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Pandemic Tech The Interplay of Technology and Covid-19 in Shaping the Pandemic Experience

16 & 17 June 2021

Keynote Speaker: Professor Rob Kitchin, Maynooth Unviersity

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The Covid-19 crisis has created new developments in the use of technology and accelerated existing trends in technology usage. Many were dependent on technology to access essential public services, for work, study, and socialising throughout lockdown. Those who didn’t have access to technology were often ‘locked out’. Information and misinformation about the virus were shared via social media networks. Fake news about the virus often centred around Big-Tech worries such as 5G and micro-chipping. The use of Artificial Intelligence was key in the development of new vaccines. Many apps were launched to track and trace the spread of the virus, and the use of digital passports is being investigated to allow safe travel in the future.

The LINCS conference will analyse and evaluate how technology shaped our experience of the pandemic and how the crisis has shaped technology development for the future.

This is a student-led, interdisciplinary conference aimed at PhD and early career researchers. Join us to discuss the key issues for policy makers, legal practitioners, public health bodies, educationalists, engineers and computer scientists.

Programme

DAY 1: 16th JUNE

12.45pm - WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

1pm - KEYNOTE, 'Civil liberties or public health, or civil liberties and public health?' Prof Rob Kitchin, Maynooth University

In the keynote address, Professor Rob Kitchin will challenge the contention that surveillance technologies are necessary to ensure public health by questioning the technical and practical efficacy of surveillance technologies, and examining their implications for civil liberties, governmentality, surveillance capitalism, and public health.

2pm - Panel Session - Accessing and delivering essential services online (1)

3pm - Panel Session - Working from Home: Security and Surveillance

4pm - Panel Session - Accessing and delivering essential services online (2)

DAY 2: 17th JUNE

1.30pm - Opening Presentation - The Oxford Covid-19 Government Response Tracker - Emily Cameron-Blake, Saptarshi Majumdar, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford

The presenters will discuss their work on a global panel database of COVID-19 government policies in response to the pandemic - the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Systematically collecting data for 20 indicators that include containment and restrictions policies, public health measures and vaccine distribution, our database publishes in real-time, covering 187 countries and 4 sub-national data sets. Collected by a large team of specially trained volunteer data contributors from all over the world, we discuss the organisational and technical challenges of such a large citizen science data collection effort in the face of a public health emergency.

2.30pm - Panel Session - Digital Places, Spaces and Travelling in Lockdown

3.30pm - Panel Session - Social Media and Covid

4.30pm - Close

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Email lincspgconference@qub.ac.uk with any questions regarding submission of abstracts, papers or general queries.

Credits:

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