Live and digital event in Rome, Italy.
Friday morning from 9:30 to 13:00 live event in Rome at the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Via della Conciliazione, 10
Satellite Event online and live in Milan, Wednesday 16th at 6.30 pm at Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli.
IFDaD 2022 // second edition // November 17th - 18th 2022
INTERNATIONAL FORUM on DIGITAL and DEMOCRACY
Since the first edition of the Forum, in December 2020, the stretching of pandemic control measures constrained furthermore individual freedoms. In some cases, it provided legitimacy to authoritarian shift in frail democratic governance. According to Democracy Index in 2021 global democracy continued its decline and experienced its biggest annual drop since 2010 after the global financial crisis. Whereas even the United States, the stronghold of democracy, in occasion of the Capitol attack, showed to be unshielded to the outburst of illiberal forces.
For fragile democracies difficult times lie ahead. However, if the spirit of democracy and its needs remains strong among people, recovery hopes are also to be placed in the righteous use of digital technologies.
The expected outcome of the Forum is to gain a greater understanding and shared view on how digital technologies can positively affect electoral process and pluralism. As a follow-up of the debate of the first edition, the Forum will explore and develop the interplay between digital technology and data, political participation, and governance. Altogether with two additional focus: the functioning of eGovernment and disinformation.
PROGRAM
Forum’s official language is English.
Times indicated in the program refer to Central European Time (CET)
Friday morning from 9:30 to 13:00 live event in Rome at the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Via della Conciliazione, 10
14:00
Welcome address
Andrea Cangini - Member of the Italian Senate, Segretario Generale at Fondazione Luigi Einaudi Romano Prodi - Former President of the European Commission, Former Italian Prime Minister, co-founder of the International Forum on Digital and Democracy, interviewed by Patrizia Feletig, Chairwoman Associazione Copernicani
15 mins
Romano Prodi
Italian economist and politician who served President of the European Commission as well twice as Prime Minister of Italy.
14:15
Opening Address
Keynote address by Vera Jurová - Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency
Followed by a conversation with Luca De Biase - Media Research Director at Re-Imagine Europa
15 mins
Věra Jourová
Věra Jourová, lawyer, Czech politician, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency.
14:30
Deep Dive
Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
In conversation with Gabriela Ramos - Assistant Director-General for the Social and Human Sciences of UNESCO
Moderator: Erika Staël von Holstein - Chief Executive at Re-Imagine Europa
15 mins
Gabriela Ramos
Served as the Chief of Staff and Sherpa to the G20/G7/APEC in the OECD. Former Director of the OECD Office in Mexico and Latin America and a member of the Mexican foreign service.
Paper highligths – Disinformation session
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS Technology-fuelled disinformation has a toxic societal impact on democratic political culture, providing severe polarisation which damages all institutions essential to democracy Every year the IFDAD’s Program Committee chooses the most interesting papers on the proposed topics to be presented at the conference.
- Petros Panagiotopoulos. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Public Space & Social Media: New possibilities of politicization, "echo chambers" or fora of neo-populism?
- Max Lesser, Hallie J. Stern and Sara-Jayne Terp. DISARM Foundation, USA. Countering Russian Misinformation, Disinformation, Malinformation and Influence Campaigns in Italy Surrounding the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
10 mins
14:55
Expert roundtable
Polarization and technology-fueled disinformation: steps to disengage and tackle misleading web content
Keynote:Prof. Syed Munir Khasru - Chairman, Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG)
Dr. Arif Perdana - Associate Professor, Data Science, Monash University, Indonesia
Mr. Nadeem Anjum - Head of Notifications AI for Facebook Growth, Meta AI (Facebook)
Prof. Enea Franza - Vice-President and Director, Department of Political Science, International University for Peace in Rome
Prof. Adrian Rauchfleisch - Associate Professor at National Taiwan University
Moderator: Rubayat-E-Shams Anik - Senior Research Associate, Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG)
50 mins
Syed Munir Khasru
Chairman, Institute for Policy, Advocacy, and Governance (IPAG)
15:45
Q&A session
10 mins
15:55
Policy session
Presentation of the United Nations E-Government Survey 2022 Digital technologies and AI are increasingly shaping the agenda of international diplomacy. Still, the effort to build global governance for digital is far from producing any result. What does this mean today, and which changes should we expect in multilateral and bilateral relations in the next few years? In conversation with Vincenzo Aquaro - Chief of Digital Government at United Nations - DESA - Public Institutions and Digital Government Moderator: Gianluca Misuraca - Founder and Vice President for Technology Diplomacy, Inspiring Futures
20 mins
Vincenzo Aquaro
Former Chief Editor of the United Nations Flagship publication E-Government Survey and coordinator of the UN eGovernment Survey task force.
