The Belfer Fellowship was established by the Robert Belfer Family to support innovative research and thought-leadership on combatting online hate and harassment for all. Fellows are drawn from the technologist community, academia, and public policy to push innovation, research and knowledge development around the online hate ecosystem. ADL and the Center for Technology and Society thank the Robert Belfer Family for their dedication to our work, and their leadership in establishing the Fellows program.
The Fireside Chat series provides unique insight into the world of the online hate and harassment ecosystems. Through interviews with Fellows from our Belfer Fellowship cohorts, we explore the relationships between digital technology and key social developments; discussing both the prosocial and harmful aspects tied to these developments, and unpacking some popular as well as some lesser known solutions to address these challenges.
Episode 1: Technology Mediated Harassment with Professor Ari Waldman
Ari is a Professor of Law and Computer Science at Northeastern University. He is a widely published scholar, including two books, Privacy As Trust: Information Privacy for an Information Age, and an upcoming book, Privacy’s Vicious Cycle, and more than 25 articles published in leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals.
Professor Waldman has won numerous awards and fellowships for his scholarship. Notably, he won the Best Paper Award at the Privacy Law Scholars Conference twice, in 2017 and 2019, as well as the Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award in 2019.
Episode 2: Livestreaming and Online Hate with Professor Gabriela Richard
Gabriela is an Assistant Professor of Learning, Design and Technology at Pennsylvania State University. Professor Richard conducts research on the ways that diverse youth and adults engage in learning, collaboration, and identity formation, focusing specifically on computing, gaming, and live-streaming.
Professor Richard is the co-author of the book, “Diversifying Barbie and Mortal Kombat: Intersectional Perspectives and Inclusive Designs in Gaming”. She also runs the Playful Learning and Inclusive Design Research Group, where Penn State students conduct research on gaming.
Episode 3: Livestreaming and Online Hate with Professor Brendan Nyhan
On today’s episode, we interview Professor Brendan Nyhan, a Belfer Fellow from the 2019-2020 cohort. Professor Nyhan is an American political scientist and professor in the Department of Government in Dartmouth College. He is a leading researcher and thought-leader on misinformation, misperception and conspiracy theories. He is the author of the book “All the President's Spin”, a New York Times bestseller that Amazon.com had named one of the ten best political books. Professor Nyhan is also a contributor to The Upshot blog at The New York Times and a co-founder of Bright Line Watch, a watchdog group that monitors the status of American democracy.