book discussion

7:45 pm on May 6, 2026 · 2026 (255), book discussion (6), futurism (4), responsible tech (1)

WEBINAR 19 MAY 17:00 UTC – Responsible Tech Book Talk With Carissa Véliz, Author of Prophecy

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Banner for All Tech Is Human Responsible Tech Author Series featuring the book Prophecy by Carissa Véliz, with title and cover art shown side by side Date displayed at bottom: May 19, 2026

Banner for All Tech Is Human Responsible Tech Author Series featuring the book Prophecy by Carissa Véliz, with title and cover art shown side by side Date displayed at bottom: May 19, 2026 REGISTER | ADD TO CALENDAR | PERMALINK

On Tuesday 19 May, 2026, at 13:00 EDT (17:00 UTC) All Tech is Human will host a webinar ‘Responsible Tech Book Talk With Carissa Véliz, Author of Prophecy‘. University of Oxford professor Carissa Véliz will be discussing her new book, ‘Prophecy: Prediction, Power, and the Fight for the Future, from Ancient Oracles to AI‘. with David Ryan Polgar.

Drawing on history’s cautionary tales and modern-day tech companies’ malfeasance, the book purports that big tech’s prophecies are just as shallow, dangerous, and unjust as their ancient counterparts, and contends that the main promise of prediction is not knowledge of the future but domination over others, thus the challenge is to defy those orders and live life on our own terms.

SPEAKERS
Carissa Véliz – Associate Professor of Philosophy, Institute for Ethics in AI
David Ryan Polgar – Founder & President, All Tech Is Human

 

#responsibletech #prophecy #futurism

2:23 pm on May 5, 2026 · 2026 (255), book discussion (6), environment (6)

WEBINAR 21 MAY 12:00 UTC – Book Launch – Platforms and the Planet: Big Tech, Digital Platforms and Environmental Responsibility

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Promotional banner for a book launch webinar titled “Platforms and the Planet: Big Tech, Digital Platforms and Environmental Responsibility.” The event is scheduled for 21 May 2026. The background is dark teal with white text on the left. On the right is the book cover, showing illustrated hands pulling apart a piece of electronic circuitry, symbolizing environmental impact. The book subtitle and editors’ names appear beneath the image. The Emerald Publishing logo is displayed at the bottom left.

Promotional banner for a book launch webinar titled “Platforms and the Planet: Big Tech, Digital Platforms and Environmental Responsibility.” The event is scheduled for 21 May 2026. The background is dark teal with white text on the left. On the right is the book cover, showing illustrated hands pulling apart a piece of electronic circuitry, symbolizing environmental impact. The book subtitle and editors’ names appear beneath the image. The Emerald Publishing logo is displayed at the bottom left. REGISTER | ADD TO CALENDAR | PERMALINK

On Thursday May 21 2026, at 15:00-16:00 EEST (12:00-13:00 UTC) a book launch webinar will be held for ‘Platforms and the Planet: Big Tech, Digital Platforms and Environmental Responsibility‘ (Emerald, 2025).

This volume brings together a multidisciplinary group of authors from across the globe to develop a critical understanding of the environmental responsibility and accountability of digital platforms aka Big Tech), and their role in the sustainability transition.

PROGRAM

Opening and welcome
Adi Kuntsman – Series Editor
Erinma Ochu – Series Editor
Liu Xin – Series Editor

Introduction: Where platforms and the planet collide
Salla-Maaria Laaksonen – University of Helsinki
Mervi Pantti – University of Helsinki
Olga Dovbysh – University of Helsinki

Chapter teaser: Platform opacity in the global e-waste dilemma
Lauren E. Bridges – University of Virginia /
Vusumuzi Maphosa – National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe

Chapter teaser: Understanding moral lapses in design: Cultural biases, beliefs, and narratives as factors of accidental evil
Thomas Olsson – Tampere University

Commentary
Sara Marcucci – Founder and Director, AI + Planetary Justice Alliance

6:45 am on April 23, 2026 · 2026 (255), book discussion (6), data & society (4), infrastructure (21)

POSTPONED – What If We Could Rebuild the Internet?

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Promotional graphic for a Data & Society online book talk. On a teal background, large white text reads: “WHAT IF WE COULD REBUILD THE INTERNET?” Above it: “DATA & SOCIETY – ONLINE BOOK TALK.” At the bottom: “MAY 7, 2026.” On the right side is the book cover *Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up* by Britt S. Paris, featuring a grayscale map-style background with a black title box and a turquoise nameplate at the bottom.

Promotional graphic for a Data & Society online book talk. On a teal background, large white text reads: “WHAT IF WE COULD REBUILD THE INTERNET?” Above it: “DATA & SOCIETY – ONLINE BOOK TALK.” At the bottom: “MAY 7, 2026.” On the right side is the book cover *Radical Infrastructure: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up* by Britt S. Paris, featuring a grayscale map-style background with a black title box and a turquoise nameplate at the bottom.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED | PERMALINK

On Thursday May 7, 2026 Data & Society had planned to host a book talk ‘What If We Could Rebuild the Internet?‘.

