Big If True

The Technology and Social Change Research Team at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center will describe the phenomenon of “zoom bombing,” the act of hijacking a virtual meeting, and its consequences. This is not a Zoom training, it is an overview of security concerns surrounding Zoom and research relating to “Zoom bombing.” While many of us […]

Joan Donovan, Research Director of the Shorenstein Center, will host a conversation with Nancy Gibbs, Director of the Shorenstein Center and former Editor in Chief of TIME Magazine, Setti Warren, Executive Director of the Shorenstein Center and former Mayor of Newton MA, and Rob Faris, author of Network Propaganda and Senior Researcher at the Shorenstein […]

This webinar will explore how COVID-19 has exacerbated existing inequalities, fueled xenophobia, and harmed marginalized groups. How can policymakers, civil society, and media mitigate against discrimination by shining a light on health disparities? What does xenophobia look like in a time of social distancing? How has misinformation and disinformation inflamed these divides? And what can […]

This week BIG, If True welcomes Ashish Jha, Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute in conversation with Setti Warren, Executive Director of the Shorenstein Center and former Mayor of Newton MA. What do public health advocates need to know about misinformation research? Like our hospitals, our information systems are completely overwhelmed with questions, ranging […]

Do you ever wonder why certain technologies get made and others don’t? Most of the time the problem is resources, other times it’s because of breakthrough innovation, but in every case it’s also about politics. From “not in my backyard” campaigns shutting down nuclear power to activists fighting back against facial recognition, technology is a […]

In this week’s episode of BIG, If True, our host Joan Donovan, PhD asks: should we trust our search engines? Have joint industry efforts - led by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, YouTube, Twitter, Reddit and LinkedIn - to limit misinformation been successful? How are new content policies specific to COVID-19 being enforced? And if so, at […]

Join us this week on BIG, If True as our host Joan Donovan dives into the promises and perils of communicating science to public audiences. While trust in our politicians and the press has waned in recent years, trust in scientists has remained remarkably steady. However, as we chart out new uncertainties and complex facts […]

In this episode of BIG, If True we’ll discuss the politicization of science and technology, looking closely at controversies about preprints, scientific articles posted to archives before they have been peer reviewed. In recent months, preprints have become a prefered way to get new findings into the hands of other scientists quickly, allowing researchers around […]

This week, BIG, If True, welcomes Lodrina Cherne, a digital forensics expert and Instructor at the SANS Institute in conversation with Joseph Menn, an investigative reporter on Cybersecurity at Reuters and Josephine Wolff, PhD an assistant professor of cybersecurity policy at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. In this moment of unrest, […]

In this episode of BIG, If True, we’ll reflect on the hybrid battles being waged by journalists, activists, and dissidents against censorship and disinformation in Southeast Asia. The discussion will trace the genesis of the recent attacks on the freedom to expression, from the rise and fall of the Anti-Fake News Act in Malaysia to […]

Join us this week for BIG, If True as we delve into the formidable struggle against the deployment of facial recognition technology. In light of the recent wave of Black Lives Matter protests, there are distressing concerns that facial recognition software is being used to target and catalogue people engaging in protected speech and assembly. […]

In this week’s episode of BIG, If True, our host Joan Donovan, PhD asks: what can mis- and disinformation scholars learn from the security studies field? What happens when security threats are inflated by governments? And how do security scholars analyze and account for civil liberties against the rise of digital search tools and surveillance?