Groundtruth and Airwaves: Sensor Networks and Emerging Technology for Environmental Journalism

Symposium, April 30, 1pm – 5pm | Banatao Auditorium, Sutardja Dai Hall, University of California, Berkeley

Presented by: Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and CITRIS (Center for Information Research in the Interest of Society)

$20 for general admission / $10 for faculty and staff / $5 for students

Technology–as remote as satellites and as close as our smartphones–offers new opportunities for collecting data about environmental topics. Evidence of rising sea levels, poor air quality, noise pollution and more can now be gathered from wireless sensor networks, open public data sets, and user-generated data from social media platforms. These tools make it simpler to gather, analyze and visualize data, helping to drive news stories for journalists and more thoughtful engagement and advocacy by activists.

Yet vexing climate problems or environmental health hazards may not fit neatly into data sets or be available for affected locales. In developing countries, where 80% of the world’s population resides and where environmental degradation is felt most acutely, environmental hotspots are often “data deserts.” What does this rise of “sensor journalism” mean for environmental news?

“Groundtruth and Airwaves” will showcase a number of newsworthy environmental and health-related sensor projects currently underway. After a session of Lightning Talks, working journalists from around the world will join a panel of technology experts and research scientists to explore opportunities and challenges found at the nexus of DIY sensors, crowdsourced data, and environmental and health journalism. What are the implications of new technology for the future of journalism? What role does crowdsourced data play in creating new media narratives about our environment? Are sensors really making a difference for journalism and news production, or are technology tools and platforms limited to the domain of research scientists and the most tech-savvy news organizations?

Advanced registration is required http://groundtruthandairwaves.eventbrite.com

KEYNOTE:

Nadav Aharony, Behavio, Funf, Google, SXSW Tech Challenge WinnerDr. Nadav Aharony is co-founder and CEO at Behavio. He completed his PhD at the MIT Media Lab’s Human Dynamics group, where he investigated the use of mobile phones as social and behavioral sensors, conducted one of the largest mobile data experiments done in academia, and initiated the open source mobile sensing platform that became “Funf.org”: http://funf.org. Nadav was also a Fellow at the MIT Center for Civic Media for 3 years, since its inception, where he worked on topics of mobile and social activism. Most recently Nadav worked at Google, as a product manager in the Android team. He has over 10 years of industry experience in engineering, product management, and business development roles, in organizations ranging from startups to corporate environments. He holds a PhD and MS degrees from the MIT Media Lab, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering cum-laude from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.