Technology and Public Purpose

The Technology and Public Purpose Project invites you to a hybrid book talk with Hack Your Bureaucracy: Get Things Done No Matter What Your Role On Any Team co-authors, Nick Sinai and Marina Nitze.  

Come learn over 50 tactics, each with real-world examples, for making lasting change in bureaucracies from PTAs and HOAs all the way up to the White House and Fortune 500 companies. Nick and Marina will be joined in conversation with Associate Director of the Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose Project, Amritha Jayanti, who will serve as moderator.  

Speakers and Presenters

Nick Sinai is a HKS Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose Project (TAPP); along with serving as an advisor to the Harvard Open Data Project, Harvard Computer Society's Tech For Social Good, and Upsolve.  He serves on the board of the non-profit Coding It Forward. 

Marina Nitze is currently focused on improving America’s child welfare system. She was previously the Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (2013-2017), helped found the United States Digital Service, and served as a Senior Advisor on technology in the White House under the Obama Administration.

Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have become flashpoints for what ails democracy. But what if the technologies that power public discourse could serve society’s best interests instead of undermining them? Join William Powers, CEO of Public Mind, best-selling author, and former Washington Post columnist, in conversation with Bina Venkataraman, editor-at-large for The Boston Globe and fellow in the Technology and Public Purpose Program at Belfer, for an in-person discussion on inventing a new future for social media.

RSVP is required. Light refreshments will be served.

The Perspectives of Web3 virtual series led by the Technology and Public Purpose Project convenes a multidisciplinary group of speakers to address the emergence of opportunities and challenges in web3.

Registration is currently open for the third and final session in the series, Policymaking in Web3, happening on December 1st from 4:00-5:00PM ET. 

This event is part three of a special series of convenings conducted through the Democracy and Internet Governance Initiative, hosted by Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. The Initiative focuses on identifying solutions to the harms caused by digital platforms, such as social media. Improving Information Integrity at Scale focuses on addressing wide spread mis- and disinformation. 

The event is co-chaired by Belfer Center Director Ash Carter and Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs.

This event is part two of a special series of convenings conducted through the Democracy and Internet Governance Initiative, hosted by Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. The Initiative focuses on identifying solutions to the harms caused by digital platforms, such as social media. Addressing Networked Harassment and Diminished Press Freedom focuses on harassment of journalists and the decreased trust and freedom of robust news outlets. 

The event is co-chaired by Belfer Center Director Ash Carter and Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs.

This event is part one of a special series of convenings conducted through the Democracy and Internet Governance Initiative, hosted by Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. The Initiative focuses on identifying solutions to the harms caused by digital platforms, such as social media. Countering Extremism and Incitement to Violence Online focuses on addressing radicalization, extremism, and incitement to violence through online platforms. 

The event is co-chaired by Belfer Center Director Ash Carter and Shorenstein Center Director Nancy Gibbs.

The recent decision by Big Tech to ban prominent politicians, including President Donald Trump, and enforce strict content moderation against hate speech, mis/disinformation, and violence is a new precedent that could prove consequential for the future of online speech—and for the future of democracy. 

Join Belfer Center's Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project as it brings together leading experts to discuss the timeliness, constitutionality, and societal implications of Big Tech's latest demonstration of power. 

Join the Technology and Public Purpose Project and the Tech Talent Project on Thursday, November 19th from 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET for a virtual discussion on staffing up President-elect Biden’s administration and the new Congress.

The Boston Tech Hub Faculty Working Group, hosted by former Secretary of Defense and Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Director Ash Carter and Harvard SEAS Dean Frank Doyle, will convene its third and final session of the spring semester on the topic of increasing STEM expertise in the federal government. The session will examine the problem with insufficient scientific and technological expertise in the American federal legislative and executive branches, the types of expertise each body needs to be effective, and potential solutions to mitigate the problem.