16:15
Closing remarks
Luca De Biase - Media Research Director at Re-Imagine Europa
10 mins
09:30
Introduction Live
THE SOBIGDATA RI FOR DEMOCRACY AND TRUSTWORTHY AI
Roberto Trasarti – SoBigData++ Project Coordinator
45 mins
Roberto Trasarti
Graduated in Computer Science from the University of Pisa. Member of ISTI-CNR and of the Knowledge Discovery and Delivery Laboratory. His research interests include Data mining and Spatio-Temporal data analysis, Artificial intelligence, and Automatic Reasoning.
10:15
Focus Live
DATA AND THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY
Kalina Bontcheva - University of Sheffield
Fosca Giannotti - Scuola Normale Superiore
Jeroen van den Hoven - Technische Universiteit Delft
45 mins
11:00
Coffee break
30 mins
11:30
Expert roundtable Live
Can Data Governance and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence Help Strengthen our Democracies?
Can civil and human rights be protected by implementing a different design for the current digital ecosystem? Is data transparency a key factor in protecting our democracies?
Paul Lukowicz - DFKI and University of Kaiserslautern
Fosca Giannotti - Scuola Normale Superiore
Jeroen van den Hoven - Technische Universiteit Delft
Patrizia Toia - Member of the European Parliament
Moderator: Luca De Biase – Chief Editor at Nova and Media Research Director at Re-Imagine Europa
50 mins
12:20
Q&A session Live
10 mins
12:30
Closing address Live
Dino Pedreschi - University of Pisa
10 mins
Dino Pedreschi
Professor of Computer Science at the University of Pisa. Member of the main international conferences on data mining and an associate editor of the journal Knowledge and Information Systems. He has been granted a Google Research Award (2009) for his research on privacy-preserving data mining and anonymity-preserving data publishing.
12:40
–
14:00
Opening address
Jeffrey Sachs - Director of the Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University
15 mins
Jeffrey Sachs
Jeffrey David Sachs is an American economist, academic, public policy analyst and he is known as one of the world’s leading experts on economic development and the fight against poverty
14:15
Keynote
How Disinformation and Misinformation Target Reporters to Delegitimate Media and Destabilize Democracies
Mathew Ingram - Chief digital writer at Columbia Journalism Review
15 mins
Mathew Ingram
Award-winning veteran journalist and technology writer covering media in all its forms as well as web culture and related issues. Former reporter at Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto, and was also the paper’s first online Communities Editor
Paper highlights – The state algorithmic power session
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS
The effects of the new 'algorithmic power' of States on citizens' rights and the Rule of law
Every year the IFDAD’s Program Committee chooses the most interesting papers on the proposed topics to be presented at the conference.
- Jérôme Duberry. Graduate Institute of International and development studies, Switzerland. Artificial intelligence, democracy, and the messiness of life
- Vanja Skoric (Civic AI Lab University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), Giovanni Sileno and Sennay Ghebreab (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands). Legality, legitimacy, and instrumental possibility in human and computational governance for the public sector
10 mins
14:40
Expert roundtable
Trustworthiness of digital services session
Moderator and Chair: Stefano Quintarelli – former President of AGID- Science Committee Member, Associazione Copernicani
Gry Hasselbalch - Cofounder and Research Director, DataEthics.eu
Nena Dokuzov - Head of Project Group for new Economy and Blockchain Economy, Government of Slovenia
Antonio A.Martino - Professor Emeritus, University of Pisa and University of Salvador Buenos Aires.
