Berkman Center Announces 2014-2015 Community

Cambridge, MA - The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University today announced the fellows, faculty associates, and affiliates who will join the community in the 2014-2015 academic year, continuing a tradition of providing a home for some of the most incisive minds in law, technology, and social science, alongside path-breaking entrepreneurs and activists.

“The incoming class of Berkman fellows, associates, and affiliates brings together an extraordinary group of thinkers, explorers, researchers, creators, bridge-builders, movers, and shakers from various disciplines and different parts of the world" said Urs Gasser, Berkman's Executive Director and Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. "Collectively, they reflect the breadth and depth of a rapidly evolving Internet & society research agenda and form part of an expanding human and institutional network focused on such issues. We're thrilled to work with such a diverse, talented, inspired, and committed group of colleagues and friends over the next academic year and beyond."

The diverse class of fellows will primarily work in Cambridge, MA alongside Berkman Directors and staff, and will serve as key instigators within the vibrant research community. Honoring the networked ethos central to Berkman, faculty associates and affiliates from institutions the world over will actively collaborate with the Berkman community through an array of channels. These relationships, as well as the countless fruitful engagements with alumni, partners, students, interns, and other colleagues, are fundamental to the Berkman Center’s work and identity, and serve to increase the capacity of the field and generate opportunities for lasting impact.

Joining the community in 2014-2015 as Berkman fellows:

Ellery Roberts Biddle will write, coordinate coverage, and lead cross-disciplinary research on bloggers and online activists under threat in her role as the editor of Global Voices' Advocacy project.

Monica Bulger, Research Associate at the Oxford Internet Institute and independent research consultant, will collaborate with a global network to analyze policy and provision related to children’s rights in the digital age and advance understanding of the role of digital literacy in reducing youth’s risky behaviors online.

Neal Cohen, a New York and English qualified lawyer at White & Case LLP, will research and analyze the global convergence of data protection and privacy laws and their greater impact on society.

Jack Cushman will work with the Harvard Law Library Innovation Lab to develop a digital preservation network owned and operated by libraries.

Nathanial Freitas, of the Guardian Project and Tibet Action Institute, will develop an online resource that assists in mapping the intersection between cryptography, communications law and actual enforcement, to give "liberation tech" tool developers insight into the legal risks that their users might face.

Erhardt Graeff, a Ph.D. candidate at the MIT Media Lab and MIT Center for Civic Media and a founding trustee of The Awesome Foundation, will be working on the future of civics education by investigating design principles for civic technologies that promote reflection.

Sam Gustin, a journalist exploring the intersection of technology, media, and politics, will focus on U.S. communications and broadband policy from the national to the local level.

Maggie Koerth-Baker, freelance science journalist, New York Times Magazine columnist, and science editor at BoingBoing.net, will study the process, history and ethics of medical development and human testing, with a particular focus on the flu vaccine. She is a Nieman-Berkman Fellow in Journalism Innovation.

Kate Krontiris, independent researcher, strategist, and facilitator focused on civic life in America, will explore two topics: 21st century girlhood, and Americans' awareness of their government's presence in their lives.

Miguel Paz Rueda, journalist, former Knight ICFJ Fellow, and founder and CEO of Poderomedia, an organization that promotes transparency and digital innovation, will study new data visualization models, innovative news startups, and civic media approaches to building quality sustainable journalism models. He is also a