Dr. Camille Crittenden has recently joined CITRIS as the new Executive Director of the Data and Democracy Initiative (DDI).
CITRIS’s Data and Democracy Initiative seeks to develop new media tools to support active citizens. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s observation that “to be free and to act are the same”, DDI seeks to determine what data people need to take meaningful and informed political action locally, nationally and on the Internet. While there is an overwhelming amount of information available to citizens via the Internet or cable television, these venues provide very few opportunities for the dialogue that is essential for a thriving democracy.
Camille Crittenden joined the Data and Democracy Initiative as Executive Director in May 2012. Prior to this appointment, she served as Executive Director of the Human Rights Center at Berkeley Law, where she was responsible for overall administration of the Center, including fundraising, communications, and outreach, and helped to develop its program in human rights, technology, and new media. She held previous positions as Assistant Dean for Development in the division of International and Area Studies at UC Berkeley and in development and public relations at University of California Press and San Francisco Opera. She holds a Ph.D. from Duke University.