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 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 tech projects and programs at the Belfer Center on Wednesday, September 25th from 4:30-6:30pm at Beat Brew Hall for informal networking and the opportunity to learn more about our work and how you can get involved!

**RSVP Required**

Kara Swisher, Editor-at-Large of Recode, discusses the intersection of technology and public purpose with former Secretary of Defense and current Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Ash Carter.

This two hour exploration on the unintended impacts of technology on society will feature a keynote address by Ash Carter, former US Secretary of Defense and now the Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. Secretary Carter will be followed by a panel discussion of business, government, and academic leaders on how we can work together to ensure the next generation of technologies serve overall human good. Confirmed panelists include David Eaves, Lecturer at HKS and Director of Digital HKS, and Chris Lynch, Founding Director of the Defense Digital Service at the U.S. Department of Defense, Steve Strassmann, Senior Architect at Kyruus and former Chief Technology Officer of Massachusetts, and Laura Manley, Director of the Technology and Public Purpose Project at Harvard's Belfer Center.