EVENTS
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International Forum on Digital and Democracy 2020

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Start date: 10/12/2020
End date: 11/12/2020

 

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Schedule

Day 1. 10/12/2020
11:00 - 12:30
Satellite Session
EXPERT ROUNDTABLE ON DATA AND ETHICS in a Post-COVID WORLD This session is organised with SoBigData++ Consortium and will explore the ethical dilemmas around AI and Big Data in Ethics, Society, and Law, together with technical challenges in data science and XAI. Emphasis on Trustworthiness Keynote: Matching Ethics and Law in AI: policy and practical implications of the Legal Legs of a "Trustworthy" SoBigData++ Giovanni Comandé Full Professor of Private Comparative Law at Scuola Superiore S. Anna Pisa, Italy. PhD. SSSA, LLM Harvard Law School, Founder and Director of the LIDER-LAB (www.lider-lab.eu). Attorney at law (Pisa since 1995); (New York Bar since 1997). Mediator mediation trainer. He has taught in and visited numerous universities in the world. EXPERT PANEL: Marcel Jeroen Van den Hoven, Professor of Ethics and Technology at the Delft University of Technology; founding Editor in Chief of Ethics and Information Technology and Member of the European Group on Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE) Dino Pedreschi, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Pisa Josep Domingo, Data science and cybersecurity Juan Durán, Ethics Fosca Giannotti, Explainable AI Caterina Sganga, Intellectual Property and Open Data The outcomes of the discussions will help us develop a white paper on this topic to be published in early 2021.
14:00 - 15:00
Opening Session
OPENING REMARKS Ms Patrizia Feletig Journalist and Chairwoman of Associazione Copernicani WELCOME ADDRESS Professor Manuel Castells Chairman of the Re-Imagine Europa Taskforce on Democracy in a Digital Society, Wallis Annenberg Chair Professor of Communication Technology and Society at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Spanish Minister for Universities KEYNOTE ADDRESS - The Value of European Democracy Ms Věra Jourová Vice President for Values and Transparency of the European Commission Q&A
15:00 - 15:20
Parallel Sessions
DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL DECISIONS Analysis from an individual standpoint on how to develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions and the role of technology in pursuing such aims. Computer-aided policymaking, civic artificial intelligence: how artificial intelligence could assist citizens in activating their rights, including information and participation rights. The changing role of institutions based on inclusive voting. How e-voting can help the formulation of parliamentary and assembly proceedings (e.g. critical situation like COVID-19). A balance between the representative system and direct or deliberative participation. SESSION 1: The challenges of urban data ethics: big data and intelligent systems to support decision Larissa Galdino de Magalhães Santos SESSION 2: Artificial Intelligence Research for Fighting Political Polarisation: a Research Agenda Andrea Loreggia, Nicholas Mattei and Stefano Quintarelli
15:20 - 16:00
Plenary Session
PANDEMIC & DEMOCRACY: Challenges and Opportunities for the development of a Digital Society COVID-19 made the world digital. As lock-downs and global travel restrictions forces the world to go digital, we are witnessing both the enormous potential of digital tools as well as the possible pit-falls and ethical dilemmas. This session will look into what we have leaner during the past eight months and look at how this experience will guide the next digital developments PANELLISTS: Min. Vincenzo Amendola, Italian Minister of European Affairs Jeffrey Sachs, Economist, academic, public policy analyst Roberto Viola, Director-General of DG CONNECT – European Commission Magdalena Adamowicz, Member of the European Parliament MODERATED BY: Erika Widegren. Chief Executive at Re-Imagine Europa
16:00 - 16:15
Coffee Break
Take the opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised during the debates with the authors. Specific chat rooms will be available to have more informal conversations with the authors and other participants.
16:15 - 16:30
Deep Dive
A CASE STUDY ON COMPUTER-AIDED POLICYMAKING Colin Megill, Co-creator of pol.is open-source platform
16:30 - 17:00
Closing Session
PARALLEL SESSIONS: SOCIAL INVOLVEMENT AND PARTICIPATION Analysis from a society standpoint: how to ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels. How people are engaged and eventually become part of the organization. How people are educated and informed. How the public opinion is formed and can be oriented. How media and platforms should work to promote democracy and human rights (top-down flows). Citizen inclusion and digital divide: gender, age, education. SESSION 1: Artificial Intelligence against disinformation: the FANDANGO practical case Francesco Saverio Nucci, Silvia Boi and Massimo Magaldi SESSION 2: Democracy in the digital revolution Giorgio De Michelis CLOSING REMARKS Ricardo Abramovay, Sociologist, political scientist and professor
17:00 - 17:30
Virtual Aperitivo with the Authors
Take the opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised during the debates with the authors. Specific chat rooms will be available to have more informal conversations with the authors and other participants.
Day 2. 11/12/2020
11:00 - 12:30
Satellite Session
DISINFORMATION AND THE MANIPULATION OF REALITY This session is organised with ALLEA will explore the ethical dilemmas around disinformation and the use of narratives and emotions in manipulating reality. An increasingly influential stream of research demonstrates the integration of cognition and emotion in political decision-making. Political cognition is emotionally shaped. The role of narratives in shaping people's minds has become an important area of research and debate, in particular in recent years when entire societies have made choices that seem "rationally" counterintuitive. The COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying 'infodemic' described by the WHO has placed science disinformation at the centre of global debates. In an ever more complex world, how do we address these issues? The outcomes of this debate will guide our work on developing a European Observatory on Narratives. EXPERT PANEL: Professor Andrzej Nowak Professor of psychology at the University of Warsaw, Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities and Florida Atlantic University, Chief Narrative Scientist at Re-Imagine Europa Laura Smillie Expert and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre Marc Lynas Cornell Alliance for Science Professor Stephan Lewandowsky Max-Planck-Institute; University of Bristol, member of the Scientific Committee of the ALLEA Working Group on "Fact or Fake" MODERATED BY: Erika Widegren Chief Executive at Re-Imagine Europa
Opening Session
14:00 - 14:20
OPENING REMARKS Professor Stefano Quintarelli President of AGID (Government agency for digital Italy) PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE OF DEMOCRACY Conversation with President Romano Prodi Former President of the European Commission – Former Prime Minister of Italy
14:20 - 14:40
Parallel Sessions
PARTICIPATION AND FUNCTIONING OF PARTIES Analysis from a societal standpoint: how to broaden and strengthen the participation of developing countries in the institutions of global governance; How people's opinion is collected, structured and analysed; How people self-organise to form political entities; The role of participatory budgeting, e-Consultation, e-Polling, and e-Legislation [citizen assemblies, popular initiatives, petitions (bottom-up flows)]; Parties' internal operation: frameworks for a political ERP system. SESSION 1: Digital Social Contracts: A Foundation for an Egalitarian and Just Digital Society Nimrod Talmon, Ehud Shapiro, Gal Shahaf, Luca Cardelli and Liav Orgad SESSION 2: A blockchain-driven e-participation for substantial democracy (P4) Nadia Maccabiani
14:40 - 15:00
Deep dive
RETHINKING DEMOCRACY IN THE "PANDEMIC SOCIETY" A Journey in search of the governance with, of & by AI Gianluca Misuraca, Strategic policy advisor on Digital Governance, Technology Diplomacy and Human-Centric Artificial Intelligence and a Research Fellow at the Department of eGovernance and Public Administration of the Danube University
15:00 - 15:15
Plenary conversation
DIRECT DEMOCRACY Dialogue on the Italian Five Stars Movement Experience Min. Federico D'Incà, Italian Minister for Parliamentary Relations Marco Pierani, Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations and Executive Board Member at Euroconsumers
15:15 - 15:35
Deep dive
HOW THE DIGITAL ERA IS TRANSFORMING POLITICS IN KENYA Nanjala Nyabola, Writer and political analyst, author of "Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming Politics in Kenya."
15:35 - 15:50
Coffee Break
Take the opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised during the debates with the authors. Specific chat rooms will be available to have more informal conversations with the authors and other participants.
15:50 - 16:10
Parallel Sessions
INFORMATION ACCESS AND INTEGRITY Analysis from an institutional standpoint: how to ensure public access to sound information and protect fundamental freedoms under national legislation and international agreements. How people are informed about the work of organisations (including PA). Methods to finance political parties and campaigns, and for countering corruption. How to address the self-propagation issue in the political class (i.e. people getting in power and then doing whatever it takes to stay there and/or get a private financial gain). Big data, fake news and democracy manipulation after Cambridge Analytica. SESSION 1: Legal Knowledge Representation in the domain of Private International Law Giuseppe Contissa and Galileo Sartor SESSION 2: Access to Scientific Information and Knowledge: A Matter of Democracy Ludovica Paseri
16:10 - 16:30
Deep dive
PROTECTING ELECTORAL INTEGRITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE A Journey in search of the governance with, of & by AI Professor Stephen Stedman, Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Secretary-General of the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age
16:30 - 16:50
Deep dive
A DIGITAL DEMOCRACY MANIFESTO Dialogue on the Italian Five Stars Movement Experience Richard Barbrook, Author of several influential essays on information society and winner of the 2008 Marshall McLuhan Prize for Outstanding Book in the field of Media Ecology
16:50 - 17:00
Final remarks + Online Poll results
Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Economist, academic, public policy analyst
17:00 - 17:30
Virtual aperitivo with the authors
Take the opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised during the debates with the authors. Specific chat rooms will be available to have more informal conversations with the authors and other participants.

