From shaping our big picture questions to unpacking the latest research studies and reports to keeping a pulse on the latest field-wide conversations, our research team drives and informs our work. We’ve further expanded our research function by adding three new team members. Meet them
AI Primers for Journalists is the latest in a series of emerging tech primers researched, written, and published by Aspen Digital. We sat down with Siegel Research Fellow and Emerging Technology Researcher at Aspen Digital, Eleanor Tursman and Aspen Institute Director of Emerging Technologies, B Cavello, to discuss their approach to the work and what they hope to see come out of it in the future.
As an organization committed to an inquiry-based approach, research is central to any foray into art and creativity. We define “creative research” simply as research with creative outputs. Creative research challenges and resists the dominance of traditional knowledge by widening the aperture of “research” to include different perspectives, ideas, and ways of knowing.
Social media, despite its flaws, may have heralded a golden era of participation. Yet participation hasn’t become the norm at the level of designing and developing social networks. For years, people have asked: where is the alternative? Read Eryk’s thoughts in Tech Policy Press
In order to prepare students for the world they are set to enter, our education systems ought to prioritize teaching AI, rather than banning it. Thankfully, we already have much of the curriculum in place to do so. Our Executive Director Katy Knight, explains that while AI may seem like magic, it actually rests on skills that CS educators have taught for decades.
Our focus on innovative finance options and work-based learning programs stems from our commitment to creating an equitable innovation economy, one that enables all people and their communities to achieve economic prosperity. It’s with this frame that members of our team attended Jobs for the Future’s (JFF) Horizons conference last week.
Time plays a crucial, but insufficient role in scale. Three case studies in advanced manufacturing produced by UNC Chapel Hill’s Department of City and Regional Planning and the Urban Manufacturing Alliance elucidate the role that context and circumstances play alongside time to determine the paths to scale.
Low rates of homeownership mean Black households lack a tremendous source of wealth generation that could allow them to enter competitive fields like real estate. And without enough diverse developers with proximity to the challenges facing urban and low-income neighborhoods, it’s no surprise there continues to be a lack of affordable and accessible housing within these communities.
The latest in our case study highlights Marshall Street and its innovative initiatives to build local capacity, advance equity, and empower school improvement.
We are thrilled to launch a high level Research Advisory Council composed of leaders of research groups and experts working at the intersection of technology, social sciences, and its impact on society
Income sharing agreements (ISAs) and other income-contingent funding models for postsecondary education and skills development have made plenty of headlines over the last few years in ways good and bad. On the eve of JFF’s annual Horizons conference, we sat down with Ethan Pollack, senior director of the Financing the Future initiative to understand the promise and pitfalls of income-contingent funding models, how providers can move to more student-centered models, and why stakeholders might not be as far apart as we might think.