Vicente Andreu Navarro - Policy Officer, European Commission, DG Communication Networks, Content and Technology, Directorate CNECT.H – Digital Society, Trust and Cybersecurity, CNECT.H.4 – eGovernment and Trust
50 mins
15:30
Q&A session
10 mins
15:40
Briefing
The Third Way To Digital and AI: Presentation of the Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles
How can we develop digital designs that help support our democratic processes by shaping the users' experience and behaviour to promote meaningful interaction and nurture constructive debate? How can we create a system that works for our values, fostering democracy and supporting civil rights?
In conversation with Roberto Viola – Director General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology) at the European Commission.
Moderator: Luca De Biase - Media Research Director at Re-Imagine Europa
15 mins
Roberto Viola
Former Chairman of the European Radio Spectrum Policy group (RSPG), member of the BEREC Board (Body of European Telecom Regulators), and Chairman of the European Regulatory Group (ERG). He served as Director of Regulation Department and Technical Director in AGCOM.
Paper highlights – Technodemocracy session
PRESENTATION OF PAPERS
Technology plays a major role in shaping the political landscape
Every year the IFDAD’s Program Committee chooses the most interesting papers on the proposed topics to be presented at the conference.
- Jörg Rainer Noennig, Balazs Cserpes, Francesca Ceolia, Marie Malchow, Jan Barski and Klara-Maria Brandenburger. HCU Hamburg, Germany. The Migrant Integration Platform MICADO – A Tool for Social Integration and Cohesion
- Eduardo Albrecht. Mercy College, USA. The Informatized Body
10 mins
16:05
Expert roundtable
The Geopolitics of Technology
Keynote: Pari Esfandiari - Co-founder and President of the Global TechnoPolitics Forum
David Bray - Distinguish Fellow and Former Senior Director, GeoTech Center and GeoTech Commission at the Atlantic Council.
Sean Kanhuk - Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC)
Geoffrey Goodell – Lecturer in Financial Computing, University College London
Moderator: Gregory F. Treverton - Former Chair of the U.S. National Intelligence Council. Professor of Practice at Dornsife College, University of Southern California.
50 mins
16:55
Q&A session
20 mins
17:05
Best paper award
Closing address: Stefano Quintarelli - former President of AGID- Science Committee Member, Associazione Copernicani
15 mins
Stefano Quintarelli
Former President of AGID- Scientific Committee Member, Associazione Copernicani
VIDEO GALLERY
IFDaD 2022 BEST PAPER AWARDS
The works selected from the Call for Papers are eligible for the contest
Registered attendants of the conference can rate the best paper of Ifdad 2022. Vote ballot are scheduled to appear regularly during the online conference with forewarning of the moderator. The winner will be announced at the closing of the conference and the authorship will receive an endownment of 1,000 euro.
Countering Russian Misinformation, Disinformation, Malinformation and Influence Campaigns in Italy Surrounding the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.
Winner of the Best Paper Award
Satellite event: Democracy in the digital age
16th November – 6.30 p.m – Fondazione G. Feltrinelli – Viale Pasubio, 5 – Milan
INTRODUCTION:
Massimiliano Tarantino, Director Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli
LECTURE
Pari Esfandiari, Co-founder and President Global TechnoPolitcs Forum
IN DIALOGUE WITH
Giovanni Allegretti, Senior researcher at Centro Estudos Sociais University of Coimbra,
P.I. PHOENIX European Project
Emiliana De Blasio, Scientific coordinator of Centre for Media and Democratic Innovations Massimo Baldini, LUISS Guido Carli
Stefano Quintarelli, Chairman Advisory group on advanced technologies – United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business
Full info here
Democracy's a very fragile thing. You have to take care of democracy.
