Monthly theme - September 2024 - Politics & Media

Published on September 4, 2024

This September's theme in The Data Lab Community is 'Politics & Media'. 

Data and AI have profoundly changed how information is created, disseminated and consumed. In the media, data is used to analyse audience behaviour and automate news production, and algorithms dictate what people do or do not see. Whilst these technologies curate a tailored feed of information for each user, there is a risk this can create echo chambers, reinforce biases, and help to spread misinformation. While AI offers potential solutions for government inefficiency and economic challenges (with some seeing it as a 'silver bullet' capable of transforming ailing government and public services), its growing role in elections and media raises significant ethical concerns, particularly with the rise of deepfakes and synthetic content.

As always, we're keen to hear from members of the community with interest or expertise in this area - so please share any blogs, resources and/or interesting content that you have that's related to the theme! 

Events

We are very excited to have Moffin Njoroge joining us to discuss the work he and his team at Code For Africa (CfA) are doing to tackle disinformation campaigns during African elections. As an impact accelerator and pan-African federation of civic data and technology organisations, Moffin's work at Code For Africa involves employing data and AI technologies to identify and tackle influence operations, information manipulation and interference.

Join us at Bayes Centre or online for our next Data & AI Meetup where we’ll be discussing Data & AI’s impact on politics and media! We're joined by Alan Roden, CEO and Co-founder - Quantum Communication; McKinley Muir, Director of Data Value and Strategy - Financial Times; Steph Wright - Head of Scottish AI Alliance; and Ally Errington Orr, Director of Marketing and Communications - The Data Lab. 

Upcoming themes
Here's a peek at the next themes we have coming up in the community!

  • October - Education
  • November - Data Visualisation

Drop us an email at [email protected] if you'd like to learn more or you'd like to participate in one of our upcoming themes!

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