Upcoming events
Book Launch
Transparency: New Trajectories in Law
by Dr Rachel Adams
Thursday 3 December 2020, 5pm – 6.30pm
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Online Event (Zoom)
This is, ostensibly, the information age. At the heart of the societal shift toward digitalisation is the call for transparency and the liberalisation of information and data. Yet, with the recent rise of concerns such as ‘fake news’, post-truth and misinformation, where the policy responses to all these phenomena has been a petition for even greater transparency, it becomes imperative to critically reflect on what this dominant idea means, whom it serves, and what the effects are of its power. In response, this book provides the first sustained critique of the concept of transparency in law and policy. It offers a concise overview of transparency in law and policy around the world, and critiques how this concept works discursively to delimit other forms of governance, other ways of knowing and other realities. It draws on the work of Michel Foucault on discourse, archaeology and genealogy, together with later Foucaultian scholars, including Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Judith Butler, as a theoretical framework for challenging and thinking anew the history and understanding of what has become one of the most popular buzzwords of 21st century law and governance
At the intersection of law and governance, this book will be of considerable interest to those working in these fields; but also to those engaged in other interdisciplinary areas, including society and technology, the digital humanities, technology laws and policy, global law and policy, as well as the surveillance society.
Presenter
Dr Rachel Adams, Senior Research Specialist, Human Sciences Research Council, SA and ILPC Associate Research Fellow
Chair
Dr Nora Ni Loideain, Director and Lecturer in Law, Information Law & Policy Centre
Speakers
Dr Fola Adeleke, Senior Lecturer, University of Witwatersrand
Dr Richard Danbury, Senior Lecturer, City University
Prof Adam Gearey, Book Editor, Birbeck
More information and bookings here.
ILPC Seminar Series 2020:
‘Dark design’ in social media, Autonomy and Freedom of Expression
Thursday 10 December 2020, 1.30pm – 2.30pm
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Online Event (Zoom)
Description
There has been increased concern about harmful content on social media, including disinformation and misinformation. It has been suggested that design techniques, especially those to support ‘frictionless communication’ contribute to this problem, yet restrictions on speech give rise to concerns surrounding freedom of expression. These linked issues give rise to a number of questions which is the purpose of the workshop to explore:
a) the impact of design choices on autonomy and consequently speech;
b) the impact of design choices on autonomy and forming and holding an opinion
c) the extent to which controls on design techniques constitute an interference with users’ rights.
Speakers
Dr Konstantinos Kalliris (Essex) (on nudging);
Susie Alegre (Doughty Street Chambers) (opinion)
Discussant
Professor Lorna Woods (Essex/ILPC)
Chair
Dr Nóra Ní Loideain
Director and Lecturer in Law, Information Law & Policy Centre
Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London
More information and bookings here.