We are an ad-hoc feminist collective of digital rights researchers, design thinkers, artists, journalists and social media specialists. In the last few months we embarked on a digital journey and along the way, we talked to some brilliant people about:
HOW is AI and digital technology shaping our realities, rights, justice, equality ? What are the harms? How can we counter these harms as individuals, communities, governments? What are we hopeful for and how can we fix or overthrow these systems together?
Caroline Sinders is a critical designer and artist. For the past few years, she has been examining the intersections of artificial intelligence, abuse, and politics in digital conversational spaces. She has worked with the United Nations, Amnesty International, IBM Watson, the Wikimedia Foundation and others. Sinders has held fellowships with the Harvard Kennedy School, Google's PAIR (People and Artificial Intelligence Research group), the Mozilla Foundation, Pioneer Works, Eyebeam, Ars Electronica, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Sci Art Resonances program with the European Commission, and the International Center of Photography. Sinders holds a Masters from New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program.
Bojana Kostić is a human rights lawyer and researcher, with a diverse portfolio. She has led legal policy and research initiative on the safety of journalists for Free Press Unlimited, authored academic texts on the intersection of human rights and technology, and carried out research for digital rights initiatives for organizations including the OSCE, ICFJ and UNESCO, including grass-root organizations SHARE Foundation. Bojana uses intersectional perspectives to drive change at the highest levels - specifically in the areas of participatory research and inclusive legislative policy design - addressing obstacles preventing women and other communities at risk of discrimination from equal access to and ability to participate in the digital world. Bojana holds a Research Masters from the University of Amsterdam’s Information Law Program.
Roxy Zeiher is a graphic designer and design researcher living and working between Berlin and London. Particularly interested in critical and contemporary subject areas communicated through design, she pursues a multi-disciplinary creative practice. She interrogates culture with her research-driven design practice that investigates how the designed world, especially new technology, is shaping our behaviour, perception and understanding. She is 1/4 of TROJAN HORSE Club, a creative collective aiming to infiltrate contexts and subjects of cultural and social relevance by using the veneer and shell of design.
Milica Batricević is a community worker, ecologist and feminist activist from Serbia. Her areas of interest include gender and queer theory and media production for social change. She is part of BeFem Feminist Cultural Centre.
Jovana Netković is a communicologist and feminist activist. From journalist work at VICE Serbia, and as an assistant editor of the magazine Liceulice, focusing on the marginalized groups, to an associate within governamental Sector for gender equality and anti-discrimination, she has utililised different approaches to ensure media and gender equality. She is currently a media coordinator at Befem, a feminist cultural center where she works on media programs and outreach campaigns but mostly enjoys the production of the feminist media content. She is most proud of the series of short documentaries - Heroine from the neighbourhood, where together with Milica, they presented women who do amazing things on the local level.
We talked to these brilliant people:
Aviva de Groot works in the Netherlands, currently doing a PhD research at Tilburg University at Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society -TILT. Her background is in law, and that’s all you need to know about Aviva.
Liz O'Sullivan, a VP at Responsible AI monitoring company called Arthur and a technology director at the surveillance technology oversight project. She is an AI activist so she focuses on trying to make sure that while we put AI in so many aspects of our lives that we do it in a fair and transparent way without sacrificing our civil liberties and constitutional rights.
Eliska Pirkova works as Europe policy analyst at Access now and she also leads their content governance work and helps to coordinate global agenda on topics such as freedom of expression online and content governance in general.
Lukáš Likavčan, a philosopher. The topic of AI in his research departs from his general interest in philosophy of technology so as someone being educated in the field of technology he is interested in technology and philosophical implications of AI technologies and what they reveal and say about cultures.
Mutale Nkonde, a founder of the non-profit AI for the People, a communications firm that uses arts and culture to identify racial justice questions being raised by the US of technologies.
Paddy Leersen is a PhD candidate in Information law at the University of Amsterdam. He looks at transparency in social media platforms and how these platforms shape our information environment through the use of complex algorithms and how the law can help us to better understand these effects.
Janus Rose, editor at Motherboard/Vice, is a New York City-based writer, researcher, and educator who studies technology’s impact on privacy and human rights. Her current work explores the impacts of machine learning and AI on activists and marginalized communities. As a journalist, she has previously covered privacy and technology for DAZED Magazine, The New Yorker, VICE, Al Jazeera, and other print and online publications.
Alex Fefegha is the co-founder & head of making at Comuzi, a design and innovation studio, working at the intersection of emerging technology and humans. Alex has been recognized internationally in recent times for his work investigating the ethical implications of AI, algorithmic bias in regards to race and gender and exploring the future technological interfaces that we as humans will interact with. Alex holds a Masters degree in Innovation from Central St Martins.
Thank you brilliant minds for sharing your wisdom and thoughts!
We are also super grateful to the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media and in particular #SAIFE (Spotlight on the Artificial Intelligence and Freedom of Expression) project for their financial support and generosity.
Disclaimer: the opinions expressed on this website are our own and are not intended to reflect the views and positions of the OSCE RFoM.
