize NYC Administrative Code Jordan Shapiro – Founder, JD Digitalization YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
07 Pulling Out All the Stops for a Stop Sign: Lessons From a Long and Winding Road Roisin Ford Josh Sucher – Creative Technologist & UX Researcher YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
08 Ranked Choice Voting in the Big Apple Kathryn Agnas – Data Scientist, NYC Campaign Finance Board YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
09 Turnout for What: An Exploration of Voter Engagement Using Open Data Malika Mohan Jen Yeaton YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
10 Intro to NYCDB: Exploring NYC Open Data with the Housing Data Coalition Maxwell Austensen Steve Giordano Ry Zhu Itzamna Huerta YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
11 Creating a Multimodal Urban Planning Simulation for Diverse Publics using NYC Open Data Katie McMillan Culp – Chief Learning Officer, New York Hall of Science Jenna Lang – Content Producer, Trivium Interactive Andrew Kittredge – Civic Innovation Lab Director, BetaNYC Amelia Merker – Exhibits Manager, NYSCI YOUTUBE | AUDIO
12 Navigating the NYC Open Data Infrastructure for Community-Based Organizations: A conversation Yuki Mitsuda – Manager, Analytics and Data Strategy, NYC Housing Preservation and Development Kevin Lee – Director of Data Analytics, Breaking Ground Angelica Bravo – Director of Data, Evaluation, and Learning, University Settlement Glenda Perez – Senior Research Scientist, NYC CIDI Lauri Goldkind – Professor, Fordham YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
13 Analyzing Flood Insurance Claim Trends in New York City: Insights from FEMA’s NFIP Data Mark Bauer – Data Scientist Tiffany Cousins – Spatial Data Scientist & Researcher, Cousins Analytics LLC YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
14 Best of the MTA Open Data Challenge Lisa Mae Fiedler – Open Data Manager, MTA Are NYC Subway Stops Ready for Every Student? – Huda Ayaz, Olivia Fratangelo, Taseen Islam The Museum of Transversal Art – Bianca Ng Lately on the MTA – Noah Gunther If you Give a Rat a MetroCard – Will Meyers Subway Stories – Jediah Katz, Marc Zitelli YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
15 Good Cause Eviction Screener: A data-driven approach to bolster tenant rights in NYC Corey Brown – Design Lead, JustFix Ki Wan Sim – Senior Software Engineer, JustFix YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
16 Learning about the NYC Urban Forest through the Latest High-Resolution Tree Canopy Data Uma Bhandaram – Deputy Chief, NYC Parks & Recreation Michael Treglia – Lead Scientist, NY Cities Program, The Nature Conservancy YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
17 OSCUR: A Platform for Understanding Urban Data – Demonstration and Introduction Graham Dove – Assistant Professor, NYU Fabio Miranda – Assistant Professor, University of Illinois Chicago YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
18 Using Data for Budget Transparency with IBO: Stormwater Fees, Police Overtime Trends, and the State of NYC’s Public Education Valerie Gudino – Budget & Policy Analyst, Public Safety, NYC IBO Emma Gossett – Budget & Policy Analyst, NYC IBO Jordan Paige – Lead Environmental Budget & Policy Analyst, NYC IBO YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
19 Learn NYC Zoning with Open Data, Paper Models, and Augmented Reality! Nick Kaufmann – Community Manager, InCitu Pablo Sepúlveda – Zoning Lead, zlvas Ziv Schneider – Head of Design, InCitu YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
20 Beyond the Data: The Tech Driving City Council Programs Johnathan Chei – Assistant Deputy Director, Web Development Unit Alaa Moussawi – Chief Data Scientist Frank Perez – Community Engagement Division Brad J. Reid – Deputy Director, Legislative Division Yogi Rosario-Doran – Community Engagement Division Ahmad Zaki – Full-stack Developer, Legislative Division YOUTUBE
21 A Conversation with MTA Data & Analytics Andrew Kuziemko – Deputy Chief, Data & Analytics Preksha Agarwal – Product Manager Ben Tannenwald – Senior Data Scientist Gayan Seneviratna – Senior Data Scientist Lisa Mae Fiedler – Open Data Manager Hannah Spierer – Senior Manager, Policy & Coordination, MTA YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
22 Defending Affordable and Stable Housing: Progress and Problems Ian G. Williams – Doctoral Student, PhD Program in Social Welfare, CUNY Sam O’Hana Holden Taylor YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
23 FloodNet – Event based flood data for climate resilience Charlie Mydlarz – Research Associate Professor, NYU CUSP Bea Steers – Embedded Developer, FloodNet NYC Ricardo Toledo-Crow – Director, Next Generation Environmental Sensor Lab, CUNY ASRC YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
24 How Crosswalk Labs Maps Nationwide Neighborhood-Level CO2 Emissions Data and Benchmarks to NYC Building Energy and Water Data Danny Sheehan – Director of Solutions Architecture, Crosswalk Labs YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
25 Open Data in Action: Tracking New York City’s Progress Toward Closing Rikers Island Ashley Santiago – Freedom Agenda Elizabeth Johnson – Data Scientist Richie Lin – Data Manager, Data Collaborative for Justice Michael Rempel – Executive Director, Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
26 Where does NYC Garbage Go? It is now possible to know! Matthew Eshed – Master of Environmental Management, Systems Engineer, Sustainability Specialist Andrew Goh – Data Analyst, ex-Wayfair Samantha MacBride – Assistant Professor, Baruch College, CUNY Jane Wu Shen Xin – Communications Chair, Urban Planner YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
27 Keeping your data safe in 2025 (and beyond!) Davis Erin Anderson – Senior Digital Security Trainer, Freedom of the Press Foundation YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
