Inaugural Symposium

Disinformation, Misinformation and Technology: New Ethical Challenges and Solutions

October 7, 2020

All session recordings are available on YouTube

The inaugural event for the Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law will be a half-day symposium on Disinformation, Misinformation and Technology: New Ethical Challenges and Solutions. The symposium positions the Center and Duquesne University in a promising collaboration with significant centers and initiatives at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Santa Clara University, and Seattle University. The symposium convenes leading thinkers from each institution to address the complex ethical challenges posed by and solutions for the problem of misinformation and disinformation.

Co-sponsors

● Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity, Carnegie Mellon University
● Initiative in Ethics and Transformative Technologies, Seattle University
● Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security, University of Pittsburgh
● Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University

Participants

● Kathleen Carley, Director of the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems and Director of the Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity, Carnegie Mellon University
● Michael Colaresi, William S. Dietrich II Chair of Political Science and Academic Director of Pitt Cyber, University of Pittsburgh
● David Danks, L.L. Thurstone Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University
● Brian Green, Director of Technology Ethics, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
● Beth Hoffman, Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
● Jane Moriarty, Carol Los Mansmann Chair in Faculty Scholarship, Duquesne University
● Michael Quinn, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering and Executive Director of the Initiative in Ethics and Transformative Technologies, Seattle University
● Pamela Walck, Assistant Professor of Multiplatform Journalism, Duquesne University

Program

Disinformation, Misinformation and Technology: New Ethical Challenges and Solutions
October 7, 2020

1-1:10 - Welcome - President Ken Gormley, Duquesne University

1:10-1:50 - How misinformation and disinformation works

● Kathleen Carley, Director of the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems and Director of Director of the Center for Informed Democracy and Social Cybersecurity, Carnegie Mellon University

1:50-2:20 - Political dimensions of misinformation and disinformation

● David Danks, L.L. Thurstone Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University

● Michael Colaresi, William S. Dietrich II Chair of Political Science and Academic Director of Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security, University of Pittsburgh

2:20-2:30 - Break

2:30-3 - The import of information technologies for public health (e.g., COVID) and the disenfranchisement and empowerment of vulnerable populations through mis/disinformation

● Beth Hoffman, Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

● Pamela Walck, Assistant Professor of Multiplatform Journalism, Duquesne University

3-3:30 - Legal considerations (e.g., free speech)

● Michael Quinn, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering and Executive Director of the Initiative in Ethics and Transformative Technologies, Seattle University

● Jane Moriarty, Carol Los Mansmann Chair in Faculty Scholarship, Duquesne University

3:30-3:40 - Break

3:40-4:10 - Keynote: building communities of trust

● Brian Green, Director of Technology Ethics, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University

410-4:40 - From Diagnosis to Treatment: Responses to the (Dis)information Ecosystem