In April this year, I attended the 10th
World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, Switzerland. as part of the
Faculty of Social Sciences' Global
Leadership Initiative (GLI). I
represented the Information School as a Policy Analyst in a team of eight
students led by Dr. Suay Ozkula
(Sociological Studies) and Dr. Paul Reilly
(Information School). WSIS is a United Nations (UN) multi-stakeholder global
forum that promotes the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines
for advancing UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With a focus on “ICTs for development”,
the Summit identified global trends and new partnerships to help achieve the
SDGs.
In addition to attending various sessions
during the week-long Summit, we worked on blogs and policy briefs on our topics
of interest, which were later published on Global Policy Opinion.
The team also had an opportunity to deliver our own panel during the event. ICTs in the University Environment – 7 Case Studies saw each member discuss innovative uses of ICTs
within Higher Education such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), digital
methods, digital activism, online admission systems and mental health. My talk
focused on e-learning analytics and data usage, as well as Virtual Learning
Environments such as MOLE. A walkthrough of the session was documented by Dr.
Reilly in two parts (1 & 2). The panel allowed
us to highlight our own interests and work as part of a team to deliver an
extremely informative and engaging session (according to several audience
members).
There were many sessions during the
Summit that I found very inspiring. For example Ethical Dimensions of Artificial Intelligence, a panel
hosted by UNESCO, discussed the societal implications of growth in these
technologies. Speakers emphasised the importance of exposing the fallacy of
“objective” data, especially when human biases are inadvertently coded into
algorithms. This was one of several panels on the topic that inspired my Global
Policy blog post on intelligent
systems and big data, co-authored with Dr. Ozkula and Hana Okasha (B.A. Digital
Media & Society). It also reminded me of our Data Science program, where we
have consistently weighed the importance of integrating societal considerations
with the deployment of advanced techniques such as machine learning and AI in
society. It was encouraging to be part of conversations at a global level that
were equally concerned about highlighting and addressing these specific issues.
In line with my evolving interest in
smart cities, I also had the opportunity to follow several sessions on the
subject and quickly came to appreciate the scale of issues that could arise in
its development. This included a very brief but interesting foray into the
threat of quantum computing to blockchain, an emerging platform in the
management of high-volume data in smart cities. More immediate issues, however,
centred around gender balancing approaches in the progress of smart cities. The
session on (En)gendering Smart Cities discussed gender as one of several biases that are inherent in the
technologies used to drive those very goals forward. While it was laudable that
initiatives based on gender analyses were being brought to the fore, equal
emphasis should have been placed on discussing the challenges that are
associated with the deployment of such policies. This was an issue that I
explored in further detail with Dr. Reilly in our policy brief
published with Global Policy. We additionally discussed the advent of the
concept of “smart villages” in connecting rural communities as well as gender
implications that should be considered alongside these efforts.
Despite the intensive but extremely
productive week at the summit, our experience was additionally enriched by a
visit to the UN regional headquarters in Geneva for an informative tour of its
premises as well as history of its operations. The experience was further
enhanced by the company of our outstanding team from Sheffield represented by
members of diverse backgrounds, interests and outlooks who complemented each
other well. Our daily commute to and from the summit and after hours provided
further opportunities for building friendships, discussing our experiences at
the summit, Sheffield and life, and generally being helpful and encouraging of
each other throughout the week. It is my belief that being a part of this
exceptional team provided an important foundation for an immensely educational,
successful and enjoyable experience at WSIS 2019. Moreover, this experience,
with invaluable guidance and support from Dr. Ozkula and Dr. Reilly, has
further enhanced my studies at the Information School by providing the added
dimension of gaining first-hand practice in learning and effectively
communicating ideas as they are transformed to policy at the highest levels.
This will definitely be an experience that stays with and serves me for life,
among many others that have been made possible during my time at the University
of Sheffield.
Evelyn
Baskaradas
MSc Data Science
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