28 In Code We Trust: Volunteering and Careers in Government & Public Interest Technology Abbey Kos – Board Member, Technologists for the Public Good Noel Hidalgo – Executive Director, BetaNYC Martha Norrick – Chief Analytics Officer, Office of Technology and Innovation Gabe Paley – Assistant Secretary for Technology, Office of Governor Kathy Hochul Jai Rodgers – Talent Community Manager, U.S. Digital Response YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
29 NYC Public Space: Building a mobile map of 3,000 public spaces in New York City Chris Whong – Civic Hacker O.G. YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
30 Urban Risk Index: a NYC Index for Urban Hazards Te Du – Risk Analysis Specialist, NYC Emergency Management YOUTUBE | AUDIO | SUMMARY | TRANSCRIPT
01 – Welcome and Introduction – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Randolph May, President, Free State Foundation
02 – Fireside ‘New Directions in Competition and Consumer Protection Policies’ – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Andrew Ferguson – Chairman, FTC
Co-Moderators: Randolph May / Barry Nigro
03 – Keynote ‘The Indispensable Right: FreeSpeech in an Age of Rage’ – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Jonathan Turley, George Washington University Law School
04 – ‘New Directions in Communications Policy’ – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Rick Cimerman – VP, NCTA Robert Fisher – SVP, Verizon Rosa Mendoza – CEO, ALLvanza
Moderator: Seth Cooper, Free State Foundation
05 – Keynote ‘The View from the Senate’ – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Senator Ted Cruz, Chair, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
07 – ‘Universal Service After the Supreme Court’s Consumers’ Research Decision’ – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Michelle Connolly, Duke University Daniel Lyons, Boston College Law School
Moderator: Randolph May, FSF
08 – Fireside – ‘TMT With Mike O’Rielly’ – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Melissa Holyoak – Commissioner – FCC Ajit Pai – ex-Chair, FCC Nathan Simington -Commissioner, FCC
Moderator: Michael O’Rielly – ex-FCC
09 – Keynote – ‘The View from the House’ – ( YOUTUBE | TRANSCRIPT | SUMMARY ) Rep. Richard Hudson – Chair, House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
The Caribbean region faces severe structural financial challenges, including limited financial connectivity, high transaction costs together with low transaction speed, and dependency on foreign correspondent banks and the US dollar for cross-border transfers. These hurdles restrict regional trade, in particular the development of CARICOM’s Vision 25 by 2025 food and nutrition security initiative and slow the progress of the digital CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
Complementary currencies offer a solution to these barriers by providing additional liquidity, facilitating seamless cross-border transactions, and supporting economic resilience. Furthermore, they may be designed in a manner to foster regional development by appropriately adjusting their core parameters. Carib$, a Caribbean digital, asset-backed complementary currency, has proven its functionality in 2024 several times and at the same time has generated significant interest amongst multilaterals and within the agricultural sector.
HOST Rodney Taylor – Secretary-General, Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU)
PRESENTERS Gianlucca Dettori – Chairman, Sardex Pay Dr. Jan Schröder – Co-Founder and Chief System Architect, Carib$ Dr. Wendell Samuel – Assistant Secretary-General, CARICOM
PANEL – The Road to Integration Hon. Saboto Cesar – Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries, Rural Transformation, Industry and Labour, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Dr. Patrick Antoine – Chief Executive Officer, CARICOM Private Sector Organisation John Outridge – Chief Executive Officer. The Trinidad and Tobago Financial Centre
Moderator: Michelle Marius – ICT Pulse
(Video lightly edited for clarity – EN/ES/FR Captions)
The UK government’s recent demand for Apple to create a backdoor in its end-to-end encrypted cloud services raises alarming concerns for online safety, privacy, and cybersecurity. This panel discussion will explore the global implications of this move, particularly how it could set a dangerous precedent for weakening encryption and jeopardizing online safety for individuals, businesses, and civil society.
PANEL Farzaneh Badiei – Founder, Digital Medusa Charles Mok – Trustee, Internet Society Callum Voge – Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy, Internet Society HOST Godsway Kubi – Lead Facilitator, Online Safety SIG
On Friday March 21 2025, at 11:00 EAT (08:00 UTC) the Internet Society Ethiopia Chapter (ISOC Ethiopia) hosts a webinar ‘Digital Parenting Online‘.As technology becomes an integral part of everyday life, parents face new challenges in guiding their children through the digital world. This webinar aims to provide parents, guardians, and educators with practical insights into responsible digital parenting. The session will explore strategies for managing children’s online presence, ensuring digital safety, and fostering a balanced approach to technology use. Experts in child safety, online safety specialists, and digital literacy will share actionable tips to help parents create a safe, productive, and positive digital environment for their children.
SPEAKERS Jennifer Kaberi – Founder Mtoto News (slides) Theorose Elikplim Dzikenu – Research Assistant at Kent State University
Moderator: Dr. Asrat Mulatu – President, Internet Society Ethiopia Chapter
On Saturday 5th April 2025, at 14:30 IST (09:00 UTC) Internet Society India Mumbai Chapter (ISOC Mumbai) presents ‘Vision for Accessible Internet: Bridging the Digital Divide for the Visually Impaired‘. Part of the Internet Governance Praxis Series, this panel discussion, located in Meghalaya, India, will discuss deployment of effective strategies that improve Internet access for the visually impaired. This event will focus on practical solutions, sharing expertise, and exploring innovative technologies to make the Internet more accessible.