If we could start from scratch, how might we rebuild or reimagine the internet to be more just and equitable? In her new book Radical Infrastructures: Imagining the Internet from the Ground Up, Rutgers Associate Professor Britt Paris critically examines and contextualizes the promises, utility, and obstacles to building a completely new internet. Drawing from eight years of interviews, site visits, and document and policy analysis, she examines ongoing alternative internet infrastructure projects and contrasts them with the market-driven solutions that drive the internet’s development today. in a conversation with Mizue Aizeki, executive director of the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience, moderated by D&S postdoctoral fellow Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes, Paris will reflect on the pitfalls and opportunities of existing internet infrastructure, and explore what it will take to develop and maintain a people-centered internet.

SPEAKERS
Britt Paris – Associate Professor of Library and Information Science, School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University
Mizue Aizeki – Founder / Executive Director, Collaborative Research Center for Resilience (CRCR)

HOST / MODERATOR
Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes – Postdoctoral Fellow , Trustworthy Infrastructures, Data & Society

#RadicalInfrastructures #RebuildTheInternet

4:17 am on February 6, 2026 · 2026 (255), book discussion (6), data (9), data governance (8), stanford (12)

Nov 11 2025 – The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance – Aram Sinnreich

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ISOC LIVE

ISOC LIVE VIDEO | AUDIO | RECAP | SLIDES | ARCHIVE | PERMALINK

On November 11, 2025, Stanford’s Tech Impact and Policy Center (TIP) organized a seminar ‘The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance‘. Aram Sinnreich, co-author of “The Secret Life of Data,” explored the unpredictable and often surprising ways in which data surveillance, AI, and algorithms impact our culture and society.

PRESENTER
Aram Sinnreich – Professor, Communication Studies, American University

HOST/MODERATOR
Jeff Hancock – Director, Stanford Tech Impact and Policy Center #DataScience #@StanfordTIP #datagovernance

#DataScience @StanfordTIP

3:00 pm on April 16, 2024 · aram sinnreich (4), book discussion (6), data (9), laura denardis (10)

WEBCAST APR 18 – Book Talk: The Secret Life of Data

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ISOC LIVE

ISOC LIVEOn Thursday April 18 2024 at 1pm-2pm EDT (17:00-18:00 UTC) the Authors Alliance and the Internet Archive host an online book talk ‘The Secret Life of Data‘.

In The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance, authors Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert explore the many unpredictable, and often surprising, ways in which data surveillance, AI, and the constant presence of algorithms impact our culture and society in the age of global networks. Their basic premise: no matter what form data takes, and what purpose we think it’s being used for, data will always have a secret life. How this data will be used, by other people in other times and places, has profound implications for every aspect of our lives—from our intimate relationships to our professional lives to our political systems.

INTRODUCTION
Chris Freeland – Director of Library Services, Internet Archive
Brewster Kahle – Co-Founder and Director, Internet Archive
Dave Hansen – Executive Director, Authors Alliance

SPEAKERS
Aram Sinnreich – Chair, Communication Studies, American University
Jesse Gilbert – interdisciplinary artist, Dark Matter Media

MODERATOR
Laura DeNardis – Director, Center for Digital Ethics, Georgetown University in Washington

LIVESTREAM https://livestream.com/internetsociety/secretlifeofdata

PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM https://bit.ly/448VtRx

REAL TIME TEXT https://bit.ly/3U1Xri8

TWITTER #secretlifeofdata @aram @jesgilbert @LauraDeNardis @internetarchive @Auths_Alliance @mitpress

MASTODON  #secretlifeofdata @[email protected] [email protected]

SIMULCASTS
https://twitter.com/ISOC_Live
https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive
https://www.facebook.com/liveisoc/

ARCHIVE
https://archive.org/details/secretlifeofdata
https://archive.org/details/the-secret-life-of-data (Authors Alliance)

8:52 am on October 28, 2012 · andrew blum (1), book discussion (6), meetup (21), nytc (2), nytech (12)

VIDEO: Andrew Blum: What is the Internet? #nytc #nyc #internet

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Tubes

TubesOn Thursday October 11 2012 the New York Technology Council and ISOC-NY hosted author Andrew Blum discussing his book Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. Andrew’s book, prompted when his Internet was disconnected by a squirrel, accessibly examines the raw physical infrastructure of the network, and the people who put and hold it together. Video is below.

One point he made in the talk was that the only people that wouldn’t give him access to their inner workings were Google. Within days after the talk Google announced a new datacenter info website including a street-view walk-through their Lenoir NC data-center.