Speakers

Věra Jourová
Lawyer, Czech politician, Vice President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency.
Manuel Castells Portrait
Manuel Castells
Spanish sociologist, academic, especially associated with research on the information society, communication and globalization. In January 2020, he was appointed Minister of Universities in the Sánchez II Government of Spain.
Romano Prodi
Italian economist and politician who served President of the European Commission as well twice as Prime Minister of Italy.
Jeffrey Sachs
American economist, academic, public policy analyst
Magdalena Adamowicz Portrait
Magdalena Adamowicz
Independent member of the ninth European Parliament
Vincenzo Amendola
Italian politician, appointed Minister of European Affairs in the Giuseppe Conte II Cabinet
Richard Barbrook
Academic and author of several influential essays on information society
Federico D'Incà
Italian politician, MP, appointed Minister for Parliamentary Relations in the Conte II Cabinet
Colin Megill
Co-founder of pol.is, an open source platform for gathering large-scale, open-ended feedback analyzed by machine learning methodologies in real time.
Gianluca Misuraca
Research Fellow at the Department of eGovernance and Public Administration of the Danube University in Krems, Austria.
Nanjala Nyabola
Writer and political analyst, Author of “Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era is Transforming Politics in Kenya”
Stephen Stedman
Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Secretary-General of the Kofi Annan Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age
Roberto Viola
Director General of DG CONNECT (Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology)
Erika Widegren Portrait
Erika Widegren
Chief Executive at Re-Imagine Europa
Patrizia Feletig
Journalist and chairwoman of Associazione Copernicani
Stefano Quintarelli
IT specialist and President of AGID (Government agency for digital Italy)
Ricardo Abramovay
Professor at the University of São Paulo
Frank Pasquale
Professor of Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

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