TechTank Brookings Institution

On social media, advertisers can use online tools to target people of color in housing, banking, and employment, resulting in limits to the opportunities available to them, and even violations of their civil rights. In this episode, host Nicol Turner Lee is joined by Jinyan Zang, Harvard Kennedy School fellow, and Dominique Harrison of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies to discuss new research on Facebook’s ad model and proposals to remedy such biases.
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As the new school year begins, COVID cases are on the rise again – this time hitting K-12 students, especially those who are unvaccinated and under 12, placing them at risk of hospitalizations and dangerous complications. School closures may once again be imminent if the virus is not better controlled. But students without reliable access to the internet will be left behind once again, and unable to access remote classes and the resources necessary for them to continue their education. Have we closed the digital divide for students since the first wave of the pandemic? And what do schools need to do to ensure that technology is complementing traditional education? 
Brookings TechTank co-host Nicol Turner Lee is joined by Jon Valant, Amina Fazlullah, and Alejandro Roark to discuss these important questions. 

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As the AI economy grows, there is tremendous variation across local and regional economies in how
well-positioned cities are. Some metropolitan areas have tremendous assets and lots of AI-related
activity while others see little activity. Those variations raise interesting questions about which places
are doing well, why, and what other communities can do to boost technology innovation in their local
economies. To learn more, Darrell West is joined by Mark Muro and Sifan Liu, co-authors of a new paper
entitled “AI Cities: The Geography of the AI Economy.”

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The bipartisan infrastructure plan championed by President Biden and passed by the U.S. Senate aims to close America’s racial and rural broadband gaps. What local challenges lie ahead in the deployment of these resources? And what else can policymakers, industry, and civil society do to support these unconnected communities? Host Nicol Turner Lee dives into these issues and more with the Children’s Defense Fund’s Oleta Fitzgerald; Joe Kapp from the National Center for Resources Development, and Barry Toser of Declaration Networks Group.
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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government enacted a relief package designed to help Americans cope with the pandemic and resulting economic downturn. However, inadequate unemployment insurance programs left many people in need without help. To understand the challenges, Darrell West and Annelies Goger discuss the poor performance of unemployment insurance programs due to IT infrastructure, government procurement and inadequate data collection. 
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Vaccination rates are on the rise and several countries, including the United States, are relaxing public health restrictions as they steer toward a full reopening. Digital health certificates, or vaccine passports, are part of these efforts as a number of organizations are requiring proof of vaccination. But while digital health certificates may facilitate a safer reopening and faster economic recovery, technological solutions to vaccine verification also raise valid concerns about the privacy of personal health data and their potential to exacerbate racial and socioeconomic inequities. 
To discuss these issues, host Nicol Turner-Lee is joined by Mark Hall, Jay Stanley and Emily Skahill.
You can listen to the episode and subscribe to the TechTank podcast on Apple, Spotify, or Acast.


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