Death and digital civil society Last week's episode of the Raw Data podcast is mostly about death. That said, the last 7 minutes or so include some thoughts from me about our relationships to our digital data, why we need new rules for this resource, and why it matters during life as well
Civil society's (and philanthropy's) digital roots Today's assigned readings on digital civil society: * Neil Richards, The iPhone Case and the Future of Civil Liberties, Boston Review, February 2016 * Neil Richards, Apple's Code = Speech Mistake, Technology Review, March 2016 * Cathy O'Neill, The Ethical Data Scientist, Slate, February 2016 Cathy O'
It's the data, stupid (note to self) Last Friday I was part of the International Data Responsibility Group's second conference where I heard incredible examples of how the World Food Programme is using data to guide its work feeding people in conflict zones and thought long and hard about data collaboratives and the possibility of
Let the lawsuits begin We launched digitalIMPACT.io on Tuesday at the Data on Purpose conference. It was great. One of the conversations I had during the event was initiated by someone asking me the question, "When will the lawsuits begin?" The point was that organizations won't change until they
Ranking Digital Rights The Ranking Digital Rights initiative is important. Take a look. Like the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Who has your back report" these efforts analyze, report on, and rank the privacy-respecting practices of corporations and online companies. So, what about civil society? The Foundation Center's Glasspockets
Raw Data - the podcast Podcasts are in again. I know you know that. Photo: http://worldview.stanford.edu/blog-posts?field_categories_multiple_target_id=546 I was recently asked by the amazing folks at Worldview Stanford, who have included me in some of their regular campus programming, to do an interview for their new
@czi Alternative interpretations As if maintaining this blog weren't enough, I've jumped on the Medium bandwagon. You can find my stories here, the Lab's posts here, and a publication called The Development Set here. Here's a piece I wrote about how the discussions about the
The digital rights agenda for civil society As always, talking with smart people makes me smarter. Last week at lunch Henry Timms asked, "What is it, Lucy? What is the digital rights agenda for civil society?" Since it's Henry, I knew I needed a sharp, pithy answer (preferably tweetable). "Three things matter
Nonprofits, data, and privacy How would you react if you had to include your social security number alongside your name and address on charitable donations you made so that the nonprofit could then report that information as part of its public filings? Let me guess...you'd say no way. That can'
Yes! More Philanthropy Forecasting InsidePhilanthropy has just published its 2016 philanthropy forecast. Check it out Ever since 2010 when I first published the Blueprint I've been hoping others would set their minds to discussing trends and near-term futures. So glad to see InsidePhilanthropy doing so. And here are some Development Forecasts (H/
Digital civil society requires analog civil society action This video from the Open Society Foundations sums up the promise and peril of digital data, infrastructure, and governance to civil society. It is no coincidence that threats to civil society are increasing as we become more digitally dependent "Solidarity between the online blogger and the gay rights activist,
What is it about the nonprofit structure? You’ve probably heard about OpenAI — a new, billion dollar nonprofit to focus on artificial intelligence research that is good for humanity. In their own words: “OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company. Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit
Philanthropy Buzzwords 2016 (and back to 2007) Blueprint 2016: Philanthropy and the Social Economy is now available. You can get your FREE copy via Grantcraft here. This year's Blueprint has a worksheet focused on some of the big themes designed for nonprofits and foundations to use as part of organizational development or strategic planning processes
$45 billion ought to get your attention That's the current value of the funds Mr. Zuckerberg and Dr. Chan have announced they will dedicate to social purposes. In doing so they are sending a clear signal that they recognize the choices available to them (and, indeed, all of us) and have chosen to use them
Democracy in digital times I'm honored to have had my first ever newspaper article published in Portuguese in the Brazilian paper Gazeta do Povo. It was published as part of the first ever Semana da Democracia - Democracy Week. The link above will take you to the article, there's a
Money, Data, and Democracy I'm proud to have submitted this commentary on a new tool from The Foundation Center - a map of democracy funding. The following post was written for PhilanTopic and originally appeared on PhilanTopic here. They're running a series of posts on democracy as we head into
Ethical, safe, and effective digital data use in civil society The Digital Civil Society Lab held workshop on ethical, safe and effective digital data use in civil society. A synthesis of the meeting and two DRAFT tools we developed are online here. We welcome your feedback
policy Provocations on American Foundations and Policy American foundations sometimes fund advocacy or policy analysis or community organizing as part of their strategies for particular types of social change. But who advocates on behalf of foundations about philanthropic policy? And what are the policy domains that matter to foundations as enterprises? In 2013 my Stanford colleague Rob
An index we really need We've been measuring philanthropic giving for decades. There are several directories and annual tallies of American charitable giving. For about the last decade, the impact investing movement has been trying to establish definitions, baselines, and annual measurements. It's a work in progress, but they're
Digital Philanthropy There’s a new research journal — RIO- that is an experiment in opening up science. As the description says "All outputs of the research cycle, including: project proposals, data, methods, workflows, software, project reports and research articles together on a single collaborative platform. Watch a short video explaining RIO
The blockchain and civil society (Photo; BTC Keychain) A lot of the excitement about the blockchain - the distributed ledger technology that undergirds currencies such as bitcoin - has to do with the potential of distributed authority and record keeping. Super enthusiasts think it could do away with traditional regulatory practices and intermediaries. I think
A memorial to free speech This stopped me in my tracks this morning. Apropos my comments about park benches on the Internet, let us hope we don't yet need to memorialize free speech. (Valencia Street, San Francisco, August 17, 2015.) In case you can't read the plaque, here's a
Park benches on the internet Park benches are really important. They are places where you can grab a seat by yourself and read without anyone else knowing what you're reading. Or sit with a friend and chat and not be overheard. Or step out at midday with a work colleague to complain about
When what was new becomes old Alliance Magazine published my article, From the Edge to the Middle, a few months ago and has now made it available for free to everyone. Enjoy.
(what if) we are not alone (photo: http://www.hawking.org.uk/images.html) Today's headlines are bursting with announcements of Yuri Milner's $100 million gift in search of alien life. Professor Hawking (pictured above) accompanied Mr. Milner when he made the announcement. Let's suppose this philanthropic grant is effective.
