On Monday 28 June at 16.00 CET, UNESCO and LiiV, the New York-based company specialising in ethical technology and research into the impact of the digital revolution on human behaviour will launch their global partnership on Digital Anthropology. This emerging field of research reckons with the rapid pace of digital transformation on societies everywhere. Digital platforms like Twitter, TikTok, Tinder, Google, Instagram and YouTube, are dramatically changing human social dynamics, economies and even entire nations.
Following the signing ceremony there will be a Press Briefing at which the following experts will repsond to questions :
- Gabriela Ramos, Assistant Director General, Social & Human Sciences, UNESCO
- John Crowley, Chief of Research, policy and foresight Social & Human Sciences, UNESCO
- James Ingram, LiiV, CEO.
Journalists please register in advance here: Registration
Today, anthropologists, who traditionally provide valuable insights into culture and society, are struggling to keep up with the pace of change to human behaviour. Their methods and tools cannot contend with the impact of the online world. And big data scientists cannot capture and explain human online intentions and behaviors. Without new skills sets, methods and tools to understand how the digital revolution is shaping society and culture, global leaders continue to make decisions in the dark, relying on biased or incomplete data on the modern human experience. This risks increasing our ethical blindspots.
By developing new concepts and methods for Digital Anthropology to mature as a field of academic enquiry and social transformation, this partnership will launch global academic degree programs at universities around the world, and research initiatives and technology to drive this innovative new branch of science forward across both the public and private sector.
The world urgently needs Digital Anthropology to make data more human, and help leaders better understand the needs and experiences of people across the digital world.
We’re excited to partner with UNESCO to launch the field of Digital Anthropology and foster ethical, responsible, and human-rights-based practices in technologies and methods, including personal data protection and non-discriminatory algorithms
- www.digitalanthropology.com (coming soon)
- www.unesco.com/digitalanthropology (coming soon)
- Media Contact: Clare O'Hagan