As soon as you stop being responsible to it and allow it to turn into scare tactics, it's no longer democracy.
It's something else. It may be an inch away from totalitarianism.
Sam Shepard
CALL FOR PAPERS
Internet and algorithms caused a transformation of the centennials democratic processes. When exploited for political purposes digital tools affect the functioning of institutions created to evolve at human speed and not at the exponential pace and massive scale of digital technologies.
In the effort to gain a better understanding on how democracy can be strengthened in an era of rapid technological changes, the Forum engages scholars and experts in a Call for Papers on one of the following areas:
1 | Technology plays a major role in shaping the political landscape
How technology can be positively deployed to underpin political institutions.
How can an equitable access to technology be ensured?
How can digital technology encourage greater engagement in civil society?
2 | Centralized control from the public administration software/data represents a dominant power which could lead to abuse people’s live scrutiny: from Surveillance Capitalism (GAFA) to Surveillance eGovernment
How should eGovernment systems be designed and built to be compliant to democratic principles.
Can a well-designed digital tools enhance liberal values and build up civic participation?
What possible organizational and procedural oversight and accountability measures should be envisioned?
3 | Technology-fueled disinformation has toxic societal impact on democratic political culture, providing severe polarization which damages all institutions essential to democracy
Are social media to be considered a private space or a public service?
How to fine tune them to secure free and confidential communications?
Does content moderation affect freedom of expression?
Can online moderation of social platforms improve the wellness of digital communities?
HOW TO SUBMIT
Proposals will be reviewed single-blind and do not need to be anonymized before submission. Paper content must be original and relevant to one of the tracks. Authors are required to ensure accuracy of quotations, citations, diagrams, maps, and tables. The paper should be in English and should be no longer than 10 pages including references when formatted according to the downloadable Word or Latex template. An overleaf template is available here.
Selected contributions will be presented to the conference either as oral presentation or poster presentation.
To submitting authors, the selection of one among the three thematics is required using EasyChair
IMPORTANT DATES
Paper submission deadline: August 31st, 2022
Notification: October 15th, 2022
Camera-ready: November 1st, 2022
PUBLICATION
Accepted papers will be included in the proceedings of the conference and published by CEUR here, in the CEUR-WS.org: AI*IA Series. CEUR is a free open-access publication service of Sun SITE Central Europe.
A Special Issue of Frontiers.org connected with IFDaD selected papers and dedicated to “Artificial Intelligence, Digital Media and Democracy” is available. Andrea Loreggia and Gianluca Misuraca are guest editors. The research topic is available here.
KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS
Based on the concept politics meet academia which worked successfully in the 2020 edition: 14 guest speakers, over 840 attendees and over 4 thousand unique visitors, the Forum programs encompass:
- Institutional program with government leaders talking about action, progresses and challenges of digital democracies governance.
- Academic program with talks from high-level experts and scholars presenting selected works resulting from the Call for Papers
- Interactive sessions where the participants will engage with experts and peers in live discussions.
Knowledge Partners are the cornerstones of the event. Representing stakeholders from different legal systems and jurisdictions, they bring in global and local voices with thematic deepening on tackling the complexity of digital sphere with democratic values and civil rights. In their role they:
- disseminate the Call for Papers in their circles
- are entitled to a representative in the Program Committee and participate to the papers evaluation.
Applications to be submitted at info@ifdad.org
COMMITTEES
Scientific Committee
Paolo Benanti
Siriwat William Chhem
Danilo Doneda
Gry Hasselbalch
Stefania Milan
Gianluca Misuraca
Frank Pasquale
Jeffrey Sachs
Ehud Shapiro
Audrey Tang
Tommaso Valletti
Organizing Committee
Giorgio De Michelis
Patrizia Feletig
Andrea Loreggia
Luca Monti
Francesco Saverio Nucci
Stefano Quintarelli
Carlos Santiso
Edoardo Viganò
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